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Emma Bonino, Italian icon of women's and civil rights, dies at 78

2026-09-11 13:34:51Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Emma Bonino, Italian icon of women's and civil rights, dies at 78

Emma Bonino, the radical Italian politician who led campaigns to legalize abortion and divorce despite opposition from the Vatican, has died at the age of 78. Always at the forefront of human and civil rights, radical, secular, feminist and militant, she remained in politics for half a century.

"Today we lose not only our leader, but also one of the most clear-sighted, courageous and free figures in the political history of our country," the small party she founded, More Europe, said on Facebook on Friday.

Bonino served as a European commissioner and as Italy's foreign minister, but was best known as a militant feminist dedicated to political and humanitarian causes. "Her life was a long struggle against everything that denies freedom: against clandestine abortion, world hunger, the control of party politics, female genital mutilation, retributive justice, genocide and every form of authoritarianism," her party said.

Bonino was respected across the political spectrum. Italy's far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, paid tribute to her, saying that although "their backgrounds and perspectives differed, this never prevented me from acknowledging her importance and role in the public life of our nation."

Even after the Radicals' political star faded, Bonino remained a key political figure and human rights activist in Italy for more than five decades. With her sharp wit and incisive knowledge, she appeared frequently on Italian television. After a cancer diagnosis in 2015, she appeared in public wearing colorful headscarves.

Bonino first became involved in Italian politics after she became pregnant at the age of 26 and had an abortion, even though it was illegal at the time. “I decided that never, never, never again should anyone suffer this humiliation,” she said.

She surrendered to the police, turning her private “crime” into a public act of defiance. The arrest made headlines in the media, sparking a campaign that led to the legalization of abortion in 1978. It also put Bonino in parliament with the Radical Party, a small but unyielding force for civil rights.

During her 50-year political career, Bonino served as foreign minister, trade minister, and EU affairs minister in the center-left Italian governments of the 2000s and 2010s. She remained an outspoken supporter of Europe and the rights of refugees and migrants.

"You can look at the struggles I have waged with this perspective: I support a liberal democratic order and believe in the centrality of the individual, their rights, but also their responsibilities," she said in 2018.

Over the years, Bonino cultivated a deep friendship with the late Pope Francis, despite their conflicting views on key ethical issues, including abortion and euthanasia. Bonino said that during their conversations, Francis always encouraged her to carry forward her humanitarian struggles, defending those most in need.

When asked what battles he still had to fight, Bonino would say: “Many, very many. Human rights, world hunger, free scientific research… Ten lifetimes will not be enough.”

Bonino leaves behind her siblings, Domenica and Giovanni, and their children.


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