Abir AL-SAHLANI

Policy topics Abir AL-SAHLANI is active on

What Abir AL-SAHLANI has said (26)

• 2026-06-16 “A very good question. Thank you for this question. I do believe that the EU and the member states together in the UN can push further for the reform of the UN because UN has not served everyone equally. We see it in the global South, the global majority in the South, how they have been underserved, how their interest, their right, their human rights have not been implemented nor they have been guaranteed by all these beautiful declarations. We know that statements, press releases, and declarations do not stop bombs from falling. We know that they do not feed the starving children. We need to inform the UN. It is our only path forward, and the member states together can actually make a true difference. Thank you very much.”
  International humanitarian alignment with UN
• 2026-06-16 “(11:06:59 – 11:08:25): Peace requires courage, peace requires leadership, and peace requires actions. The deal between The US and the regime in Iran might offer an opportunity for peace, but opportunities alone do not create peace. We have to act now. We have to use our diplomatic influence to reduce the tensions throughout the entire region of the Middle East. We have to use our, economic and political leverage to pressure and to support peace, accountability, and human rights, and we have to defend international law always. Madam vice president, I'm tired of watching old men destroy the international rules based order. I am furious that they start wars, uphold occupation, weaponize humanitarian aid while they enjoy wealth, while they enjoy impunity, while they enjoy power. I am furious that the always the others who are paying the price for this craziness. It's always women, children, persons with the disabilities who never chose these wars, who never were in these rooms where these decisions were made. We have to act now. It's high time for the EU to put these words into actions. Thank you.”
  EU-Iran relations
• 2025-03-07 “E-001005/2025 Answer given by Mr Síkela on behalf of the European Commission Maintaining a network of EU Delegations around the world is an obligation 1 and a political necessity. The network (the largest among EU diplomatic services with 145 EU Delegations) is vital for articulating and executing the EU’s priorities, both for external and internal policies. More EU is needed in the world, as a normative, geopolitical and economic power. The Delegations project the EU’s values and policies on the ground, pursue strategic partnerships to reinforce the EU competitiveness and the economic security of third countries through the implementation of Global Gateway and the external dimension of key EU priorities 2 . They also enable the EU to deliver on key political commitments, undertaken in multilateral fora, such as the implementation of Agenda 2030 and its sustainable development goals. Therefore, it is critical that EU Delegations are fit for the future and are equipped with the right mix of staff profiles and tools to respond to the rapidly shifting geopolitical situation, evolving policy priorities, and budget constraints. As of today, there is no specific ‘plan’ nor decision for changing the EU Delegations’ structure or closing down any of them. The Commission and the European External Action Service are looking into options for their modernisation on the basis of a set of budgetary, legal and staff parameters to increase their effectiveness. This is a collective endeavour and ambition to have an EU network fit for the future to protect EU interests in the world. 1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12016E221 2 Among others enlargement, trade and investments, energy, climate, environment, digital, migration, disinformation.”
