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Ms Gala VELDHOEN (Netherlands, SOC)

Photo member

Representative
Senator
GreenLeft-Labour Party

Senate - Eerste Kamer der Staten Generaal
NL - 2500 EA - The Hague
Netherlands

Working language: English

Declarations of interests:
2025 , 2024 , 2023

Latest news

03/03/2025 - Legal Affairs and Human Rights PACE General Rapporteur appalled by planned firing squad execution in the US 09/10/2024 - Legal Affairs and Human Rights ‘The death penalty does not make society safer,’ says General Rapporteur

Mandates

In the political groups

  • Member: Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group since 09/10/2023

In the Assembly

  • since 09/10/2023 Representative - Netherlands

In the committee(s) and sub-committee(s)

  • Member: Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities (since 12/04/2025)
  • General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (since 02/10/2024)
  • Full Member: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (since 15/04/2024)
  • Full Member: Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination (since 15/04/2024)
  • Member: (Former) Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs (from 22/01/2024 to 11/04/2025)
  • Full Member SOC: Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights (since 28/11/2023)
  • Full Member: Sub-Committee on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (since 28/01/2025)
  • Full Member: Sub-Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights (since 16/04/2024)
  • Alternate of Mr Ruben BREKELMANS (Full Member): Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (from 09/10/2023 to 14/04/2024)
  • Alternate of Mr Caspar van den BERG (Full Member): Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination (from 09/10/2023 to 14/04/2024)

Interventions

Last speeches

26/06/2025 | 10:38:48 Thank you, Mister President, Dear colleagues, First, I want to thank my dear colleague and friend Mr Paulo PISCO for his important report. His work is meaningful to me. As someone who is half Dutch and half Vietnamese/Somalian, and whose family members came to Europe as refugees in the 1970s, I know that behind every statistic is a story – a person. A family, a life full of hope and fear. Without the solidarity and protection they received back then, we would not be the beautiful and strong... 24/06/2025 | 11:01:40 Thank you, Mister President.  Colleagues, the recent joint statement by the 9 EU and Council of Europe member states is a dangerous attack on the rule of law and democracy. Under the guise of border control and public safety, it questions the Court's interpretation of the Convention, which undermines the rule of law and separation of powers. The Court exists to protect individuals against the arbitrary use of state power. Its role is to interpret the Convention, an agreement designed to... 28/01/2025 | 20:01:39 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2)   Ladies and gentlemen, Since the end of the Second World War, the international community has built a comprehensive legal framework to govern war and military occupations, ensuring that civilians are protected from unnecessary death and suffering. Three key branches of international law apply to this conflict: · International humanitarian law, which prioritizes the protection of civilians, establishes critical principles of distinction...

Activities

Reports and committee opinions

25/06/2024 | Doc. 16016 | Committee Opinion Safeguarding human rights for future generations

Motions, Written Declarations, Questions

09/07/2025 | Doc. 16155 | Written declaration Upholding the rights to protest: defending the Budapest Pride march 04/07/2025 | Doc. 16222 | Written declaration Detention of non-binary anti-fascist activist Maja T. as a symptom of rule of law erosion in Hungary 23/06/2025 | Doc. 16204 | Motion for a resolution The erosion of press freedom through violence against journalists in the Middle East 09/04/2025 | Doc. 16157 | Motion for a resolution Follow-up to the 4th round of GRECO recommendations relating to parliamentarians 08/04/2025 | Doc. 16155 | Written declaration Upholding the rights to protest: defending the Budapest Pride march

Votes on adopted texts

26/06/2025 | Doc. 16195, vote on the draft text for recommendation Saving the lives of migrants at sea and protecting their human rights 26/06/2025 | Doc. 16195, vote on the draft text for resolution Saving the lives of migrants at sea and protecting their human rights 26/06/2025 | Doc. 16211, vote on the draft text for resolution Women's rights in Europe – Progress and challenges 26/06/2025 | Doc. 16192, vote on the draft text for resolution The challenges and needs of public and private actors involved in migration management 25/06/2025 | Doc. 16210, vote on the draft text for resolution Global peace under threat: halting the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and addressing the wider conflict in the Middle East