Remembering Tom Lantos

ROLE IN HUMAN RIGHTS

Praised by leaders as divergent as the humanitarian Bono and President George Bush as a champion of human rights, Tom Lantos was the founding Co-Chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which his wife, Annette, directed as a volunteer since its inception. Through the Caucus, Lantos served as a voice for the rights of persecuted racial, religious, and ethnic minorities around the world.

Lantos brought major concerns to Congress such as violence against women, killings in Darfur and the Congo, and reducing the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Lantos also brought attention to the lesser-known causes, such as abuses against Tibetans, the Kurds, the Burmese, and indigenous people on every continent. He was a strong opponent of anti-Semitism and the persecution of religious minorities, and also of abuses against gays and lesbians.