  Global priorities for international development · EU Development & Humanitarian Aid
• “Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Mr.. For for your question and very considerate one. Of course, being of I mean, I am checking a lot of the boxes. I'm both a woman. I consider myself still younger and I am also of a migrant background, and I'm also a muslim, so I am taking a lot of the boxes when it comes that, you know, corresponds to who are the victims. What it makes me feel is that we need to work harder on this issue, and we need to work on all levels, and we need to to actually hold the platforms accountable, because freedom of speech has never been about making me feel less of a human.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “Madam chair, thank you so much. Human rights are being challenged everywhere right now. And the basic rights of women and girls even more so. There is a strong interdependence between women's rights, democracy and the rule of law. We know that with rising authoritarianism, we see an increasing backlash against gender equality and fundamental rights. Women. Women. Women's human rights defenders and civil society working on gender equality, particularly women's sexual and reproductive health and rights, are suffering from a shrinking space to do their important work and advocacy. Even worse, intimidation of rights of defenders, activists and journalists are a common tactic that the anti-democratic actors are using to undermine rights and freedoms, both in the EU and globally. At the same time, women and girls are facing harrowing realities in war zones, where inequalities make them even more vulnerable to food shortages and basic aid, and where they are victims of violence and rape. As part of ongoing conflicts. Some recent and ongoing judicial moves to roll back women's rights can be seen in countries like Afghanistan, where the recent morality law effectively erases women from the public life. We see similar moves in Iran, where women who demand their rights are labeled as insane and deprived from all legal tools to fight back. And we see it in Iraq, where legal changes are underway that effectively make the rights of girls and women arbitrary and up to religious clerics rather than to the law. The EU must live up to our binding commitments to gender equality in order to be able to advocate for women's rights across the world.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Yesterday we celebrated the progress on women's rights. But today we have to confront the backlash because across Europe and Anti-gender movement is growing, spreading conspiracy theories about feminism and attacking women's rights. And yes, we see it here in the chamber because the patterns of the vote is always the same. You say you want to protect women, but when we vote, you always vote against protection from violence. You say you want to defend women's dignity, but when we vote, you attack reproductive rights. And tomorrow, when we vote on closing the gender pay gap, many of you once again will vote against it. So let us be very honest about what this is. Women are paid less, receive smaller pensions and carry the unpaid care work that are keeping our societies running. And yet, some of you still weaponise women's suffering to serve racist and misogynistic agendas, turning our bodies into your ideological battlefields in your cultural wars. Europe's women are not your propaganda. Our bodies are not your battlefield, and our rights are not negotiable.”
  Gender pay transparency
• “Madam. President. Commissioners. Colleagues. The internet should be a space of freedom of knowledge of encounters, not a space for threats, for hatred or cyberbullying. And we are well aware. That within the European Union. Looking at the figures, you have 10 million children and young people who are being targeted by this kind of bullying, and that has an impact on mental health. Yes, but also on safety and security from a psychological standpoint and has an impact on results at school as well. So we need resources. The time has come to fight against situations of this nature, and it's not up to the law enforcement of individual states to take action. The commission should be doing everything in its power to tackle this, and we need to be innovative in our approach as well, since we know that in Sweden, for instance, there are rules in place, but those rules are simply not enough. And many young people furthermore do not talk about this bullying that they're going through, and that's a threat to our democracy.”
  Safety features & content control for child protection online
• “Madam president, commissioner, in Sweden, we've seen how criminal gangs hunt down, children in schools on football pitches on Instagram and TikTok. How is the Swedish government responding to this? Well, they want to put 13 year olds behind bars. So the criminal gangs have their hands clean, but they're actually committing war crimes. It's very disturbing. You'd only need to ask the judges, the public prosecutors, and the police, and what should we do? They always say, well, this is not going to stop the gangs from recruiting. It's actually going to make things worse if we, put the children behind bars. We have to fight the gangs, but we have to build a society that's stronger than those gangs to give them those children more hope. Sweden and the European Union, instead of putting 13 year old behind bars, criminalizing them should turn to criminalizing the recruitment online. I will never accept treating children as goods.”
