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February 20th, 2012
The World Day of Social Justice was established on February 20th in 2009 to
promote gender equality, fair employment, social well-being, and justice around the world.
In his message last year the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said:
“Social justice is more than an ethical imperative, it is a foundation for national stability and global prosperity. Equal opportunity, solidarity and respect for human rights — these are essential to unlocking the full productive potential of nations and peoples..”
The 3oth August each year offers the world community the 
opportunity to remember the victims of enforced disappearance. The day aims to draw our attention to the plight of those who have been imprisoned without their friends or relatives knowing where or why; the agonising of their families; and also to highlight the work of those organisations who campaign against secret imprisonment and work to support the ‘disappeared’ and their families. The International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances has instigated this date as a commemorative day in a bid to bring about the effective implementation of an international convention to protect the ‘disappeared’. Watch the movingly illustrative video…
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‘Would You Take Tea With Tyrants?’ is the question that journalist 
Lyse Doucet put to politicians, diplomats and activists around the world. In an interesting article for the BBC she gets people who have dealt with the worst tyrants in modern history to open up about how they separate emotion from the need to conduct business and asks whether engagement is always the right thing to do. Ambassadors and envoys often talk to people they see as tyrants or terrorists. But why do they do it? Former Finnish President, Marrti Ahtisaari, a Nobel Prize winner advises, “You don’t need to love the people you talk to but you have to talk to everybody whose assistance you need to solve the problems.” Listen to the programme or read the article. Comments Norwegian Envoy, Jan Egeland.
If you want to make a difference where human rights are most at stake, you have to meet them”
Hello, I'm Deborah Swallow and, for the last fifteen years, I've worked in over thirty countries addressing the complexities of people working internationally across multiple cultures, so individuals and organisations alike can gain an authentic competitive edge and win in international markets. 