Sonja Licht graduated in sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, where she received her MA in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. She has long worked as a research fellow in the Institute for International Politics and Economy and Institute for European Studies. She is the author of numerous articles in local and international magazines, journals and books.
She had been part of the Yugoslav dissident movement from the end of sixties, and in the mid-eighties she became the founder of many non-governmental organisations both local and international, including a number of women organizations. Between 1991 and 1995 Sonja was the co-chair of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, a broad coalition of various civic organizations and movements from all European and North American countries. From 1991 to 2003 she had been the Executive director, then President of the Fund for an Open Society (Soros Foundation) in Yugoslavia (later Serbia), a major donor of a vigorous civil society. During that period she had been a member of many boards of reputable international institutions. Sonja Licht is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the East-West Institute, Sub-board of the OSI’s Network’s Women’s Programme, member of the Board of European Cultural Foundation, member of the Advisory Boards of Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces and Geneva Centre for Security Policy. She is also the Chair of the Executive Board and member of the Advisory Board of the newly founded Center for Democratic Transition, Budapest. She is also engaged in the Boards of the Serbian National Library, Centre for Professionalism of Media, Group 484, Women’s Fund for Reconstruction and Jefferson Institute in Belgrade.
She is a laureate of many awards, among which are: Award for Peace of the Swedish Social Forum, Award for Peace of the European Chancellors’ Club, Hiroshima Award of Edit and Ira Morris Foundation from Sweden, International Human Rights Award of the International League for Human Rights, Human Rights Award of the Albert Schweitzer Institute for Humanities, Award for Tolerance of Serbia and Montenegro Ministry of Human and Minority Rights etc.
