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Emma Bonino
Member of the European Parliament. Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy
International Crisis Group (ICG) Board Member
American University of Cairo Distinguished Visiting Professor
Born Bra (Cuneo), Italy, on March 9, 1948
Nationality Italian
Status Single
Studies Degree in Modern Languages, Bocconi University, Milan,
1972
National Political Career
- Elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies
in 1976; re-elected at every subsequent election (1979, 1983,
1987, 1992, 1994). Has held office such as that of chair of the
parliamentary group of the Radical Party and was a member of the Presidential
Bureau of the Parliament.
- Founder in 1975 of the CISA, Information Centre
on Sterilisation and Abortion, and promoter of the referendum which
led to the introduction of the legalisation of abortion in Italy.
- Promoter of a referendum against nuclear energy
(1986) that led to the rejection of a civil nuclear energy programme
in Italy.
International Political
Career
- Elected to the European Parliament in 1979;
re-elected in 1984 and 1999.
- President (1991-1993) and Secretary (1993-1994),
Transnational Radical Party.
- Appointed in October 1994 Head of the Italian
Government delegation to the UN General Assembly for the "Moratorium
on death penalty" initiative.
- Appointed in 1994 European Commissioner
responsible for Consumer Policy, Fisheries and the European Community
Humanitarian Office (ECHO). In 1997 her field of competence was widened
to include consumer health protection and food safety.
- Appointed, in November 2002, Head of the of
the Italian Government Delegation at the Inter-governmental Conference
of the Community of Democracies in Seoul
Campaigns on issues related
to civil society undertaken at international level
For almost thirty years Emma Bonino's political activities, have been characterised
by the rigorous practice of "active non-violence", defined and adopted by
Mahatma Gandhi and now practised by the Transnational Radical Party. This
explains her frequent participation in the hunger and thirst strikes, as
well as in the acts of civil disobedience, that have accompanied the main
political campaigns launched by her party. The aim of active non-violence
is to force the institutions to respect themselves and their own laws. Acts
of civil disobedience aim to show the inadequacy or the iniquity of a particular
law,
and therefore the need to change it, not by contesting it with words but
by applying it "to its extreme consequences", for example by confessing
that one has violated it, thus leading to trials that have exemplary value
for the general public . Strongly committed against any discrimination,
particularly on women, sexual behaviours, and religious freedom, she has
promoted and organised several campaigns, all aiming at solving major social
problems with the methodology of "regulating and legalising", methodology
which she considers the most apt at curbing criminal interests and the most
adequate to overcome dangerous gaps between society, laws and institutions.
With this methodology and this concept, battles against the prohibition
of divorce and against clandestine abortion were won in Italy and are currently
being used in the fight against punitivism and prohibition on drugs.
- Founder (1978) and head of the association "Food
and Disarmament International", which led a campaign for famine-relief
based on the "Manifesto of Nobel Prize Winners" (signed by 113 Nobel
Laureates), as well as head of PARIFA (1982) (Italian Parliamentarians
against Hunger), an organisation which played a major role in the
increase ten times over of the Italian contribution to development assistance.
Both organisations were based on the concept of promoting "democracy"
as a human right in itself, as foreseen in The Universal Declaration
of human rights.
- Promoter of an international campaign (1987) in
support of civil and political rights in Eastern Europe.
- 1990/2002. Promoter of international campaigns
in favour of ad hoc tribunals on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda; for the establishment of a permanent international criminal
court (Rome Diplomatic Conference and approval of the Statute in 1998),
a moratorium on the death penalty, and measures to combat AIDS.
- Among the founders of the NGOs No Peace Without
Justice and Hands Off Cain.
- 1997/1998. Promoter, as European Commissioner,
of the European Parliament campaign "A flower for the women of Kabul"
(in collaboration with "Médécins du Monde" and with the support of European
and American NGOs), against discrimination in general in Afghanistan
and in particular to give Afghani women access to humanitarian aid.
- 2000/2002. Among the promoters of an international
campaign (in collaboration with the European Commission, the European
Parliament, the Inter-African Committee against traditional practices
and a specially-formed network of European NGOs) for the eradication
of female genital mutilation (FGM) and other "traditional practices"
in the 28 African and Arab countries in which they are practised, and
for the recognition by the Member States of the EU of the right to asylum
of women and girls who may be victims of FGM.
Among the organisers in Cairo, where she lives, of the International Conference
(June 2004) on "Legal Tools for the elimination of FGM": the conference
was opened by Her Excellency Susan Mubarak, Her Excellency Grand Imam
Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Bishop Moussa, the Bishop
for Youth of the Coptic Orthodox Church, representative of Pope Shenouda
III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Coptic Church, and was attended
by representatives of governments and NGOs from the twenty-eight most
affected Afro-Arab countries.
- December 2001. Promoter of the international campaign
for the inclusion of women in the interim Government of Afghanistan.
Awards
- Awarded the "Gran Cruz de la Orden de Mayo"
(1995) by the President of Argentina
- Named "European Personality of the Year" (1996)
by the French Catholic weekly "La vie"
- Named "European Communicator of the Year" (1997)
by the British weekly "PR Week"
- Awarded the "Premio Principe de Asturias" (1998)
for international co-operation by H.E. Prince Felipe of Spain
- Awarded the "Order of the Prince Branimir"
(2002) by the President of Croatia "for her contribution to the
independence of Croatia and for her promotion of democracy"
- Awarded the "Gonfalone d'Argento" (2002)
by the Tuscany Region for her activity promoting Human Rights, especially
against the death penalty.
- Awarded the "Premio Presidente della Repubblica"
(2003) for her commitment in promoting human and civil rights world-wide.
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Other news and sites on Emma Bonino
BONINO/ACNUR
EMMA
BONINO SI FELICITA CON KOFI ANNAN PER LA "SAGGEZZA" DELLA SUA SCELTA.
QUANTO AL COMPORTAMENTO DEI RESPONSABILI DELLA POLITICA ESTERA ITALIANA
La Stampa - 25.10.00
Onu,
Migone e Bonino bocciati Il Commissariato per i rifugiati va a un olandese
di Andrea di Robilant
Emma
Bonino al Parlamento Europeo
Profile
as European commissioner
EMMA BONINO CANDIDATA A PRESIDENTE
DELLA REGIONE PIEMONTE PER LA LISTA EMMA BONINO
emmaforpresident.it
emmaforeurope.it
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