6th December 2017
Holy See
To mark the UN-led 16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women and Girls, the British Embassy to the Holy See is delighted to introduce you to Sr. Patricia Ebegbulem, whose network of religious sisters in Nigeria is trying to make a reality of the UN’s theme “Leave no-one behind” for modern slavery victims […]
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18th September 2017
Geneva, Switzerland
The seasons change fast in Switzerland though nothing quite takes the shine off a summer break like a week holed up in UN meetings. Once they begin, life becomes a strange combination of rapid high energy bursts of darting about, mixed with prolonged bouts of repetitive drudgery. Spending hours arguing over the wording of resolutions […]
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15th February 2017
Holy See
Last week Offer Stern-Weiner, Head of the Modern Slavery Unit at the Home Office, and I journeyed out of Rome to visit a small and tranquil convent in a historic town set in the beautiful Italian countryside. The reason we were there? To meet five young Nigerian women who had been trafficked from Nigeria to […]
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7th February 2017
Vienna, Austria
I wrote in my blog about modern slavery last month that “modern slavery is happening throughout the world, including in Europe, on a large scale”. So what are we doing about it? More than 200 years ago William Wilberforce led Britain in the fight against slavery – opening the eyes of the world to the […]
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25th January 2017
Holy See
January is traditionally a time for New Year’s resolutions and for planning ahead, so it seems a good moment to look at what the year may have in store for the UK and the Holy See. My starting point is Pope Francis’s address to the diplomatic corps, in which he set out how he sees […]
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10th January 2017
Vienna, Austria
A person is transported illegally away from their community to somewhere unfamiliar or foreign. Once there, they are forced to work without any form of contract or proper remuneration. This is modern slavery. It is happening throughout the world, including in Europe, on a large scale. According to the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and […]
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9th December 2016
Holy See
On 10 December, the UN will commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The focus this year is “standing up for the rights of others”: a call to uphold human rights in our global community, where each of us can make a difference. The Foreign Office in London and all British Embassies […]
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28th October 2016
Holy See
On 27 October the Embassy hosted a visit by the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, who was at the Vatican to attend a meeting of the Santa Marta Group, a gathering of police chiefs and bishops on preventing human trafficking and modern slavery. This issue is a top priority for the UK, and for Pope Francis. […]
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5th October 2016
Geneva, Switzerland
The physical experience of going through a Council session feels rather like having your head banged against a wall. It’s nice when it stops, but otherwise not particularly enjoyable. So there was a sense of delirium in the air when we headed out of the doors at a reasonable time last Friday evening. Three weeks […]
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26th September 2016
Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve been having a spooky session. For the past fortnight people who left the Council many moons ago have been popping up all over the place as though they never left. Former colleagues do of course come back from time to time but it’s been happening so much recently I’m starting to wonder if I’m […]
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