 claude ajit moraes is a british labour party politician who has been a member of the european parliament for london since 1999. he is chair of the civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee and deputy leader of the labour party in the european parliament. ==background== claude moraes is of indian origin.he grew up in scotland, having moved to dundee with his parents at the age of three from india.his father and mother are hindi speaking catholics from karnataka (mangalore) and mumbai respectively. he studied scots and english law, government, and international law at the universities of dundee, london (birkbeck college) and the london school of economics and political science(lse). ==previous work== after his law degree claude moraes settled in east london, toynbee hall, where he was later briefly a trustee and became house of commons researcher to mps john reid and paul boateng following the 1987 general election. he combined this with postgraduate studies in government and international law at birkbeck college and the lse. he then became a national officer at the tuc at congress house and a representative to the etuc in brussels. prior to becoming an mep, he attained a national campaigning and media profile as director of the joint council for the welfare of immigrants - a uk-based independent legal ngo founded in 1967 specialising in refugee and migration issues. at jcwi he helped organise key legal challenges in the uk and european courts. he succeeded dame anne owers as director in 1992. previous directors of jcwi have included ian martin, sometime secretary general of amnesty international. at this time he was also executive secretary to the immigrants' aid trust. moraes was appointed a commissioner for racial equality while at jcwi. he was also an elected council member of liberty during this period. he has written regularly on migration and human rights issues and is a co-author of the politics of migration (blackwells) and the jha chapter of the eu after the treaty of lisbon (cambridge university press). {{cita
1965_births Alumni_of_Birkbeck,_University_of_London Alumni_of_the_London_School_of_Economics Alumni_of_the_University_of_Dundee British_people_of_Indian_descent British_politicians_of_South_Asian_descent Commissioners_for_Racial_Equality Indian_emigrants_to_the_United_Kingdom Labour_Party_(UK)_MEPs Living_people MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_1999a2004 MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_2004a09 MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_2009a14 MEPs_for_the_United_Kingdom_2014a19 Members_of_the_European_Parliament_for_English_constituencies