MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
News Release (No: 069/07) issued by The Government News Network on
12 June 2007
Marie Staunton and
Sarah Cooke OBE have been appointed as UK independent member and
alternate member of the management board of the European Union
Fundamental Rights Agency.
Marie Staunton is chief executive of Plan UK, a worldwide
organisation working with communities in 50 developing countries.
A solicitor with wide experience in cases of gender and race
discrimination and human rights litigation, she is a former
director of Amnesty UK.
Sarah Cooke was director of the British Institute of Human Rights
from 1998 to 2005. A solicitor specialising in asylum appeals, she
has also worked as a field researcher in Burma and Thailand for
Human Rights Watch.
The Fundamental Rights Agency provides European Union
institutions with assistance and expertise on fundamental rights.
It takes over the remit of the European Monitoring Centre on
Racism and Xenophobia and liaises with the Council of Europe and
other international human rights organisations and
non-governmental organisations.
The agency began operating on 1 March 2007 and is based in Vienna.
Notes to Editors
1. Marie Staunton began her career as chief caseworker for a
network of hostels for addicts and homeless people in the UK and
the Republic of Ireland. In 1977 she worked as a solicitor on test
cases for Gypsy families, cases of sex and race discrimination and
general human rights litigation work. She has been acting general
secretary of LIBERTY, and Director of the UK Section of Amnesty
International. She spent a period in legal publishing at Pearson
before joining UNICEF as Deputy Executive Director of Programmes.
Since 2000 she has been Chief Executive of Plan UK, a worldwide
development organisation.
2. Sarah Cooke OBE began her career as a research assistant at
the Law Commission after which she worked as a solicitor,
specialising in asylum appeals. In 1997 she was a field researcher
in Burma and Thailand with Human Rights Watch, and then became
Director of the British Institute of Human Rights. She now heads
an independent consulting company which specialises in human
rights, equality and migration. She has been a trustee of British
Irish Rights Watch since 1999 (Chair since 2006) and trustee of
the Lloyds TSB Foundation since 2006.
3. Members of the Management Board and alternate members are
appointed for a period of five years. They receive a daily
allowance of £300 from the Government for attending meetings of
the board. Travel and other expenses are paid by the European Commission.
4. The Fundamental Rights Agency will:
* Collect and analyse data.
* Develop methods and standards to improve the comparability and
reliability of data at European level.
* Carry out or sponsor scientific research and surveys.
* Publish an annual report on fundamental rights issues.
* Publish thematic reports based on its analysis and research.
5. The management board will be composed of one independent
person appointed by each member state, one independent person
appointed by the Council of Europe and two representatives of the
European Commission.
6. For more information on the European Union: http://europa.eu/index_en.htm.
7. For more information on the European Union Fundamental Rights
Agency: http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php.
8. The Council Regulation establishing the Agency and fact sheet
produced by the European Commission can be downloaded from the
Agency's web site (http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php).
http://www.justice.gov.uk
ENDS