13th October 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Fifteen years ago today, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 – an important recognition of the inordinate impact of war on women and girls, and of the pivotal role women should and do play in conflict management, conflict resolution and building sustainable peace. Ninety percent of civilian casualties in conflict are women and children. […]
10th October 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
This year, World Mental Health Day is focusing on dignity. We all have mental health. Treating people with mental health problems with dignity helps everyone take steps to safeguard their wellbeing. Failing to do so can lead to self-stigma, low confidence, low self-esteem, withdrawal and social isolation. Providing effective support to people experiencing mental health […]
6th October 2015 London, UK
Slowly but increasingly surely, Sri Lanka is becoming a human rights success story. This is primarily due to the determination of its people and the courage of its recently elected leaders (see the British High Commission’s blog). But the international community, responding to our Prime Minister’s lead, has played a significant role, including through the […]
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22nd September 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
The application window opens this week for the Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Fellowship Program (CRISP). The programme aims to build collaborations between the UK and Sri Lanka in business, science and innovation. It connects leading Sri Lankans with the best British academicians and practitioners. The 11 week programme at the University of Oxford’s […]
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12th September 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
On Wednesday 9 September, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second became the longest reigning monarch in more than a thousand years of British history. She has been on the throne for 63 years and seven months. Although we think of British democracy as old, we have only had universal franchise since 1928, just three years […]
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1st September 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
This blog celebrates the fact that today, on Tuesday 1 September, Sri Lanka became a fully fledged member of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. Sri Lanka is the first country in South Asia, and only the second in Asia after Japan, to join this Convention. Cybercrime is any kind of crime committed with a computer […]
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21st August 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Monday’s general election was very tight. It was also remarkably peaceful. From the President and Elections Commissioner down, all involved have commented positively on the conduct of the election, many describing it as Sri Lanka’s best in decades. It’s not for the UK to support one party over another. Our interest is for Sri Lanka […]
11th August 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
I spent this weekend on the coast near Galle, an immediate reminder of what a wonderful place Sri Lanka is to live and work. But though pleasure and leisure kept me there, it was work that took me. I’ve written recently about how our Consular team support British tourists in distress. On Friday, the team […]
26th July 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
This year, we are celebrating fifty years of bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Maldives. That relationship started on 26 July 1965, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That moment is captured in a famous photo, with Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan, Prime Minister and Sir Micheal Walker, British Ambassador designate to the […]
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10th July 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka and the Maldives have never been more popular for beach-lovers, backpackers or Brits: over 144,000 British tourists visited Sri Lanka last year, and almost 16,000 holidayed in the Maldives in February alone this year. Around five thousand British Nationals have set down permanent or semi-permanent roots here too. For the most part, travellers […]
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