  EU policy on criminal justice
• “Yes. Thank you. Chair, and welcome to to the committee. I asked several times the Swedish government if they were using some kind of any spyware, and I wrote several written questions to both the justice minister and to the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, there is no answer. So it's very difficult when you don't get any answer. Also to be to exercise our scrutiny role as parliamentarians. But my question is about whether can if from your point of view and your research, because we have had several legislations here in the Parliament from the previous mandate, and this one when it comes to the digital sphere, one of them being the chart control thing, where you, you know, plant a backdoor into the encrypted communication. And this one, uh, the usage of I mean, we have known about the usage of the spyware and the country's, uh, you know, uh, but also other type of digital or digitally oriented legislation. Do you see the bigger picture? Say, in five years? Where are we at? What are the risks? Thank you so much.”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “When we criticize Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran for dehumanizing women. We must we must make sure to do our own homework so that we can lead by example and push for progress, for progress on women's rights and human rights globally. We have made some good progress here. The EU finally ratified the Istanbul Convention with the aim to combat all forms of gender based violence, but still unfortunately, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia have not yet ratified this convention. This is not leading by example. We can do so much better. The next step for the EU must be to introduce consent based rape legislation that can serve as a model law for other parts of the world. We also need comprehensive sexual and education around the importance of consent in sexual relationships. The EU must continue to raise gender equality issues, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, in all dialogues with other countries. Here, once again, we have a real change to lead with example and enshrine the rights to the legal and safe abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are human rights, and with dangerous developments under way in the US, we must remain the champions of Srhr. And we know that the movement, the anti Anti-gender movement is coming, is here, well organized, well financed and well connected. And that's why we have to do our part and stand by human rights for all women. Thank you.”
  Sexuality and reproduction
• “I just needed to. Thank you, madam chair, I just needed to answer a little bit because, miss, my French colleague here posed some questions. You know, democracy is develop. And in the beginning, it was about having just basic rights with the things that we were born with. But we have always had transgender people. Maybe they have not had the operations or stuff like that, but this diversity of our identities, they have always been here. During all time in the Bible, they are mentioned in the Quran, they are mentioned in the Torah everywhere. And they have always been, always been painted as the black sheep of our societies. And I think that our democracy can better we can actually treat people equally and based on how they identify, not how someone else, least of all a state or a politician, wants to to identify them. So let's give our citizens that freedom and let's not create because this is a created it's a fabricated conflict between transgender men and women. There is no conflict in these rights because human rights is not a cake. Just because a woman has her fulfilled her human rights does not mean that anyone else is getting less. And I think that we need really to understand that if we guarantee somebody's rights, does not mean that your rights are any lesser. Just once for all. Maybe we just need to realize that it's not a cake. It doesn't get less. On the contrary, the more people have their human rights guaranteed, the better.”
  LGBTIQ+
• “Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, dear colleagues, for a very good cooperation during the process. Um, and, um, we did not have very political discussions. It was very much on the technical level. And I truly want to give a big gratitude to our policy advisers and our APAs and the Secretariat, who have been working very, very, uh, Determined with this file. Um, it saddens me that on on an opinion, uh, to to draw, we are unable actually to even, uh, gather, um, mutuality or a common position on what we mean with, with the rights that we are talking about and who, who we are talking about. And we tend to, uh, run our own ideological errands. Of course, I consider it a maybe not the proudest moment of this committee, when we could not address the issue in a common way when it comes to women and armed conflicts. It became very political, very sudden. And we know that the women are paying the highest price when it comes to armed conflicts, but it is what it is. And in purpose to move forward and have a solid text. We had to do it this way, but a compromise is only good when everyone is equally unhappy with it. So I hope that we can together be equally unhappy, but also equally happy for the at least the good steps that we are taking ahead. And we are delivering a a firm opinion on the situation of human rights across the globe, especially when it comes to women's rights. Thank you so much, Madam Chair.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Uh, thank you. Chair. Thank you, Madam Pereira, for being here. But also to our guests. Thank you for being here and, uh, enriching the perspectives. I have a question to to the commission on whether you will try to address the gaps of implementation across member states. Uh, with this strategy. And how will you ensure that that the perspectives of minority individuals is properly accounted for? And unfortunately, even in this House, I mean, the the the guest list here is a reflection about the will of this House, who to invite. And unfortunately, one of the biggest groups in the House blocked the organizations representing, uh, persons of color and their organization. So giving that fact that even. The house of democracy we that are supposed to represent the people. Uh, there are forces here who are denying the existence of structural racism, who are just blind to see it because, of course, of privilege, but on one hand and on the hand, also blocking the voices that could represent the other perspectives from coming here. Uh, in, in this house of democracy and represent these different perspectives. That means that the Commission will have a very big responsibility, on one hand, to involve these voices, on the other hand, also to keep the member States accountable as the Commission being the guardian of the treaties. Uh, apparently this House is failing in that, unfortunately. Uh, and if there is time, I would love to hear also amnesty when it comes to, uh. What? What do you think that are the most important anti-racism efforts that leads to lasting and structural change that we need to adapt here and work for in this House? Thank you so much.