Caroline Anne Cox, Baroness Cox, (née McNeill Love; born 6 July 1937) is a cross-bench member of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

. She is also the founder of an organisation called Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). Cox was created a Life Peer in 1982 and was a deputy speaker of the

from 1985 to 2005, as well as being a minister in government. She was also a Baroness-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II. She was Founder Chancellor of

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...

, Chancellor of

Liverpool Hope University , mottoeng=Hope to all who need it , established=1844 – Saint Katharine's College (as Warrington Training College)1856 – Notre Dame College (as Our Lady's Training College)1964 – Christ's College1979 – Liverpool Institute of Higher Edu ...

from 2006 to 2013, and is an Hon. Vice President of the

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...

. She was a founder Trustee of MERLIN

Medical Emergency Relief International Medical Emergency Relief International (Merlin) is a former British international non-governmental health charity which sends medical experts to global emergencies. In July 2013, Merlin merged with Save the Children. History Merlin was founded ...

. She is a prominent lay Anglican, closely identified with the conservative wing of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. According to a biography by Andrew Boyd, she is a practising third-order Anglican Franciscan.

Background

Cox was born on 6 July 1937 in London. She is the daughter of Robert McNeill Love, a surgeon and co-author of the textbook known as "Bailey and Love". She was educated at Channing School in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

. She became a state registered nurse at

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

from 1958, and a staff nurse at Edgware General Hospital from 1960. She married Dr Murray Newall Cox in 1959, remaining married to him until he died in 1997. The couple had two sons and one daughter. In the late 1960s she studied for a degree at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

where she graduated with a first class honours degree in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

in 1967 and a master's degree.

Academic and thinktank career and subsequent activities

On graduating, Cox became a sociology lecturer at the

Polytechnic of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

rising to become Principal Lecturer. From 1974 she was head of the Department of Sociology. An ''Evangelicals Now'' article sympathetically describes her approach to her discipline: "As a committed Christian she presented a Christian view of Sociology."Champion - Getting to know Baroness Cox
''Evangelicals Now'', July 2008. According to ''Evangelicals Now'': "It was a time of student unrest and the students organised demonstrations to disrupt lectures or meetings which they considered anti-Marxist. Cox bore the brunt of this and in 1974 the students passed a vote of no confidence in her." Her background in sociology led her to write books on the subject for nurses. In 1975, Cox co-wrote (with John Marks and Keith Jacka) ''The Rape of Reason: The Corruption of the Polytechnic of North London'', published by Churchill Press, attacking " Communist activity" at her workplace.

Martyn Hammersley Martyn Hammersley (born 1949) is a British sociologist whose main publications cover social research methodology and philosophical issues in the social sciences. Biography He studied sociology as an undergraduate at the London School of Economi ...

br>An Ideological Dispute: Accusations of Marxist Bias in the Sociology of Education During the 1970s
''Contemporary British History'', Volume 30, 2016 - Issue 2, Pages 242-259 , Published online: 21 December 2015 https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2015.1112275 She resigned from the Polytechnic in 1977 and was a tutor at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. She was involved in the right-wing thinktank Institute for the Study of Conflict and contributed to its report, the Gould report, on left-wing activism in British universities, in which she focused on "Marxist bias" in the Open University. In 1977 she moved to become Director of the Nursing Education Research Unit at Chelsea College of the University of London and remained in this post until 1984. She was made a Fellow of the

in 1985. She was also made an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

. She was later founding Chancellor of

. In 2006 she received an honorary law degree from the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

and was installed as the Chancellor of

in the same year.

The New Right and Thatcherism

Following her work on the Gould Report, Cox became a key figure in the

New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...

associated with

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, Keith Joseph and

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...

.Daniel Callaghan, ''Conservative Party Education Policies, 1976-1997: The Influence of Politics and Personality'', Sussex Academic Press, 2006Clyde Chitty ''Towards a New Education System: The Victory of the New Right?'' Psychology Press, 1989 She co-wrote ''The Pied Pipers of Education'' (1981) for the

Social Affairs Unit The Social Affairs Unit is a right-leaning think tank in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1980 as an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs, it publishes books on a variety of social issues. Its website notes that "many SAU supporters are inc ...

and worked with the

Centre for Policy Studies The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independ ...

, for which she wrote the influential pamphlet ''The Right to Learn'' (1982). Her work on education was very influential on Thatcher's education policies. She co-founded and co-directed the Educational Research Trust, founded in 1980, with John Marks; they were consulted about the drafting of the 1988 Education Reform Act, which introduced the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...

