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Samira Rafaela

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Samira Rafaela
MEP
Rafaela in 2019
Member of the European Parliament
for the Netherlands
In office
2 July 2019 – 15 July 2024
Parliamentary groupRenew Europe
Personal details
Born (1989-02-11) 11 February 1989 (age 35)
Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Political partyDemocrats 66
Alma materLeiden University

Samira Rafaela (born 11 February 1989) is a Dutch politician of Democrats 66. She served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2024,[1][2] and she was also a member of the Young Democrats.[2]

Early life

[edit]

Rafaela grew up with her Jewish Dutch-Curaçaoan mother in Uitgeest. Her father was of Ghanaian-Nigerian descent and a practicing Muslim. She considers herself a progressive, liberal, feminist Muslim.[3]

She attended Bonhoeffer College in Castricum[4] and studied public administration at Leiden University. She did research on the causes of radicalization and terrorism and obtained a master's degree in Crisis and Security Management.[5] She worked as a policy maker and administrative advisor for the municipality of Amsterdam. In 2016, she transferred to the Police Netherlands, where she acted as project leader for inclusion.[6] As a social entrepreneur, she worked in Africa with young talent and as an international trainer and speaker on women's participation, leadership, security and inclusion.

Political career

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Rafaela was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 election, making her the first Dutch MEP with Afro-Caribbean roots.[7] She has been a member of the Committee on International Trade (since 2019), the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (since 2019)[2] and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (since 2021).[8]

In addition to her committee assignments, Rafaela is part of the Parliament's delegations to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) and to the EU–Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee.[2] She also co-chairs the European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup and is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital[9] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability.[10][11]

Rafaela was the lead negotiator for the EU Pay Transparency directive.[12] She was also the Rapporteur for the Forced Labour Regulation, an EU law that will ban products made from forced labour from the EU single market.[13]

On 3 May 2022, an internal commission of D66 investigated complaints of 3 former co-workers of the European D66-delegation about, among other things, abuse of power by Rafaela.[14] She received a warning, but a dispute committee ruled in November of the same year that the investigation was sloppy and that the warning was unjustified.[15][16]

In 2023, Rafaela – together with Malin Björk and Evin Incir – alleged in a letter to the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola that their fellow MEPs Anders Vistisen, Isabella Adinolfi and Cristian Terheș breached Parliament's rules on offensive language during a debate on the ratification of the 2011 Istanbul convention against gender-based violence and urged Metsola to investigate.[17] On 21 December 2023, she announced she would not seek re-election in the 2024 European Parliament election.[18] Her term ended on 15 July 2024.[2]

Rafaela is now a visiting fellow at Cornell University Global Labor Institute where she works on global labor governance.[19]

Recognition

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  • 2020 – International Woman of the Year, awarded by Harper's Bazaar[20]
  • 2023 – Changemaker, awarded by Rise and Lead Women[21]


References

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  1. ^ "S. (Samira) Rafaela MA". www.parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Samira RAFAELA". European Parliament. 11 February 1989. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  3. ^ Vuijsje, Robert (13 May 2019). "Samira Rafaela: 'In het Europese Parlement is een gebrek aan diversiteit in alles. Jong, vrouw en kleur: het zit er allemaal niet, of niet genoeg'". De Volkskrant. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Oud-leerling Bonhoeffercollege verkiesbaar voor het Europees Parlement". www.kijkopcastricum.nl (in Dutch). 12 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Samira Rafaela gaat voor het EuroParlement / "Dit gaat over ons allemaal"". Afromagazine.nl. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Samira Rafaela: ik wil Europa in". Nederlandse Politiebond. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  7. ^ Baume, Maïa de la (13 January 2020). "20 MEPs to watch in 2020". Politico. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Movers and Shakers". The Parliament Magazine. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  9. ^ Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital European Parliament.
  10. ^ "Bureau". Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Members of the Disability Intergroup - Renew Europe". European Disability Forum. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ [2]
  14. ^ Aharouay, Lamyae; de Witt Wijnen, Philip (13 May 2022). "Scheuring in Brusselse fractie van D66, klachten over Europarlementariër Samira Rafaela". NRC Handelsblad. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022.
  15. ^ Damen, Fleur (24 November 2022). "D66 berispte Europarlementariër Rafaela onterecht; integriteitsonderzoek 'onzorgvuldig'". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  16. ^ [3]
  17. ^ Wax, Eddy; Sorgi, Gregorio (11 May 2023). "Three MEPs denounced for racist, sexist and transphobic 'hate speech' in European Parliament". Politico Europe.
  18. ^ Roorda, Jasper (21 December 2023). "Europarlementariër Samira Rafaela (D66) stopt". Brusselse Nieuwe (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  19. ^ "GLI Announces new visiting fellow MEP Samira Rafaela | The ILR School". www.ilr.cornell.edu. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  20. ^ Yoni Moldovan (16 December 2020), Women of the Year 2020: Samira Rafaela is Bazaars International Woman of the Year Harper's Bazaar.
  21. ^ "Awards | Celebrating Companies Advancing Diversity And Equality". Rise And Lead Women. Retrieved 12 December 2024.


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