Political groups

2009-2019: Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

National parties

2009-2019: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

Biography

Barbara Lochbihler was born in Obergünzburg, Bavaria. She studied as a graduate financial officer and a social assistant, as well as studying political science, international law and economics. From 1992 to 1999, she was the Secretary General of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom in Geneva and from 1999 to 2009, she was the Secretary General of the German branch of Amnesty International.

In the 2009 European elections, she was elected to the European Parliament, where she was a member of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. She was re-elected in 2014. 

From 2009, she was active in the Committee on Foreign Affairs. She was the Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights from 2011 to 2014, having been a Member of the Subcommittee since 2009. From 2014 to 2019, she was a substitute Member of this subcommittee. She was also Chair of the Delegation for relations with Iran from 2009 to 2011, and from 2014 was a member of the and the Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Subcommittee on Human Rights - exchange of views on human rights in Syria. Barbara Lochbihler (L), Farah Hwijeh (R). © European Union 2013 - European Parliament

Lochbihler was confronted with much social inequality during her studies and during her time as a social worker. She has always been very concerned about the situation of women living in extreme poverty and violent conflicts, particularly in the Arab world. In her work at the Human Rights Committee, she was particularly concerned about the serious shortcomings in the implementation of human rights rules and the situation of convicts and prisoners.

For more information on her time as an MEP, click here.

What’s in the Archives

These fonds focus substantially on foreign affairs and human rights issues during the 7th and 8th parliamentary term. The documents have been grouped under two headings: parliamentary activity and political activity.

A significant number of documents relate to her parliamentary activity. In various inter-parliamentary delegations, Barbara Lochbihler was committed to developing links with Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Libya, Morocco), South East Asian countries (Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand), Iran and other eastern countries such as Syria and Gulf countries. Whether as a member of inter-parliamentary delegations or as a member of ad hoc delegations, Lochbihler's files contain information on countries where the focus was on matters of respect for human rights. These were matters of the widest scope, such as the fight against torture or the problem of migration.

Lochbihler was also a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Subcommittee on Human Rights. These files contain information on the organisation, functioning and work of the committees and Barbara Lochbihler's participation in the working groups.

On the basis of the above content, the files are rather homogeneous. They are classified into specific topics (country files, files on terrorism, migration,asylum, refugees, the International Criminal Court, the UN) and the main documents are:

• Legislative and plenary session documents (questions, resolutions, reports and draft reports)
• Background notes
• Copies of e-mails
• Media documents (press notes, newspaper articles)
• Reports from international institutions
• Mission reports
• Minutes of meetings of parliamentary committees and delegations
• Brochures, catalogues

A large number of documents contain handwritten notes from the Member. 

As far as her political activity is concerned, a small number of files make it possible to explore Lochbihler's relations with her political group ("The Greens"), the functioning of the group and her participation in working groups.
She was also a member of the network "Parliamentarians for Global Action".