, grant-maintained schools and City Technology Colleges.John Marks obituary
Daily Telegraph 2 March 2012 She was involved in the Institute for European Defence and Security Studies, funded by the US-based

Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the preside ...

, in the early 1980s, for which she wrote ''Peace Studies: A Critical Survey'' (1984) with

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 ...

, published by the right-wing thinktank Civitas.Tim Mills et al,
The Cold War on British Muslims: An examination of Policy Exchange and the Centre for Social Cohesion
'', September 2011 She was a Director of the Conservative Philosophy Group from 1983 to 1985.Hughes, Mike 'Western Goals (UK)' '' Lobster Magazine'' 21, (May 1991) With Scruton and others she wrote ''Education and Indoctrination''. In the mid-1980s, she worked with Scruton as part of the Hillgate Group of Conservative activists; their pamphlet ''Whose Schools? A Radical Manifesto'', which she co-authored, was published in 1986, and contained many ideas that became Government policy under Thatcher. In 1987 she co-founded the

Committee for a Free Britain The Committee for a Free Britain (also known as the Campaign for a Free Britain) was a right-wing political pressure-group in the United Kingdom. Its introductory letter to all MPs, and others, stated that it was "formed in the run up to the 1987 ...

, funded by

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

, which at one point called for "the legalization of all drugs". She was the executive director of the

Institute for the Study of Terrorism Jillian Becker (born 2 June 1932) is a South African-born British author, journalist, and lecturer. She specialises in research about terrorism, having written '' Hitler's Children: The Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang'' (1977), amo ...

in 1985–1990. Since its founding in 2007, she has been closely involved, first as an advisor and from 2009 as director, in the

Centre for Social Cohesion The Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) was a British think tank with its headquarters in London. Founded in 2007 as part of another London think tank, Civitas, it became independent in 2008 and was eventually subsumed into a separate London think tank ...

. She is a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the far right

Gatestone Institute Gatestone Institute is a far-right think tank known for publishing anti-Muslim articles. It was founded in 2008 by Nina Rosenwald, who serves as its president. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former national security advisor, J ...

.Hilary Ake
Sharia Watch UK and the metamorphosis of Anne Marie Waters
Institute for Race Relations, 28 January 2015

Member of the House of Lords

Her peerage was announced on 15 December 1982 on a list of "working peers", on the recommendation of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, and she was granted the title of Baroness Cox, of Queensbury in Greater London, on 24 January 1983. Cox initially sat as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and served briefly as a Baroness-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II. She served as a Deputy Speaker of the

from 1986 to 2006.

Section 28

She supported

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

, which outlawed the "promotion" of homosexuality.

Education Reform bill

During the debates over the Education Reform bill, Cox worked together with

Michael Alison Michael James Hugh Alison (27 June 1926 – 28 May 2004) was a British Conservative politician. Born in Margate, Kent, Alison was educated at Eton College; Wadham College, Oxford; and Ridley Hall, Cambridge. During the war, he served in the C ...

to ensure that a commitment was made that state education was 'broadly Christian' in character. The bill later passed as the Education Reform Act 1988. She backed the reforms to reduce powers of

Local Education Authorities Local education authorities (LEAs) were local councils in England that are responsible for education within their jurisdiction. The term was used to identify which council (district or county) is locally responsible for education in a system wit ...

in 1993, arguing for a more strongly religious element to teaching.

Foreign affairs

Cox became a frequent contributor to Lords debates on Africa, and also raised other "forgotten conflicts" in letters to the press. She was already highlighting fighting in Sudan in September 1992, criticising Sudan's Islamist government and backing Dr.

John Garang John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) after the Second Sudanese Civil War, the comprehensive peace agreeme ...

's Sudan People's Liberation Army. After spending two years investigating the situation in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

firsthand, Cox criticised the government's treatment of Armenians in the breakaway region of

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

in 1993. She has stated that her stance is the "advocacy for Karabakh Armenians". In 2015, she was a member of the Armenian

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

. She is a strong supporter of self-determination for the Armenians of

. By 2003 she had made more than 60 trips to the region. Frank Pallone, Jr., the co-chairman of the US Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, praised her devotion to Armenia and Karabakh. On 15 February 2006 she was awarded the Mkhitar Gosh Medal by the President of Armenia

Robert Kocharyan Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( hy, Ռոբերտ Սեդրակի Քոչարյան ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh fro ...