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “Yes. Thank you. Chair. And excuse my eagerness. I just came across a report from the university in Gothenburg in Sweden that we have far less liberal democracies in Europe than we had 30 years ago when the wall of Berlin fell. And giving that and giving also the narrative about when you question the integrity of the rule of law, it's called propaganda and so on and so forth. Of course, it is very worrying. That's why I would like to pick your brain a little bit about when now we have the implementation coming up. Uh, would, would, would you what do you think of the idea of having a EU, uh, technical center for helping, uh, to cover? Uh, no, but helping, um, to see where there is illegal monitoring happening and spyware. And so it can, you know, so we can coordinate with inside the EU on one hand and also coordinate with third countries like the US, for example. And how do you think that we can also. This is my second question. How can we ensure that our export rules are followed? So EU is not contributing to, uh, dictatorships or authoritarian regimes to monitor their own citizens on our grounds?”
  Surveillance equipment & spyware
• “Thank you chair and thank you dear commissioner for being here good morning to you all. As you see this committee has quite a palette of different opinions but I can confirm that the majority of this committee remains committed to the comprehensive approach toward migration and I'm very happy that you mentioned the encouragement for legal migration to the EU and we just adopted yesterday the final outcome from the trial log on the talent pool and one of my question is how are you going to try and operational that the upcoming time but above all maybe how we are going to evolve into fully operational pathway supported by stronger EU system for skills assessment qualification recognition and targeted investment in legal migration channels so that Europe can respond to demographic and economic challenges. And my second question is about the displacement caused by conflict and catastrophes they are on the rise in our world not least in our neighboring countries in the east and the south. As part of long term asylum and migration strategy that initiatives is the commission considering to support frontline and neighboring countries through strengthened humanitarian corridors and legal pathways ensuring that Europe can respond to crisis in a coordinated rights based and sustainable manner. Thank you so much.”
  Legal migration
• “And our democracy is dependent on the input of half of its population. Because when women are pushed outside of politics, democracy is no longer to be called a democracy. This is not accidental, but it is structural. As a woman in politics, I know visibility comes with a cost, but that cost cannot be my body nor my daughters bodies, and it cannot be passed on to the next generation. We are already behind the. The DSA was necessary, but it's not enough because tech companies are not self-regulating. They are outpacing us. So we need to act fast and decisively ban new fire. Systems, enforce consequences, listen to the victims, and build policy around their reality, not theories that are dressed as safeguards. And most importantly, stop treating this issue as a side issue. This is not a niche problem, but a systematic threat to our democracy. If platforms feel no shame in violating fundamental rights, why do I feel the sense that we are ashamed of holding them accountable? The time for action is now. Ai should be serving humanity as a whole, not abusing and violating violating half of its population. Thank you.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Thank you, esteemed chairs. Three of you today we are very spoiled. It's good to see you all. And good morning to you. I would like to, on behalf of renew, to express our support for the nomination to the Sakharov Prize of Women, Wage Peace and Women of the sun. And that that's because I think it is very important now that the Parliament sends a a united signal that we are in, in we are taking part for the peace. And these organizations have, though it has been very difficult, it has divided us as a parliament, as a union, but also the entire world. But these women organizations, they have stood united for the peace, for security, for all, for dignity, for all. And I think it is very important that when the oldest conflict on earth is waging in a bloody war, that we from the Parliament side send this very important signal in support of these two organizations. Thank you so much.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Yesterday we celebrated the progress on women's rights. But today we have to confront the backlash because across Europe and Anti-gender movement is growing, spreading conspiracy theories about feminism and attacking women's rights. And yes, we see it here in the chamber because the patterns of the vote is always the same. You say you want to protect women, but when we vote, you always vote against protection from violence. You say you want to defend women's dignity, but when we vote, you attack reproductive rights. And tomorrow, when we vote on closing the gender pay gap, many of you once again will vote against it. So let us be very honest about what this is. Women are paid less, receive smaller pensions and carry the unpaid care work that are keeping our societies running. And yet, some of you still weaponise women's suffering to serve racist and misogynistic agendas, turning our bodies into your ideological battlefields in your cultural wars. Europe's women are not your propaganda. Our bodies are not your battlefield, and our rights are not negotiable.”
