Nadia El Yousfi
Nadia El Yousfi was born in Casablanca on the 1st of February 1965. She is a Belgian politician, a member of the Walloon Parti Socialiste, and a federal senator.
Political career
In 2004 Nadia El Yousfi was elected as a member of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region. Since 2013 she has also held a seat in the Parliament of the French Community. In 2014 she was elected a senator of the Belgian Senate. In 2006 she was elected Deputy Mayor of social affairs of the municipality of Forest, located in the Brussels-Capital Region. She was chiefly concerned with issues such as health, housing, pensions and disability.
Notable works
In 1988 Nadia’s mother and her two brothers were harassed by the police because of their foreign origin. They started a three year long trial against the police officers. During these three years Nadia undertook multiple actions to create awareness of this kind of harassment among her fellow citizens, associations, local authorities, the police or the media. In 1989 she organised a big conference in Molenbeek on the topic, titled “Les bavures policières: Pour l’abolition du délit de sale gueule!”. Just after the trail ended in 1991 a three day revolt broke out against public police violence, in which Nadia participated actively. The experience of this collective co-operative act pushed her, as many other citizens, to no longer be afraid to demand their right of being treated equally and with dignity. She advocated easier access to information on social rights, which would teach citizens how to deal with basic legal and administrative problems and prevent additional difficulties.
Education
Her ongoing concern with finding practical solutions to socio-economic problems, automatically led her to social assistant studies. Following that training she worked for 15 years as a mediator in the municipality of Forest, advocating values of solidarity, equality and justice. She is particularly concerned with the problems young residents in Forest face.
External links
Nadia El Yousfi Official Website