. Cox is one of eleven officers of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea. The Group stated that the Obama administration brought with it an opportunity for a formal cessation of hostilities and normalisation of relations with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

Great Britain has Fallen

In 2002, she controversially endorsed and hosted the launch of the book ''Great Britain has Fallen'' by Wale Babatunde, a minister at the World Harvest Christian Centre in London, which claimed "that multi-culturalism is ruining Britain by importing 'foreign practices', homosexuality is 'destructive' and that abortion can be directly equated with the Holocaust" and described lesbianism as "against nature". In response, Labour's Tom Watson called for her expulsion from the Conservative Party.

Islam

In 2003, she wrote ''The 'West', Islam and Islamism: Is ideological Islam compatible with liberal democracy?'' with John Marks, published by Civitas, which argued "that Islamist terrorism was only part of a broader ideological challenge comparable to communist propaganda efforts during the Cold War". Cox introduced the Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill to the House of Lords, initially on 10 May 2012. with the observation that "Equality under the law is a core value of British justice. My bill seeks to preserve that standard. Many women say: 'We came to this country to escape these practices only to find the situation is worse here.'" It had its second reading and debate on 19 October 2012, but went no further. Cox aims to prevent discrimination against Muslim women and 'jurisdiction creep' in Islamic tribunals, which would be forced to acknowledge the primacy of English law under her Bill, which would have introduced an offence carrying a five-year jail sentence for anyone falsely claiming or implying that sharia courts or councils have legal jurisdiction over family or criminal law. The bill, which would apply to all arbitration tribunals if passed, aimed to tackle discrimination, which its supporters said is inherent in the courts, by banning the sharia practice of giving woman's testimony only half the weight of men's. In a similar way to Jewish

Beth Din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a Rabbinic Judaism, rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of ...

courts, sharia tribunals can make verdicts in cases involving financial and property issues which, under the

Arbitration Act 1996 The Arbitration Act 1996c 23 is an Act of Parliament which regulates arbitration proceedings within the jurisdiction of England and Wales and Northern Ireland. The 1996 Act only applies to parts of the United Kingdom. In Scotland, the Arbitrat ...

, are enforceable by the County Court or the High Court."Bill limiting sharia law is motivated by 'concern for Muslim women'"
''The Guardian''. London. 8 June 2011. Baroness Cox stated that "We cannot sit here complacently in our red and green benches while women are suffering a system which is utterly incompatible with the legal principles upon which this country is founded. If we don't do something, we are condoning it."
''The Independent''. London. 20 June 2011. The Bill was described by critics as "inflammatory". It did not reach a vote as it ran out of time. Cox continues fighting to stop sharia 'seeping' into enforcing divorce settlements.
''The Daily Telegraph.'' London. 22 April 2014 Cox re-introduced her legislation on 11 June 2014. One leading Muslim Conservative Party activist said "the Bill will not help to achieve any of its intended goal but will alienate many Muslims". Cox, speaking at a 2014 event organised by the Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

and The Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies, mentioned the alleged ‘ Trojan Horse plot’ in her speech as an example of secret takeover strategies by ‘Islamists’ in Africa made in order to ‘Islamize’ the continent. She said "“Islam is using the freedoms of democracy to destroy it.” In 2014, she hosted the parliamentary launch of Sharia Watch UK, an anti-Islam organisation led by UKIP candidate

Anne Marie Waters Anne Marie Dorothy Waters (born 24 August 1977) is a far-right politician and activist in the United Kingdom. She founded and led the anti-Islam party For Britain until its dissolution in 2022. She is also the director of Sharia Watch UK, an or ...

. Cox said sharia law "undermines the most fundamental principles of equality enshrined in British law" in respect of its treatment of women. Cox has been described as part of the

counter-jihad Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic bel ...

movement.

Eurosceptic and migration critic

Cox is a Eurosceptic. She rebelled over the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...

, supporting an amendment to require a nationwide referendum on ratification on 14 July 1993. In May 2004 she joined three other Conservative peers in signing a letter published by the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

urging voters to support it in the elections to the European Parliament. The Leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard, immediately withdrew the

party whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

, formally expelling them from the parliamentary party. Cox now sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. She sits on the Advisory Council of MigrationWatch.