  Gender pay transparency
• “Yesterday we celebrated the progress on women's rights. But today we have to confront the backlash because across Europe and Anti-gender movement is growing, spreading conspiracy theories about feminism and attacking women's rights. And yes, we see it here in the chamber because the patterns of the vote is always the same. You say you want to protect women, but when we vote, you always vote against protection from violence. You say you want to defend women's dignity, but when we vote, you attack reproductive rights. And tomorrow, when we vote on closing the gender pay gap, many of you once again will vote against it. So let us be very honest about what this is. Women are paid less, receive smaller pensions and carry the unpaid care work that are keeping our societies running. And yet, some of you still weaponise women's suffering to serve racist and misogynistic agendas, turning our bodies into your ideological battlefields in your cultural wars. Europe's women are not your propaganda. Our bodies are not your battlefield, and our rights are not negotiable.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion
• “Yes. Thank you, chair. And thank you, commissioners, for being here with us. It's a true pleasure having you all gathered. Uh, I actually wanted to focus a little bit about the, uh, gender targeting, and. I'm sorry, I have to speak fast. I had a more prepared speech for a longer time, but, uh, excuse my bluntness. And, uh, if if you can walk me through the rationale why it's taking out. I need to understand. Because we all know that the anti gender movement is on the rise. And how can we then, as European Union, take out the gender targets? I want to understand why. So if you can walk us through that. The other issue is about the conditionality with when it comes to migration. And I know that it's already addressed. But I want also to understand how will that work with with the global gateway. Because European companies will be investing. And when we then condition the, you know, our work with with the partner countries and suddenly we take away that support. How will the European companies then stand? I believe that we are counterproductive here when we do the conditionality with the migration. And my second, the last point is about the humanitarian part of it and the cushion. I know that there are, as you said, 25 billions that are allocated. Will parts of that be used for the cushion that that is also been talking about? If you can clarify that, it will be very helpful. Thank you very much.”
  Gender roles, equality and inclusion · EU development aid (migration conditionality)
• “Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, esteemed guests, for your very valuable information and input. And it goes without saying almost, that what we all have heard today is just another proof of that gender based violence is no longer confined to physical space and the physical world. It has escalated and scaled and it has accelerated and it has gone. Digital platforms have created a space where abuse is faster, it's wider and harder to control, and where women and children are still the primary target and thus the primary victims. And now AI has taken it one step further. Tools like grok are presented as honest, unfiltered, different. Let's be very clear about what that means. In practice. It means fewer boundaries, fewer safeguards, more harm. Because this is where the real crisis begins. We are witnessing the industrialization of abuse, as AI is now being used to mass produce non-consensual, sexualized images that is targeting real, identifiable people. This is not innovation, but it is. But it's righteousness. Name is exploitation at a scale. And yes, it is disgusting. But more importantly, it is dangerous. It is a direct attack on safety, dignity and fundamental rights, particularly for women and children. It is also an attack on democracy because when women are silenced, intimidated and exposed in this way, they are pushed out of public life.”
