21st September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
So Bob asked me to guest blog for him this week. There were two ways I could approach this; try and write like Bob, with jokes about cats and the trials of combining domesticity with working at the Human Rights Council. Or, cut my own path. So here goes: I’m now in my 5th year […]
8th March 2014 Sana’a, Yemen
Today is International Women’s Day- an annual celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women around the world. Since arriving in Yemen last year, I’ve been fortunate to meet a huge number of women from all walks of life. One of the reasons I feel optimistic about Yemen’s future is because of the […]
26th February 2013 Tripoli, Libya
Welcome to my blog! I am hoping to share some personal reflections about this beguiling and complicated country very soon. Suffice it to say that I am preoccupied with the preparations for the Friends of Yemen meeting which takes place in London less than two weeks from now, on 7 March. Another way-marker on the […]
1st October 2012 Geneva, Switzerland
Human Rights Council sessions rarely end up being either a resounding success or an unmitigated disaster. They rather tend to be a mixed bag with some good things, some bad and a few which leave you scratching your head, wondering what it meant and why it happened in the first place. The September session was […]
Read more on Little to cheer, something to fear? | Reply (1)
3rd October 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
As the September session of the Human Rights Council drew to a close on Friday, there were some glum faces around, especially amongst the NGOs. The NGOs provide a much needed reality check to the rest of us and I think it’s a fair criticism that civil servants are often all too ready to point […]
Read more on Cheap Seats, Backsliding and Cuban Democracy | Reply
26th September 2011 Geneva, Switzerland
The second week of the September Human Rights Council session was a typically frantic affair, as delegations scrambled to finalise the resolutions that they would present before Thursday’s deadline. Getting resolutions in tends to be a quite scrappy business, more like a school sports day three-legged race than a gracious Olympic sprint. Countries have quite […]
Read more on False starts, prizes and little bits of history | Reply