Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece OBE was a colleague of the late Paddy Ashdown in UK’s House of Lords, and was the first British Parliamentarian of Turkish/Turkish-Cypriot heritage.
Meral has chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Sexual and Reproductive Health since 2010 and served on select committees including on “Soft Power”. “Sexual Violence in Conflict” and on the HoL Conduct Committee.
She was appointed as Commissioner to the UKs Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2009 -2013 and was the Liberal Democrats’ Equalities Spokesperson from 2011 – 2019.
In 2009 Meral was awarded the OBE in the Queens New Year Honours for services to local government. She received the honorary Decree of Doctor of Letters, from Coventry University in recognition of her work on minority communities, and her input towards the peace process in Cyprus.
Meral established the UKs first Turkish-speaking women’s centre, Imece, dedicated to supporting Turkish and Kurdish women who were victims of domestic violence, which celebrated its 30th anniversary.
She has been active in successfully campaigning to bring Afghan women, journalists, and academics to the UK since 2021.