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Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

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3rd April 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

“English as an ASEAN Language”- The Movie: Coming to a SEAMEO Centre near you!

Here are four ways to get the latest news about education in South East Asia. Ask SEAMEO, the regional Ministers of Education Organisation which the UK joined last week, as an Associate Member. We are deeply impressed by what SEAMEO has achieved over the last two years, under the active chairmanship of Brunei’s Minister of […]

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18th March 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Commonwealth – the world’s first social network?

Practise what you preach, we are always told. With my Australian colleague, I had invited six other High Commissioners in Brunei to answer the question “What does the Commonwealth mean to you?” – so I was going to have to come up with an answer of my own. I’ll tell you what it was in […]

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8th March 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

International Women’s Day 2013

Guest blog by Julia Fenn, the British High Commissioner’s wife, on the importance of International Women’s Day and what this day means to her personally. I have celebrated International Women’s Day in Brunei for the last three years, though I have to confess that I never particularly marked the date anywhere else before. It is strange how […]

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25th February 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

“Ignite Your Future!”

Before choosing that slogan for the latest Education UK Exhibition here in Brunei, and the dramatic logo which went with it, we discussed what it meant. Some of us thought it sounded too incendiary. Then some bright spark recalled that the I-Centre had pioneered use of the word “ignite” for their excellent “Business Plan” competition. […]

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13th February 2013 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Regatta Brunei 2013

Be careful what you wish for. That mantra went round and round in my head as I and twelve other Excellencies paddled down the Brunei River, vainly trying to catch the boat in front, urged on by friendly cheering (or was it laughter) from every jetty, doorway and window of Kampong Ayer – Brunei’s Water […]

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21st December 2012 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Realizing a dream – Abdul Matiin’s Guest Blog

Realizing a dream It was such an honour to have been awarded the Chevening Scholarship. I remember during my high school years reading articles in the Borneo Bulletin about scholars being awarded the prestigious Chevening grant every year. Never in a million years would I have thought that one day I would be following in […]

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13th December 2012 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

My Chevening experience, so far

Nor Ali is one of the two recipients from Brunei of the 2012/2013 Chevening Scholarship. He is studying for an MA in Inclusive Education and Technology at King’s College London. Looks like it’s my turn this year to share my personal experience as a Chevening scholar! As you read on, you’ll notice it’s going to […]

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22nd November 2012 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Brunei’s ASEAN Chairmanship

I have just got back from a meeting of British High Commissioners and Ambassadors in ASEAN countries, timed to coincide with this week’s ASEAN Summit. We talked about the UK’s relationships with each member state, about our understanding of ASEAN as a whole, and about how our bilateral relationships with ASEAN countries – all strong, […]

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19th November 2012 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

British High Commission Fire Training "Away Day"

Safety is a key component of the Brunei Brand: “Abode of Peace”. For Brunei Shell, it’s a yardstick against which the whole operation is measured; because, they tell me, managers with a strong safety record tend to get the rest of the job right too. The High Commission also prizes safety. For us, the challenge […]

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31st October 2012 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

Vocational English: building a bridge between education and industry.

Does anyone own the English language? Of course not, thank Goodness! Though I sometimes wish there were an “Acronym Authority”. Those questions cropped up in workshops I attended last week with 240 teachers from vocational and technical schools all over Brunei. The event was funded by the Ministry of Education, who have prioritised VTET – […]

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About Rob Fenn

Rob Fenn has been Head of the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department since March 2014. His last formal responsibility for human rights was in the mid 1990s, when he…

Rob Fenn has been Head of the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department
since March 2014. His last formal responsibility for human rights was in
the mid 1990s, when he served as UK Delegate on the Third Committee of
the General Assembly in New York (with annual excursions to what was
then the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva). Recent celebrations of
the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the post of UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights – a resolution he helped pilot through the
GA – came a shock. The intervening 20 years have flown: in Rome
(EU/Economics), in London (Southern European Department), in Nicosia
(Deputy High Commissioner) and latterly in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Rob,
Julia and their two sons loved Brunei, where British High Commissioners
are made especially welcome. The family’s activities included regular
walks in the pristine rainforest, expeditions upriver to help conserve
the Sultanate’s stunning biodiversity, and home movie making (in Brunei
it is almost impossible to take a bad photograph).
After
all those saturated colours, Rob worried that the move back to Britain
might feel like a shift into black and white. But the reunion with
family, friends and colleagues, and the boys’ brave reintegration into a
North London school, have been ample compensation. Julia’s main regret
is that, now she walks on Hampstead Heath, she no longer has an excuse
to carry a machete (“parang”).
Rob’s
problem is summed up in two types of reaction from friends outside the
office. On hearing that he is “in charge of human rights and democracy
at the FCO”, some think it sounds like a vast job: what else is there?
Others think it sounds wishy-washy: not in the national interest. Rob’s
mission is to take the Foreign Secretary’s dictum that “our values are
our interests”, and help his colleagues translate it into action in a
world so varied it can contain both Brunei’s clouded leopard and the
civil war in Syria.

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