Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - Legal

We enjoyed joining FCDO Human Rights colleagues at the Chevening Orientation yesterday. 2024’s 1400 Chevening Awards Scholars hail from around the world & it was a privilege to engage & exchange views on different ways to advance human rights & rule of law through partnerships & dialogue

We’re so excited! 🎉 Today marks a huge milestone as the #Chevening class of 2024-25 gathers together for the first time at their #CheveningOrientation! 🙌✨ Here’s to the start of an incredible year ahead filled with growth, learning, and making lifelong friendships 🌍📚 Let’s do this, Cheveners! 💫 #MyCheveningJourney #IAmChevening

The legal team at the UK Mission to the EU hosted an engaging discussion last Thursday on the legal challenges faced by NATO in today’s geopolitical climate. Many thanks to our excellent speaker John Swords, the NATO legal adviser and director of NATO’s Office of Legal Affairs, and to our guests from the Brussels legal community for joining us.

Yesterday our Europe Centre of Excellence brought together Whitehall lawyers to discuss some of the key legal issues surrounding the UK's relations with the European Union. We delved into the reset of relations with the EU and explored its implications for government lawyers, talked about the Windsor Framework, and received an update from the UK Mission to the EU in Brussels. One of the highlights was gaining insights into the latest developments in EU law from Thomas de la Mare KC of Blackstone Chambers. The informative and engaging sessions provided valuable insights into the legal landscape of UK-EU relations. Many thanks to the speakers and colleagues for their active participation and contributions.

Last night FCDO lawyer Emma H. spoke to a group of students about her reflections on international law as a profession at an event with the Glasgow Centre for International Law & Security Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security. Emma was able to share her journey as a University of Glasgow alumna three times over, including the LL.M on International Law programme, and her recent move back to Glasgow working at the FCDO’s joint HQ at Abercrombie House. We look forward to our next opportunity to build even deeper relationships with the international law community in Scotland.

It was a busy 2 weeks for Team UK in New York & Geneva. At the UN, we discussed UK views on international law topics from sea-level rise to the role of the ILC. We also supported Dapo Akande’s campaign for election as a judge to the International Court of Justice. In Geneva, at the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, we reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to implementing & complying with International Humanitarian Law. The UK is committed to upholding & promoting the international rule of law.

Last week, in the margins of the 34th international Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva, the UK National IHL Committee (chaired by FCDO Legal Director, Andrew Murdoch) was delighted to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukraine Interagency Commission on the Application and Implementation of IHL (chaired by Anatolyi Stelmakh, Acting Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine), as part of our joint efforts to improve collaboration between IHL Committees and help strengthen and promote the domestic implementation of IHL. Such collaboration between National IHL bodies is specifically encouraged by the newly adopted Resolution on Building a universal culture of compliance with IHL. British Red Cross UK Mission Geneva

This week, colleagues from Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - Legal Sally Langrish Andrew Murdoch are in Geneva with Foreign and Commonwealth Office Humanitarian Teams and British Red Cross for the 34 International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent #RCRC24 Finding ways to work together, to support and strengthen humanitarian law. The International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC has a unique role to help and protect people affected by armed conflict. It brings institutional experience from the last 160 years. The UK respects the distinct role and mandate of the ICRC as a neutral, impartial and independent actor in conflict zones. We all have a role to play to ensure human lives are valued and protected in times of war; and that peacekeepers, aid workers, medical services and journalists are protected. The UK looks forward to working with partners who have been at the conference this week and around the world, to uphold the values of our commonwealth humanity in the most challenging environments. The committed team in Geneva including Simon Manley Eleanor Sanders and Sarah Macrory as well as those in the UK Tal Geron and FCDO Legal and Humanitarian colleagues continue to ensure the resolutions passed at #RCRC24 progress global commitments to international humanitarian law, locally led action and preventing the disasters that ruin lives.

FCDO Legal Directorate’s Treaty Unit performs the UK’s role as depositary for over 50 multilateral treaties, including the founding treaty of the SKA Observatory, the Convention Establishing the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. Germany’s ratification of the Convention took effect on 1 November. https://lnkd.in/grgsWPxx

UK Government continues to collaborate with the British Red Cross to provide practical assistance to selected States who wish to produce their own voluntary reports on International Humanitarian Law implementation at the domestic level. https://lnkd.in/d3rB6WQG