William Hague

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MundoAméricaMundoOriente Próximo, ,

Among the memorabilia of my time as foreign secretary are several chess sets, each of which brings back some aspect of the country it came from. One was a gift from the Russian government that I was advised not to use until checks had been made to ensure it wasn’t transmitting my conversations back to Moscow. Those little chess figures were innocent, but they always remind me that Russia has more dangerous pawns elsewhere.

My favourite, however, is the set I bought in Afghanistan, its meticulously carved pieces recalling the rich culture, history and diversity of a misunderstood land. And if you clattered across its skies in military helicopters, as I did many times, you could see at once how geography had dictated that diversity — vast deserts and mountain ranges with hill villages perched beyond the reach of conquerors or centralised authority.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial

Imagina que eres testigo de cómo unos hombres armados se llevan a un miembro de tu familia de tu casa, para luego violarlo, venderlo como esclavo sexual o encarcelarlo para torturarlo sexualmente. Imagina que eso le pasa a decenas de miles de mujeres, hombres y menores de tu país, durante años y años, y que vives en un entorno así de peligroso y traumático.

Nos hemos unido porque teníamos en común la cercanía con un país en concreto: Bosnia. Allí, cerca de 50.000 mujeres y no sabemos cuántos hombres fueron violados. Han pasado veinte años sin que se haya hecho justicia para la inmensa mayoría de estas víctimas.…  Seguir leyendo »

Europa, , , ,

This week European nations adopted unprecedented sanctions on Russia. These are not designed to punish the Russian people. They are a message and a warning to Russia’s leaders.

We have not embarked on this course lightly. For twenty years Britain and our allies in Europe and Nato have gradually built a normal relationship with Russia. Russia joined the G8 and the World Trade Organisation, we created the Nato-Russia Council, and we have worked together on the United Nations Security Council from Yemen to Somalia. We have all gained from this cooperation.

But Russia’s actions in Ukraine hark back to a wholly different era.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial   

Todos los días salen a la luz noticias de los horribles crímenes que se están cometiendo en Siria. Ahora, la ONU ha confirmado que se está recurriendo a la violación para aterrorizar y castigar a mujeres, hombres y niños durante los registros a viviendas y en los interrogatorios, así como en los controles fronterizos, los centros de detención y las cárceles de todo el país.

El último y terrible informe de la Comisión de Investigación de la ONU explica cómo una madre fue violada y obligada por sus raptores a cocinar y limpiar para ellos, amenazándola con asesinar a sus hijos si se negaba.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial   

Tous les jours, des informations sur les crimes épouvantables commis en Syrie parviennent au reste du monde. L’ONU a maintenant confirmé que le viol y est utilisé pour terroriser les femmes, les hommes et les enfants, que ce soit lors des fouilles de domiciles ou d’interrogatoires, aux postes de contrôle ou dans les centres de détention et les prisons à travers le pays.

Le dernier rapport de la commission d’enquête de l’ONU cite le témoignage poignant d’une femme violée puis forcée de faire la cuisine et le ménage pour ses ravisseurs, sous peine de voir ses enfants mis à mort. Il comporte aussi le récit d’une étudiante violée parce que son frère était recherché par les autorités.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial   

Each day accounts of horrific crimes in Syria reach the outside world. Now the United Nations has confirmed that rape is being used to terrorize and punish women, men and children, during house searches and interrogations, at checkpoints, and in detention centres and prisons across the country.

The latest harrowing U.N. Commission of Inquiry report describes a mother being raped and forced to cook and clean for her captors, under the threat of the murder of her children. It tells the story of a university student who was raped because her brother was wanted by the government. These accounts are the tip of the iceberg.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

The faces of the victims of last week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria are haunting. We still do not know how many people died. Médecins Sans Frontières, an independent humanitarian organisation working with hospitals in Syria, estimates that there were 3,600 casualties, including 355 fatalities, among them many children.

According to the UN, the Syrian conflict is already the worst refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide, creating nearly two million refugees and killing more than 100,000 people so far. But it is now infamous for another, equally chilling reason: this is the first time that chemical warfare has been used anywhere in the world in the 21st century.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaPolítica Exterior

This day five years ago, the European Union and Ukraine started negotiations on a groundbreaking new agreement with the aim of fostering Ukraine’s political association and economic integration with the E.U.

