Anne-Marie Lizin

05 January 1949 – 17 October 2015

It is with great sadness that we inform you that Anne-Marie Lizin, former President of the Socialist International Women (SIW) passed away on 17 October 2015 at the age of 66.

Anne-Marie Lizin was a Belgium politician who served as SIW President from 1993 to 1997. She served as President of the Belgium Senate from 2004 to 2007 and was a Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1988.

Anne-Marie Lizin was passionate about human rights and dedicated her life to tackling human rights issues and in particular, the human rights of women and girls. She also worked tirelessly on eradicating human trafficking. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and in 2008 she created the HOCRINT organisation – an international network working to end honour crimes and forced marriages. She was also actively involved in the End Human Trafficking Now (EHTN) organisation.

In 2006 Lizin became Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and it was here that she worked on the closure of the Guantánamo detention camp.

During her time in politics, Lizin also released over 30 publications including ‘Women of Europe and the Third World, What Solidarity?’ and ‘Social Democracy Tomorrow’.

 

_____________