Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Representatives | |
In office 20 September 2012 –5 December 2023 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma 10 July 1981 Eindhoven, Netherlands |
Political party | D66 |
Residence(s) | The Hague, Netherlands |
Alma mater | University College Utrecht London School of Economics Utrecht University |
Occupation | Politician Diplomat |
Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma (born 10 July 1981) is a Dutch politician of the D66 party, who served as a member of the House of Representatives between 20 September 2012 and 5 December 2023. He was first elected in the 2012 Dutch general election.
Prior to being elected he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his period as a diplomat he was posted to the Dutch Embassies in Belgium and Afghanistan and to the Permanent Representation to the Palestinian Authority. [ citation needed ]
In parliament, Sjoerdsma serves as his party’s foreign affairs. [1] [2] In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the Dutch delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. In February 2024, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was awarded the Order of Merit by the latter country for his unwavering support. He had called on the Dutch government to assist Ukraine by providing F-16 fighter jets, which it eventually did. [3]
In 2019, Sjoerdsma publicly criticized Queen Máxima of the Netherlands over a meeting she held with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the 2019 G20 Osaka summit without raising the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. [4]
Sjoerdsma is an outspoken critic of China's human rights abuses in Xinjiang. [5] In March 2021, the Chinese government banned Sjoerdsma from entering mainland China and conducting business with Chinese firms in retaliation for European Union-imposed sanctions against four Chinese officials for their roles in perpetrating persecution of Uyghurs in China. [5] [6]
Year | Body | Party | Pos. | Votes | Result | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party seats | Individual | |||||||
2012 | House of Representatives | Democrats 66 | 11 | 1,569 | 12 | Won | ||
2017 | House of Representatives | Democrats 66 | 11 | 2,726 | 19 | Won | [7] | |
2021 | House of Representatives | Democrats 66 | 4 | 4,929 | 24 | Won | [8] |
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 2010 and 2024. Following his departure from national politics, Rutte will take up the post of NATO Secretary-General in October 2024. Rutte was the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2006 through 2023.
Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria "Frans" Timmermans is a Dutch politician who served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal and European Commissioner for Climate Action in the von der Leyen Commission from 2019 until his resignation in 2023. He is a member of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).
Barry Madlener is a Dutch politician, who has served as Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024. A member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2006. He became the PVV's leader in the European Parliament following the 2009 election. Madlener resigned from that position to again serve in the House of Representatives from the 2012 general election until 2024.
Raymond de Roon is a Dutch politician and former prosecutor. As a member of the Party for Freedom he has been an MP since 30 November 2006. He was focused on matters of foreign policy, military operations and the European Union, and his specialties were changed solely to foreign policy after the 2023 general election.
Markus Gerardus Jozef "Mark" Harbers is a Dutch politician who served as Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Fourth Rutte cabinet from 10 January 2022 to 2 July 2024. A member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he previously served State Secretary for Justice and Security in the Third Rutte cabinet from 26 October 2017 until 21 May 2019.
Pieter Herman Omtzigt is a Dutch politician who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since 2003 apart from a short interruption between June and October 2010. He was member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), but left in 2021 and continued as independent. In August 2023, he founded a new party called New Social Contract, its name taken from his 2021 manifesto. Three months later, his party won 20 out of 150 seats in the 2023 Dutch general election.
The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009 and also to grant permanent normal trade relations status to Russia.
Maria Cornelia Gezina "Mona" Keijzer is a Dutch politician and former civil servant who is the minister of housing and spatial planning in the Schoof cabinet since 2024. A member of the Farmer–Citizen Movement, she won a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2023 Dutch general election.
Michiel van Nispen is a Dutch politician, he has been a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands for the Socialist Party since 2 April 2014, when he replaced Jan de Wit.
Kati Piri is a Hungarian-born Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2014 until 2021.
Jkvr. Karin Hildur "Kajsa" Ollongren is a Dutch-Swedish politician who served as Minister of Defence from 10 January 2022 to 2 July 2024. A member of the Democrats 66 (D66), she previously served as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Deputy Prime Minister in the third Rutte cabinet (2017–2022), and briefly as Mayor of Amsterdam.
Gideon "Gidi" Markuszower is an Israeli–Dutch politician of the Party for Freedom (PVV). He became a member of the Netherlands Senate on 9 June 2015. In the 2017 Dutch general election he was elected to the House of Representatives, and gave up his Senate seat. He was fourth on the Party for Freedom list in the 2023 Dutch general election, and therefore continued his term as a member of the House of Representatives.
Rob Arnoldus Adrianus Jetten is a Dutch politician who has been the Leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) party since August 2023 and a member of the House of Representatives since December 2023. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands from January 2024 to July 2024 and Minister for Climate and Energy Policy from 2022 to 2024.
Since 2014, the Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang which has often been characterized as persecution or as genocide. There have been reports of mass arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, family separation, forced labor, sexual violence, and violations of reproductive rights.
Magnitsky legislation refers to laws providing for governmental sanctions against foreign individuals who have committed human rights abuses or been involved in significant corruption. They originated with the United States which passed the first Magnitsky legislation in 2012, following the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky in Russia in 2009. Since then, a number of countries have passed similar legislation such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
The foreign policy of the Joe Biden administration emphasizes the repair of the United States' alliances, which Biden argues were damaged during the Trump administration. The administration's goal is to restore the United States to a "position of trusted leadership" among global democracies in order to address challenges posed by Russia and China. Both Biden and his Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have repeatedly emphasized that no other world power should be able to surpass the United States, either militarily or economically. Biden's foreign policy has been described as having ideological underpinnings in mid-twentieth century liberal internationalism, American exceptionalism, and pragmatism.
Queeny-Aimée Magdalena Rajkowski is a Dutch politician, who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election. There, she represents the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She was also on the Utrecht municipal council in the years 2014–21.
Ruben Pieter Brekelmans is a Dutch politician serving as the minister of defence in the Schoof cabinet since 2024. Brekelmans previously served as a member of the House of Representatives on behalf of the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). As a parliamentarian, he focused on foreign affairs and migration.
Pepijn van Houwelingen is a Dutch politician, who has been serving as member of the House of Representatives with a short pause since 2021. He is a member of the conservative populist party Forum for Democracy (FvD). Van Houwelingen holds a doctorate and has worked for the Netherlands Institute for Social Research for a decade.
Jan Maarten Paternotte is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66). He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 23 March 2017, and he served as his party's parliamentary leader from January 2022 until December 2023.