Parliament
- Member of the German Bundestag since 2005 with the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
International involvement
- Since 2012 member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
- 2014–2022 substitute chair of the German delegation of PACE
- 2018 chair of the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights of PACE
- Since 2018 chair of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group of the Council of Europe (PACE)
- 2022–2025 chair of the German delegation of PACE
- since 2006 continuous participation in the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Member of the „Climate and Energy“ Network of the Party of European Socialists (PES)
Political involvement
- Since 2025 Viceminister at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection
- 2022–2025 Commissioner for Freedom of Religion or Belief of the Federal Government
- Active in local environmental and climate initiatives since 1990
- Involved in human rights initiatives and local Eine-Welt-Gruppen – especially FIAN Marl (a local group of the Food First Information and Action Network) and the catholic Eine-Welt-Gruppe in Recklinghausen
- Joined the SPD in 1991
- Member of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany)
- Member of the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE)
Foreign languages
- English (proficient)
- Spanish (elementary)
- French (elementary)
