Emanuelis Zingeris

Mr Zingeris is a parliamentarian and Chair of the USA Congress caucus of the Parliament of Lithuania. Mr Zingeris is the founding Chair of the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy, and was instrumental in its creation.

Mr Zingeris is passionate advocate for democracy having been a member of the Lithuanian movement for independence and democracy in 1989 and 1990, and a member of the negotiation team for the restoration of independence of Lithuania. In 1992 he became the first Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the independent Parliament of Lithuania. Mr Zingeris is a Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe, having first been a member of the Assembly in 1993.

He served as Chairman of the Committee on Human and Civil Rights and Nationalities (now the Committee on Human Rights) from 1996 to 2000, and has been the Chairman of the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania.

He was also the Vice-Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Education. From 2000 to 2004 he was the Director of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum.