What Samira spoke about.

4

Jul

2022

NL Speech

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US Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights in the United States and the need to safeguard abortion rights and Women’s health in the EU (debate)

Mr President, how many times have I stood here and pointed out that the right to safe and legal abortion is a fundamental right and that this is a necessary condition for the self-determination, the right to health and the physical integrity of women? If you ask me: way too often. Time and again we are dealing with extremists who have the unhealthy need to interfere with the bodies of women, who w…

22

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Future of EU-Africa trade relations (debate)

Madam President, as I have said multiple times, we must base our relations on an equal partnership and the report we discuss today finally confirms our renewed approach to trade relations with Africa. And by engaging with Africa on this basis, we can ensure the sustainable development of our continent. This means we must invest in Africa, both financially and in human capital; investing in promisi…

9

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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A new trade instrument to ban products made by forced labour (debate)

Mr President, today, millions of people globally go to work facing inhumane conditions to produce products we all enjoy. Even in this House, many of us are using or wearing goods made by forced labour without us even realising it. And therefore the new instrument to ban products made by forced labour from our markets should be an instrument with which we can truly act. And in its design, we must e…

8

Jun

2022

NL Speech

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Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court (debate)

Mr President, in the US, extremists have been campaigning for years to take away the right to abortion. And now their ultraconservative Supreme Court seems to go along with this. The right to abortion is also not self-evident here in Europe. In Italy, on average, 70% of doctors refuse to help women with abortions. In conservative regions, this can be as high as 87%. In Croatia it is legal, but not…

4

May

2022

EN Speech

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Discharge 2020 (debate)

Madam President, today I was meant to give my opinion about the breach of discharge, and in this breach of discharge the Parliament often reflects about gender balance and gender equality. We often call for access to sexual reproductive health and rights. That means we want safe and legal access to abortion. I am therefore outraged at the recent developments in the United States. This is an injust…

5

Apr

2022

EN Speech

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Strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women (A9-0056/2022 - Samira Rafaela, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen) (vote)

Mr President, because today’s vote is about gender equality, I would like to share the floor with another woman, Kira Peter—Hansen. We need women supporting women, but this is not enough. We also need this Parliament to support women. The gender pay gap stubbornly hovers around 14% in the European Union. The COVID—19 pandemic halted the slow progress we made, and if we do not intervene, this gap w…

15

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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EU-Africa relations (debate)

Madam President, my expectations are high for the EU—African Union summit. The pandemic exposed structural inequalities we need to address together. I hope that during this summit we will take concrete steps towards a true equal partnership, for example with EU support for the development of the intra-African market. Equal partnership also means equal and fair access to vaccines. I call upon the E…

20

Jan

2022

NL Speech

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Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the European Union (topical debate)

Mr President, it is absurd that today – in 2022 – I am again standing here advocating sexual and reproductive rights for women, but the bleak, conservative wind within Europe is blowing through. Safe and accessible abortion has already been de facto banned in Poland. And now the Polish government even wants the bizarre, mandatory registration of pregnancies. Conservative forces in the Member State…

16

Dec

2021

NL Speech

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MeToo and harassment – the consequences for the EU institutions (debate)

Mr President, young, ambitious and convinced European. Many staff and members of our European institutions arrive in Brussels in no time. Same with Jeanne Ponté. She worked in the European Parliament for two weeks when she was the victim of sexual harassment by a politician in the elevator. This misconduct turned out not to be an incident. When the #MeToo wave arrived in Brussels in 2018, more and…

15

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Plans to undermine further fundamental rights in Poland, in particular regarding the standards of the European Convention of Human Rights and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (debate)

Madam President, just when you think that the situation of women’s rights in Poland couldn’t get any worse, the Polish Government will find a way to reach an all—time low. We now witness the introduction of a new national pregnancy database and an Institute for Family and Demography. It is a new attempt to gain control of women’s bodies, to reduce their autonomy and to interfere in personal family…

15

Dec

2021

NL Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 16-17 December 2021 - The EU's response to the global resurgence of Covid-19 and the new emerging Covid variants (debate)

Mr President, the global vaccination rate is and remains too low and the EU continues to block concrete solutions put forward, such as the temporary lifting of patents on vaccines. And what do we do? On paper, the EU shares 350 million vaccines with the world. The real, honest story is that only 118 million vaccines have been shared, and that's far too little in a pandemic. This is not the first d…

14

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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European framework for employees' participation rights and the revision of the European Works Council Directive (debate)

Mr President, today’s world of work coincides with new transitions, and the European Green Deal and digitalisation provide excellent chances for businesses to expand their borders and to explore new opportunities. It is our duty, however, to ensure that workers are not the victims of these transitions, because these changes also pose a great risk of leaving some behind, especially the most vulnera…

13

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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Combating gender-based violence: cyberviolence (debate)

Madam President, online gender-based violence is a continuation of the discrimination that women experience in the offline world and it is a continuation of the persisting inequalities and stereotypes of today’s society. The harmful impact on women and girls and on democracy as a whole may not be underestimated. Women and girls are silenced because of who they are. Their right to express themselve…

25

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women and the State of play on the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (debate)

Mr President, almost one in three women around the world becomes subject to physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. This implies that we all know a woman – and probably more – who has been abused. Abuse is a direct result of persisting gender inequalities in our society. With that in mind, it is incomprehensible that some colleagues in this European Parliament continue to oppose making gend…

24

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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The EU's role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic: how to vaccinate the world (topical debate)

Madam President, five months ago the European Parliament made its position clear on how to vaccinate the world. The Commission and Member States had every opportunity to take ideas from this resolution and move forward. For example, supporting lifting patents for vaccines to expand production, but so far the Commission has not pushed for the lifting of patents, and global goals are not yet reached…

23

Nov

2021

EN Speech

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Multilateral negotiations in view of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, 30 November to 3 December 2021 (debate)

Madam President, global trade needs a fair and functioning World Trade Organization; however, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing us that we are far from that goal. When countries knocked on the door to lift barriers to the trade of COVID-19 vaccines, some WTO members did not answer. We can now conclude that all WTO members need to deliver. Global challenges ask for global solutions, so therefore I u…

20

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The first anniversary of the de facto abortion ban in Poland (debate)

Madam President, the anti-abortion law in Poland has been exceptionally harmful and changed the daily lives of Polish women and girls. Thousands of women have crossed borders to Germany, England, the Netherlands and Belgium – amidst a pandemic, may I remind everyone. The work of NGOs such as Abortion Without Borders does not go unnoticed. They are helping thousands of women by accessing the right …

19

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022 - all sections (debate)

Madam President, central to the EU budget for 2022 is the recovery from an unprecedented crisis and when one must recover, one focuses on where the harm is, so a doctor treats his or her patients and focuses on where the pain is. In the European Union it is women that have been hurt the most. They were on the forefront in all of our healthcare services, and they have experienced excessively high r…

7

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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The state law relating to abortion in Texas, USA

Mr President, my body, my rights. Words that do not seem controversial or political, but definitely are. The Texas law is shocking and humiliating. It allows private citizens to sue anyone in Texas who assists a woman in getting an abortion. People you do not know, to whom you did not give consent, decide on your future and your body. Women are constantly fighting for autonomy and the right to dec…

4

Oct

2021

NL Speech

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The impact of intimate partner violence and custody rights on women and children (debate)

Mr President, millions of women in Europe recognise the loneliness, shame and powerlessness caused by domestic violence. And domestic violence is a big taboo, and anyone who shares their story publicly has to deal with stigmatization. "But why didn't you leave him?" is a question that all victims will recognise. Domestic violence is regularly dismissed as an internal family affair, a ruling that p…

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

Madam President, with our military withdrawal from Afghanistan, what was built has been broken down in just a matter of days. Female students went home and the first thing they did was hide their IDs, diplomas and certificates. Women are reporting threats of violence from Taliban fighters for simply playing sports, but many more women fear honour killings, child marriages, harassment and psycholog…