David Pallister David Pallister (born as David Pallister Clark; 15 March 1945 – 4 September 2021) was a British investigative journalist. He worked on ''The Guardian'' for many years, specialising in miscarriages of justice, the arms trade, corruption in int ...

br>The numbers game
''The Guardian'', 21 March 2007

Jay Rayner Jason Matthew Rayner (born 14 September 1966) is an English journalist and food critic. Early life Jason Matthew Rayner was born on 14 September 1966. He is the younger son of Desmond Rayner and journalist Claire Rayner. His family is Jewish. H ...

br>Master of the numbers game
''The Observer'' Sun 7 January 2007Oscar Reye
Eyes to the Right
The Transnational Institute, 1 February 2007

Geert Wilders controversy

In February 2009, Cox courted controversy when she and

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

peer Lord Pearson invited Dutch Freedom Party leader

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

to show the anti-Islam film '' Fitna'' before the

. However, Wilders was prevented from entering the UK on the instructions of Labour Home Secretary

Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British broadcaster, political commentator and former Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. She served as Home Secretary from 2007 to 2009 ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

"Far-right Dutch MP refused entry to UK"
12 February 2009 In response, Cox and Pearson accused the Government of appeasing militant Islam. In 2010, Cox and Pearson successfully hosted Wilders and his film screening in the UK, with 200 members of the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right, Islamophobic organisation in the United Kingdom. A social movement and pressure group that employs street demonstrations as its main tactic, the EDL presents itself as a single-issue movement ...

marching in support of the screening, as well as anti-fascist protests and 50 arrests.Dutch MP Geert Wilders' anti-Islam film sparks protests
BBC, 5 March 2010 Lady Cox said the visit had been a victory for free speech, saying: ''"You don't have to agree but it is important to debate sensibly in a responsible and very democratic way."'' At the event, Wilders called for an end to immigration to Europe from Muslim countries, but that Muslims already in Europe who agree to obey the law would be welcome to remain. A Home Office spokesperson said the government "regrets the decision by Baroness Cox and Lord Pearson".

NGO work and Christian activities

Since 2009, Baroness Cox has participated in a conservative umbrella body within the

, the Federation of Confessing Anglicans, led by her close associate, then Bishop of Rochester

Michael Nazir-Ali Michael James Nazir-Ali ( ur, ; born 19 August 1949) is a Pakistani-born British Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop who served as the 106th Bishop of Rochester from 1994 to 2009 and, before that, as Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan ...

The Tushinskaya Children's Hospital Trust

Baroness Cox is president of the Tushinskaya Children's Hospital Trust and worked closely with its late patron, Diana, Princess of Wales. Baroness Cox and the Princess of Wales opened the hospital's school of paediatric nursing in 1995. The Trust enabled parents to spend more time with their children whilst they were in hospital.

Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust

The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), founded by Baroness Cox in 2003, works to provide lasting change through aid and advocacy for those suffering oppression and persecution, who are largely neglected by the international media . An Australian branch of HART was established in 2009.

Christian Solidarity International and Worldwide

Cox was active in

Christian Solidarity International Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is a Christian human rights NGO that is "committed to defending religious liberty, helping victims of religious repression, victimized children, and victims of disaster." It is based in Switzerland, with a ...

(CSI) before leading the breakaway

Christian Solidarity Worldwide Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs, persecuted for other religious belief or persecuted for lack of beli ...

in 1997. She was president of the latter until 2006, when she was replaced by

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving un ...

, thereafter remaining as its patron. During the 1992–93 Armenia-Azerbaijan war, CSI broke

’s blockade of the contested

territory numerous times to deliver humanitarian aid and document acts of violence against the Christian Armenian inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh. CSI also partnered with the

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...

foundation to send aid to refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. Witnessing the war on the ground, CSI published a detailed account of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War titled ''Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh'' co-authored by Cox with John Eibner. CSI’s involvement with Sudan began in 1992, when two of CSI’s leaders, Cox and Eibner, traveled to southern Sudan at the invitation of local churches to observe the effects of civil war on the Christian populations there. CSI became especially involved in "redeeming" (buying and freeing) slaves in 1995. Between 1997 and 2000, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) directly intervened to buy the freedom of alleged slaves, and in a letter to ''The Independent on Sunday'' Cox claimed and redeemed 2,281 slaves on eight visits to Sudan."This is no scam. The slaves are real", ''Independent on Sunday'', 3 March 2002, p. 27 Both the veracity of this claim and the rationale of slave redemption have been questioned by others in humanitarian community. Cox repeated the figure in 2011, adding that she had spent £100,000 buying and freeing slaves, tactic most anti-slavery charities condemned, arguing that such purchases only perpetuate and encourage the trade.Baroness Cox: 'If we ignore wrongs, we condone them'
19 June 2011 In 1995 she won the

Wilberforce Award Ratanak International (previously The Ratanak Foundation) is a Christian charity founded by Brian McConaghy in 1989 that works exclusively in Cambodia helping the country rebuild after decades of revolution, civil war and genocide. Ratanak, which ...

