Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

6th June 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

UK Ambassador to Serbia

Russia’s war in words and numbers

What is happening in Ukraine can be no less shocking to people in Serbia than to people in Canada, Norway, Poland, the UK – or anywhere else including Russia, when and where the truth is known. Deliberate disinformation has been rife and multifaceted – from mundane lies (no intention of invading Ukraine) to fantasy fiction […]

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2nd June 2022 Geneva, Switzerland

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by Aidan Liddle

UK Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament

Disarmament: space and cluster munitions

May was a big month for 2 of the UK disarmament team’s main objectives for this year. On 9 May, the Open Ended Working Group on Space Threats got underway at last, holding the first of its substantive (as opposed to organisational) meetings. It felt like the culmination of a process we began back in […]

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24th May 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

UK Ambassador to Serbia

History revision

History

I am a diplomat not a historian. But as a diplomat you cannot escape or ignore history – and nor should you want to. It is desperately sad to see a country with a rich heritage being trapped by a re-imagined history rather than addressing present needs and future opportunities. Chatting over dinner about 15 […]

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23rd May 2022

Sarah Price

Head of the UK Government Counter-Proliferation & Arms Control Centre

Twenty five years of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Sarah Price has been Head of the UK Government’s Counter-Proliferation & Arms Control Centre since 2018.  Between 2013 and 2017, she was British Ambassador to Finland.  I first encountered the CWC as deputy Ambassador in Belgrade in 2003 when I accompanied UK experts to bilateral discussions on (then) Serbia & Montenegro’s CWC Declaration. I was […]

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23rd May 2022

Dr John R Walker

Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and the European Leadership Network

The Chemical Weapons Convention was a long time in the making

Dr John R Walker worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Arms Control and Disarmament Research Unit from March 1985 until May 2020. He served as its head from 2014 to 2020. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and the European Leadership Network, and a Senior Research Fellow […]

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19th May 2022

Paul Arkwright

Independent business consultant and former diplomat

Twenty five years of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Paul Arkwright is an independent business consultant and former diplomat.  He was British High Commissioner to Nigeria between 2015 and 2018, and British Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) between 2009 and 2013.  In 2011, he chaired the Sixteenth Session of the OPCW Conference […]

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13th May 2022

Dr. Renata H. Dalaqua

Head of the Gender and Disarmament Programme at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).

The road ahead for the Chemical Weapons Convention: disarmament, diversity and equality

Dr Renata H Dalaqua is a Political Scientist and Head of the Gender and Disarmament Programme at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).  Previously, she was the Deputy Director of Projects at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) and a Consultant with VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures programme. Since its entry into force, […]

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11th May 2022

Dr Christopher Timperley

Principal Advisor on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation at the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

Science and the Chemical Weapons Convention

Dr Christopher Timperley is the Principal Advisor on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). He was the first UK scientist to be elected to the chair of the OPCW Scientific Advisory Board. He was appointed an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen in 2021 for his services to defence […]

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5th May 2022

Radi Saad

Hazmat Team Coordinator, The White Helmets – Syria Civil Defence

The Chemical Weapons Convention represents one of few means for accountability in Syria

Radi Saad started working in the humanitarian field in mid-2012, shortly after he joined the White Helmets – Syria Civil Defence. Then moving into the field of Response Coordination, establishing special teams that respond to and document chemical weapons attacks in Northern Syria and other besieged areas like Eastern Ghouta. The White Helmets work as […]

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3rd May 2022

Alastair Hay

Professor (Emeritus) of Environmental Toxicology, University of Leeds

What does the Chemical Weapons Convention mean to me?

Alastair Hay has a BSc in Chemistry and PhD in Biochemistry from London University. After a research career as a teacher, toxicologist, and former adviser to the UK government and European Union on occupational standards for chemicals in the workplace, Alastair retired from the University of Leeds in 2015, but retains a position at the […]

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