It is with great sadness that we report the death of our former colleague Christine Loudes who passed peacefully away on 28 December 2016. For the brief time she was among us here at EIGE she touched our hearts and her friendship will be sadly missed.

Christine dedicated her academic and professional life to the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality. She obtained her PhD in women’s rights and politics from Queen’s University, Belfast (2003), building on an LLM degree in human rights law from the University of Nottingham and a Master’s degree in political science and law from the Strasburg-based Robert Schumann University.

Prior to joining the European Institute for Gender Equality in 2015, she served as Director of the END FGM Campaign with Amnesty International from 2009 to 2014 and was an advisor and expert for the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Institute for Gender Equality on FGM in Europe and gender based violence. She was awarded Amnesty International’s Gender Defender Award in December 2014 and its END FGM European campaign was recognised as a promising practice by UN Women. The issue of FGM has since been mainstreamed in legislation, policy frameworks and practices of EU Member States.

Between 2004 and 2008 she was Policy Director of the European Region of International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) supporting the cause of human rights of LGBT people in the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union and the United Nations. She also held research positions with the Northern Irish Human Rights Commission from 2001 to 2004.

Her sense of fairness, human solidarity and commitment to end all forms of gender-based violence and inequalities, were reflected throughout her life as she incessantly sought to enable disempowered victims to become actors with strong voices.

Our deepest sympathy goes to her husband David, her daughter Lucille, the rest of her family and her numerous friends.