21st September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
In December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Referring to a covenant that was by then already well over 700 years old, Eleanor Roosevelt welcomed the Declaration by saying she hoped it would become a Magna Carta for the world. Many today still argue that these fundamental rights enshrined […]
16th September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you had a good break. Those wise enough to spend their holidays in or around these parts will be coming back to the Council re-energised from the unusually long hot summer we’ve had this year. To my family’s bemusement, I opted to spend our holidays caravanning in the slightly more inclement weather which […]
7th September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Who could fail to be moved by the photograph last week of the little Syrian boy on a Turkish beach? We have long grown numb to the statistics of the Syrian conflict yet here was a picture that captured with blinding clarity the human tragedy. Hundreds of little Aylans have drowned in the Mediterranean far […]
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14th August 2015
One of the great pleasures of working in Switzerland is the opportunity to meet and talk with creative people who mix and mingle at this international cultural crossroads. It is an extra privilege that so many of these talented individuals come from the UK. This week I have been able to see some of the fruits […]
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7th July 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
UN diplomats spend much of their lives fretting about securing exactly the right words in international documents. I’ve seen a whole day of negotiations conclude with only a comma added, to mutual back-slapping and a general sense of a job well done, and have spent weeks painfully debating the insertion of a footnote or an […]
29th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a tiring week. The middle part of the Council session is always hectic as delegates scramble to finalise the version of the resolutions that they want to table by Thursday’s deadline. But my sleep levels have taken a heavier battering than normal thanks to the Women’s World Cup, taking place in Canada’s far-off […]
22nd June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
The more time I spend at the Council, the more things seem to be getting out of control at home. The kids cope well enough, but our cat Pixie has spent the week continuing her recent hunting spree in a blatant show of attention-seeking. This week I’ve had to dispose of a shrew, two field […]
15th June 2015
The Magna Carta is 800 years old on 15 June 2015. It is impressive that such an old document should continue to inspire individuals and societies around the world. The principles it enshrines – equality before the law, limits to the arbitrary exercise of power, due and fair process for citizens – are timeless and […]
14th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
It feels like we’ve hardly been away. I’m starting to suspect that someone has airbrushed April and May from the global calendar. The only clue that the months have been and gone is our hedge growing high enough to receive a letter from the estate agent ordering us to cut it by 10 centimetres and […]
4th June 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
With our televisions screens filled by images of seemingly endless civil wars, spiralling sectarian horror, and rising humanitarian misery, many have concluded that the international system is failing, even broken. Yet on 25 May an event took place that tells a different story. One that gives hope to all those who believe that the United […]
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