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

Samira Rafaela (born 11 February 1989) is a Dutch politician of Democrats 66, who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019[1][2] and was also a member of the young democrats.[3]

Early life

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.[4]

She attended Bonhoeffer College in Castricum[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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

Rafaela was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 election, making her the first Dutch MEP with Afro-Caribbean roots.[8] 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).[9]

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[10] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability.[11][12]

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.[13] She was reprimanded, but a mediation committee ruled in November of the same year that the investigation was sloppy and that the reprimanding was unjustified.[14]

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.[15] On 21 December 2023, she announced she would not seek re-election in the 2024 European Parliament election.[16]

Recognition

References

  1. ↑ "S. (Samira) Rafaela MA". www.parlement.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Samira RAFAELA". European Parliament. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "Home | Samira RAFAELA | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. 11 February 1989. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ "Oud-leerling Bonhoeffercollege verkiesbaar voor het Europees Parlement". www.kijkopcastricum.nl (in Dutch). 12 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Samira Rafaela gaat voor het EuroParlement / "Dit gaat over ons allemaal"". Afromagazine.nl. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "Samira Rafaela: ik wil Europa in". Nederlandse Politiebond. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  8. ↑ Baume, Maïa de la (13 January 2020). "20 MEPs to watch in 2020". Politico. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  9. ↑ "Movers and Shakers". The Parliament Magazine. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  10. ↑ Intergroup on Artificial Intelligence and Digital European Parliament.
  11. ↑ "Bureau". Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  12. ↑ "Members of the Disability Intergroup - Renew Europe". European Disability Forum. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Damen, Fleur (24 November 2022). "D66 berispte Europarlementariër Rafaela onterecht; integriteitsonderzoek 'onzorgvuldig'". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  15. ↑ Wax, Eddy; Sorgi, Gregorio (11 May 2023). "Three MEPs denounced for racist, sexist and transphobic 'hate speech' in European Parliament". Politico Europe.
  16. ↑ Roorda, Jasper (21 December 2023). "Europarlementariër Samira Rafaela (D66) stopt". Brusselse Nieuwe (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Yoni Moldovan (16 December 2020), Women of the Year 2020: Samira Rafaela is Bazaars International Woman of the Year Harper's Bazaar.
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