.Christine Barker, "The unsung hero's song", ''Birmingham Post'', 27 June 1998, p. 37 She is also a patron of the

Christian Institute The Christian Institute (CI) is a pressure group operating in the United Kingdom, promoting a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, founded on a belief in Biblical inerrancy. The CI is a registered charity. The group does not report numbers of sta ...

Global Panel Foundation and Prague Society

Cox is a member of the Board of Advisors of th
Global Panel Foundation
an NGO that works behind the scenes in crisis areas around the world. Baroness Cox is also a member of

Prague Society for International Cooperation The Prague Society for International Cooperation is a Prague-based non-governmental organization that originated in communist Central Europe, when political dissidents joined forces to oppose their respective regimes. Though several of its membe ...

, another NGO whose main goals are networking and the development of a new generation of responsible, well-informed leaders and thinkers.

Disability activism

Cox supports disability causes as a member of the World Committee on Disability. In 2004 she was a judge for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award, distributed annually at the United Nations in New York to a nation that has met the goals of the UN World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons.

Syria controversy

Cox has been a supporter of Syria's President

Bashar Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the S ...

. She visited him during the Syrian Civil War, during the siege of Aleppo, along with

, fellow crossbench peer Lord Hylton, and Andrew Ashdown, an Anglican vicar. She was widely condemned. Labour MP John Woodcock, vice-president of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Syria, said: "It is shocking to see a British parliamentarian giving international pariah al-Assad a photo opportunity to distract from the brutal and ongoing slaughter he is perpetrating on Syrian families. Whatever good intentions this British delegation has will fail; their presence at this man's side can only strengthen him as his campaign of terror continues." Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Hussein-Ece said it was "shameful" for members of the House of Lords to "sit down for a chat with a mass murderer and a war criminal". Russian state media claimed Cox said that Assad had an “openness for the development of civil society, democracy and change”.Former British archbishop meets top Assad adviser in Damascus
Middle East Eye, 28 November 2017 After her visit, in early 2017, she went to the US to lobby for president Assad's government.A British Baroness Wants To Rekindle Donald Trump's Affection For Bashar Assad
Huffington Post, May 2017 While there, she expressed doubt that Syrian government forces were responsible for

Khan Shaykhun chemical attack The Khan Shaykhun chemical attack took place on 4 April 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib Governorate of Syria. The town was reported to have been struck by an airstrike by government forces followed by massive civilian chemical ...

. In late 2017, she returned to Syria again, along with former Archbishop of Canterbury,

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the C ...

. She reportedly met with an Assad advisor named on American and European Union sanctions lists as complicit in Syrian government war crimes. Again, the visit was widely condemned by politicians and human rights groups in the UK, and described by analysts as a “propaganda coup” for the Assad government. In a subsequent parliamentary debate, she referred to Syrian rebels as "jihadists".

Media appearances

Baroness Cox regularly appears on the BBC ''

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'' television programme and has presented the "Soap Box" with "A Moral Maze". She also appears on

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and other channels associated with the Russian government, as she feels they are more frank about Islam's threat to Western traditions.

Honours

Cox has been honoured with the

Bibliography

* ''A Sociology of Medical Practice'' (1975) * ''Rape of Reason: The Corruption of the Polytechnic of North London ''(Keith Jacka, with Caroline Cox and John Marks, jt au 1975) * ''The Right to Learn ''(jt au 1982) * ''Sociology: A Guide for Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors'' (jt au 1983) * ''Choosing a State School: how to find the best education for your child'' (jt au 1989) * ''Trajectories of Despair; misdiagnosis and maltreatment of Soviet orphans'' (with John Eibner 1991) * ''Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: war in Nagorno Karabakh'' (1993) * ''Islam, Islamism and the West: Is ideological Islam compatible with liberal democracy?'' (2005) * ''Made to Care: the case for residential and village communities for people with a mental handicap'' * ''Baroness Cox: A voice for the voiceless.'' (1999) Boyd, A. Lion Books.

Published Biographies

Lady Cox has been the subject of two published biographies, ''Baroness Cox: A Voice for the Voiceless'' by Andrew Boyd; and ''Baroness Cox: Eyewitness to a Broken World'' by Lela Gilbert.

References

External links

Office in UK ParliamentCaroline Cox Personal Website