Baroness Caroline Cox - "A Light in the Darkness: The Privilege of Making a Difference"

Baroness Caroline Cox, an Anglican laywoman and former deputy speaker of Great Britain’s House of Lords, is a champion of human rights for the weak and defenseless. Due to her vigorous personality, she has also been described as a “British Joan of Arc” for our times, incarnating the noblest spirit of chivalry for her staunch anti-slavery campaigns.

She has made headlines for unearthing abuses and atrocities that nobody else seemed to be able to discover; for example, the fact that in Sudan Christians have been crucified, unbelievable as it sounds in the 20th century.

Baroness (Caroline) Cox was created a Life Peer in 1982 and was a deputy speaker of the House of Lords from 1985 to 2005.  She was Founder Chancellor of Bournemouth University, 1991-2001.  She is now Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University and is a Vice President of the Royal College of Nursing.  She is heavily involved with international humanitarian work and is Chief Executive of HART [Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust].  She was a non-executive director the Siberian Medical University; and a founder Trustee of MERLIN [Medical Emergency Relief International].

Lady Cox has been honoured with

• the Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
• the Wilberforce Award for her humanitarian work
• the International Mother Teresa Award from the All India Christian Council
• the Mkhitar Gosh Medal conferred by the President of the Republic of Armenia; and
• the anniversary medal presented by Lech Walesa, the former President of Poland, at the 25th anniversary of the Polish Solidarity Movement.

She has also been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Honorary Doctorates by universities in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, and Armenia.

Baroness Cox's humanitarian aid work has taken her on many missions to conflict zones, including the Armenian enclave of Nagorno Karabakh; Sudan; Nigeria; Uganda; the Karen, Karenni, Shan and Chin peoples in the jungles of Burma; and communities suffering from conflict in Indonesia.  She has visited North Korea helping to promote Parliamentary initiatives and medical programmes. She has also been instrumental in helping to change the former Soviet Union policies for orphaned and abandoned children from institutional to foster family care.

Recent publications include Cox’s Book of Modern Saints and Martyrs (with Catherine Butcher) 2006; This Immoral Trade: Slavery in the 21st Century 2006; and The West, Islam and Islamism: Is ideological Islam compatible with liberal democracy? (now in its 2nd edition), both co-authored with John Marks.  Two biographies have also been published by Monarch/Lion Hudson: The Baroness Cox: Voice for the Voiceless, by Andrew Boyd and, more recently, The Baroness Cox: Eyewitness to a broken world by Lela Gilbert.

 

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