By now, we should have been able to celebrate a signed and ratified agreement, and a successful Ukraine making progress toward even closer cooperation with the E.U. Instead, we pass a new milestone on what is becoming a much too long and painful road.

In March 2007, hopes were high for a sustainable democratic development of Ukraine. Indeed, the country has been regarded as a beacon of democracy in the former Soviet Union and has a better track record of free and fair elections than most other countries in the region.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

El Reino Unido ha acogido una importante conferencia internacional sobre Somalia, a la que asistieron jefes de Estado y altos representantes de más de 50 países y organizaciones, entre los que se encontraban el secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban-Ki Moon; la secretaria de Estado de Estados Unidos, Hilary Clinton; el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de España, José Manuel García Margallo, y una amplia delegación de líderes somalíes. Juntos, acordamos que es el momento justo para poner en marcha una serie de medidas prácticas para ayudar a Somalia a recuperarse y encarrilar su situación.

En primer lugar, establecimos que el gobierno de transición de Somalia no puede continuar prorrogándose, poniendo como fecha límite el mes de agosto.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalOrden Mundial,

At the end of 2009, the Start treaty between the United States and Russia expired. For the first time in decades there are no mutual inspections and monitoring between the United States and Russia in the nuclear field. For more than a year, the two largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons have been without the finely calibrated system of trust and verification which the original Start treaty from 1991 ensured.

On April 8, the United States and Russia signed the New Start treaty, which represents a significant step forward in the nuclear commitments of both countries. The treaty would reduce the numbers of strategic weapons to a level of 1,550.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

European Union enlargement, the transformation of a mainly Western European Club into a truly pan-European Union, has been one of the E.U.’s greatest success stories. But the historic mission to bring further stability, democracy and prosperity to the whole Continent is not yet finished.

On Monday, we will meet our colleagues from around the European Union at the General Affairs Council in Brussels to set out perspectives for the enlargement process and the countries moving down the path to E.U. membership. This will clearly be a significant occasion to turn around the inward-looking tendencies of recent years and revitalize the vision of an open Europe.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,  

La semana pasada el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU envió una clara señal a Irán de que el mundo no pasaría por alto su negativa de negociar su programa nuclear. La última Resolución manifiesta una decisión y determinación muy valorada por el nuevo Gobierno británico, que desempeñó un papel protagonista en su elaboración. El pasado sábado fue el aniversario de las elecciones presidenciales iraníes de 2009 y de las dramáticas escenas que sucedieron después. Los dos acontecimientos son distintos, pero representan a un Irán que está aislado y en desacuerdo con la comunidad internacional, y con muchos de sus propios ciudadanos.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,  

This week the UN Security Council sent a strong signal to Iran that the world will not walk away in the face of its refusal to negotiate over its nuclear programme. The new resolution is a statement of resolve and determination that the new British Government welcomes and played a leading role in bringing about. Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the 2009 Iranian presidential elections and the dramatic scenes that followed. The two events are distinct, but they paint a picture of an Iran that is isolated and at loggerheads with the international community as well as many of its own people.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaUE a debate

El pasado noviembre, Europa celebró el vigésimo aniversario de la caída del Muro de Berlín. El contraste entre la Europa de entonces y la de ahora demuestra lo que la UE ha conseguido en el transcurso de estos años. A pesar de la actual crisis económica, el continente nunca ha sido más libre, ni más estable, ni más próspero, y la Unión merece un crédito considerable por ello.

La UE es una institución de enorme importancia para el Reino Unido y para la política exterior británica. Y aunque desde el Partido Conservador casi nunca hemos rehuido las críticas, con toda franqueza, cuando hemos creído que la Unión ha hecho cosas mal como colectivo, de la misma manera hemos sido los primeros defensores de sus grandes logros, como el mercado único y su ampliación.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaConvención y Tratados

The working text for the EU treaty was published in English for the first time at the end of July. We can now see more clearly than ever that this new treaty is essentially the old EU constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters just two years ago, but brought back under another name.

Or rather it is clear only when the deep legal obscurity of the text has been penetrated. That obscurity is deliberate. As Giuliano Amato, the former Italian Prime Minister and vice-president of the body that drafted the original constitution said, the treaty’s draughtsmen “decided that the document should be unreadable.…  Seguir leyendo »