Luisa Morgantini
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Luisa Morgantini (born November 5, 1940 in Villadossola) is an Italian Member of the European Parliament. She was elected on the Communist Refoundation Party ticket and sits with the European United Left - Nordic Green Left group.
She is a leading member of the Italian peace movement and was one of the founders of the Women in Black anti-war organisation.
On July 23, 2004 she was elected Chair of the Committee on Development.
Luisa Morgantini was born on November 5, 1940 in Villadossola (NO), Italy.
From 1954 to 1958 she worked as clerical worker, and from 1958 to 1964 as INCA social worker. In 1965-66 she was official at the Italian Communist Party in Bologna.
From 1967 to 1968 she studied at Ruskin College, Oxford - industrial sociology and economics. Adult education at the Humanitarian Society (1969-1970). Training officer for FLM trade union (1971-1974). Milan FIM-CISL secretariat (press and telecommunications sector) (1974-1985). International relations officer for FIM-CISL trade union (1985-1998). FEM European trade union executive committee (1987-1988). Electoral observer for the OSCE. Italy-Nicaragua coordinator (1979-1991).
Since 1979 she was involved with many solidarity and NGOs projects concerning lots of Countries, such as Nicaragua, Brazil, South Africa, Mozambique, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Palestine, Algeria, Peru. Since 1982 she has been dealing with Middle East issues and mainly Palestinian - Israeli conflict. Since 1988 she has been cooperating for the reconstruction of network and links between Israeli and Palestinian Peace movements. She has supported especially women associations in Israel and Palestine and in other Mediterranean Countries (ex Yugoslavia, Albania, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia).
National spokesperson for the Italian Association for Peace (a non-violent movement for peace and social justice); from 1994 to 1999 responsible for the 'Palestine' group. One of the founders of the 'Women in Black' anti-war movement and the international network 'Women for peace in conflict zones'. In 1995 she received the Israeli 'Women in Black' Peace Prize.
Luisa Morgantini is Member of the European Parliament in the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left Group - elected the first time in 1999 and again in 2004.
During the last term, she was chairman of the Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, member of the Committee on Development and Cooperation, of the Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation; substitute member of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy and of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities.
In this term she is Chair of the Committee on Development, co-chair of the election coordination group, member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, of the Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, and substitute memmber of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, and of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. As Member of the European Parliament she keeps on working for the solution of the Middle East conflict, for a just peace, for the right of the two peoples to live in peace and safety, within recognized borders. As part of this activism, she was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, as part of the project “1000 peace women for Nobel prize for peace 2005.”