  Regulation of pornography in the EU
• “Thank you. Chair. Madam Commissioner Council, we have been building a Europe that excludes a Europe that is not accessible for everyone. A Europe that discriminates with its structures and systems. We have built a Europe that is not for every European. And there is a debt to be paid by us back to all our citizens, and not only because it is about democracy, human rights and social justice, but because we are losing on competition. We are losing on income for the European Union. The cost of not having the legislation in in place amounts to €1.3 billion. And by extending protection beyond employment, this directive would improve access to education, housing, healthcare, transport and services for older people, persons with disabilities, religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTI persons. Ensuring equal treatment across these groups is not only a matter of fundamental rights, as I said, but also of economic common sense. Discrimination wastes talent, it shrinks markets and holds back growth. This directive is about fairness, but it is also about making Europe stronger, more competitive and more inclusive. We need this directive and we need it yesterday. Thank you.”
  EU policy on integration and ethnic, racial and religious discrimination
• “(10:09:15 – 10:10:37): Yes. Thank you, madam chair. Good morning, dear colleagues. In a trembling world where we see the rule based order be renegotiated in real times on our phone. It goes without saying the first and biggest victims of this conflict, the degradation of the development aid of of the protection of civilians is always women, girls, and children. And with that in mind, when we looked at the European, or the global Europe instrument, we we kept our lenses on on these particular groups to try and ensure that they are thoroughly and well represented in the both, the purpose of this instrument and how the money is divided and who is to be prioritized. So I hope that, you can support the outcome of our negotiations, and I would like to thank all my shadow colleagues for good cooperation, fruitful dialogue, and, hopefully, an instrument that will be there for women and girls and children on the global scale when the world trembles and lets them down.”
  EU development policy (gender conditionality)
• “Yes. Thank you, chair, and thank you to the Commission representatives for being here and presenting the the strategy on the top on the down top issue. I know that in in Sweden we have had some real problems when it, when it comes to our preparedness plans that they are not including persons with disability perspectives because the shelter rooms, for example, or all the, uh, doors and hallways and all of that are not accessible for persons who have different needs. So I was wondering if you have these aspects also taken into account, and what kind of measures are you proposing? And is there also any calculations around the costs for that? Because accessibility is is I mean, one of our fundamental principles in, in, in the EU, but also it comes to a price that I don't think is, um. It can it cannot be too expensive to actually protect everyone. And this is, I think the, our, um, main objective should be. Thank you.”
  EU policy on disability inclusion & accessibility
• “Yes. Thank you so much, madam chair, and thank you, colleague. Would you agree with me then and, and say that the same rules that you want to apply on these, children who are, hunted by the criminal gangs, When they are Italians hunted by the mafia, would you then also say about these Italian children that their families are not welcome or that their families are criminal? Because I do believe that the mafia is deeply rooted in the Italian culture. Would you say that it is an Italian characteristic to be a mafioso then? The same logic applies.”
  Asylum & border control
• “Yes. Thank you. Dear Charles, and welcome, Madam Commissioner, to the committee. Always a pleasure having you here. Congratulations on the big achievement with my voice, my choice putting it into the Commission's priorities and also stating that abortion is part of European health care. Uh, on that note, I would like to ask you about your maybe most important findings that you came home with from New York? I know it's not related directly to the humanitarian law and humanitarian aid. But still, if you would like to enlighten us a little bit and tell us what are the most important findings that you and observations that you come home with from your latest visit and participation in New York in the women's conference? And my other question was actually a little bit maybe contrary to. Mr.. Uh, my colleague from Saudi and how we are going to make sure that we have stable relations with some parts of the Gulf states, because we know that they have a lot of access to many of the countries that are in dire need. And also, they are very important hubs for humanitarian aid at the moment. And how how is that working at the moment? Because they are under attack. And how can we. What has been done is. Is there anything that we can. Can be done to. So they can maintain. You know, providing humanitarian aid. And these hubs are not affected. Thank you.”
  EU relations with Gulf countries