Rose de Mendonça

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FCDO Human Rights

13th February 2015 London, UK

Guest Blog from Baroness Anelay: "Freedom to Believe"

This week, we’ve hosted two events at Wilton Park, and in Geneva, on freedom of religion or belief. To mark them, I’m inviting you to join me in our social media campaign #freedomtobelieve. Here’s why: Last month I visited a training centre for Imams and Mourchidats (female spiritual guides) in Morocco. What I witnessed there […]

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8th January 2015 London, UK

Caroline Vaudrey

Peacekeeping Team, Conflict Dept

Training peacekeepers to prevent sexual violence, with the British Peace Support Team (Eastern Africa)

Caroline Vaudrey writes about UK-supported training for peacekeepers in Somalia. Preventing sexual violence in conflict – what does that mean exactly and how do you train peacekeepers to do this? I needed to find out. So, I visited a course in Kenya training Africa Union (AU) peacekeepers who would be deployed to AMISOM, the AU […]

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10th December 2014 London, UK

David Lidington blogs for Human Rights Day: Freedom of Expression and the Media overseas

For Human Rights Day Minister of State for Europe, David Lidington, blogs on freedom of expression and the media overseas. Today is international Human Rights day; a day to celebrate the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. We should all take a moment to think about the rights that everyone in […]

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10th December 2014 London, UK

Tobias Ellwood blogs for Human Rights Day: Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Middle East and North Africa

For Human Rights Day Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Tobias Ellwood, blogs on Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Middle East and North Africa (to see this post in Arabic, click here: ow.ly/FJHxS). Today – exactly sixty six years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human […]

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10th December 2014 London, UK

Hugo Swire blogs for Human Rights Day: From darkness to light: there is a different path open to North Korea

For Human Rights Day Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire, blogs on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Last week, on the Thames embankment in London, I was honoured to attend the unveiling of a Memorial to the sacrifices made by British troops in the Korean War […]

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26th June 2014 London, UK

British Embassy Tunis, Tunisia

Tunisia: helping put in place an Anti-Torture Culture to match the legislation

Guest blog by the British Embassy Tunis, Tunisia The slogans of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia were ‘Freedom’ and ‘Dignity’. Tackling torture, widespread under the Ben Ali regime, was among the popular demands in the aftermath of the overthrow of Ben Ali. Respect for Human Rights is a key goal of Tunisia’s new democratic […]

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26th June 2014 London, UK

Matthew Sands

Legal Adviser, Association for the Prevention of Torture

Keeping the faith: the global prevention of torture

Guest blog by Matthew Sands, Legal Adviser, Association for the Prevention of Torture I keep a quote on my desk from Jean Améry, who wrote about his utter despair while being held in concentration camps during the Second World War, and refer to it often. It reads: “Anyone who has been tortured remains tortured. [Our] […]

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26th June 2014 London, UK

Kolbassia Haoussou

Survivor of torture, and Coordinator of the Survivors Speak OUT Network

Tackling Impunity: Why the Voices of Survivors Must Be Heard

Guest blog by Kolbassia Haoussou, survivor of torture, and Coordinator of the Survivors Speak OUT Network For too long torture has been used to punish and silence. Perpetrators have used their abhorrent tools with impunity, in the knowledge that they will never be held to account by survivors, for fear of stigma, shame and further […]

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