1. Sylwia Iwona Spurek was born on 29 January 1976 and is a Polish lawyer, as well as a social and political activist.
54 Facts About Sylwia Spurek
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Sylwia Spurek was a Spring Member of the European Parliament elected in the 2019 European parliamentary election.
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Sylwia Spurek left Spring on 28 October 2019, and subsequently joined the Greens-EFA group in the European Parliament.
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Sylwia Spurek left the Group in June 2024 and became an Independent MEP.
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Sylwia Spurek was born on 29 January 1976 in Skarzysko-Kamienna, Poland.
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Sylwia Spurek attended the Adam Mickiewicz High School in Skarzysko-Kamienna from 1991 to 1995, where she passed her matriculation exam.
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In 2004, Sylwia Spurek completed a legislation training at the Polish Governmental Legislation Centre.
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Sylwia Spurek has been a lecturer at Gender Studies at the University of Warsaw and at the Gender Mainstreaming postgraduate studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
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Sylwia Spurek has authored publications on domestic violence, equal treatment, and discrimination.
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Sylwia Spurek resigned from this position on 28 February 2019, due to plans for political involvement.
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Sylwia Spurek is on the Expert Board of the European Vegan Summit.
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Sylwia Spurek is co-founder of the first vegan think-tank in Poland, Green REV Institute.
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Sylwia Spurek described cyberviolence against women as "a new face of an old problem".
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Sylwia Spurek has pointed out that there is a need to raise public awareness and educate services that intervene in cases of violence, especially domestic violence.
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Sylwia Spurek has raised this subject after leaving this position and later, as a politician.
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Sylwia Spurek called for the criminalisation of any form of cyberviolence in all Member States.
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Sylwia Spurek declares herself a vegan and an animal rights activist.
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Sylwia Spurek promotes a language that emphasizes the autonomy and subjectivity of animals.
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In March 2024, together with multiple experts, Sylwia Spurek appealed to the Minister of National Education Barbara Nowacka to introduce elements of environmental science, animal rights and sustainable development into school curricula and textbooks.
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Sylwia Spurek joined the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
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Sylwia Spurek became a member of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the substitute member in the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.
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Sylwia Spurek was a shadow reporter of the report on this convention.
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In 2022, Sylwia Spurek voted in favor of the European Parliament resolution that proposes to enshrine the right to safe and legal abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
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Sylwia Spurek was discussed in news media as the 2020 The Left candidate for President of Poland, but eventually did not run.
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On behalf of the LIBE committee, from 2022 to 2024, Sylwia Spurek was the only Polish MEP fulfilling the role of a European Parliament's rapporteur for the Directive of the European Parliament and of the council on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
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In January 2024, in a general address to the Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar, the Minister of Equality Katarzyna Kotula and the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bak, Sylwia Spurek proposed the introduction of analogous solutions combining the problem of violence against women and violence against so-called companion animals into Polish law.
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Sylwia Spurek thus repeated the statement addressed to the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro and the Minister of Family and Social Policy Marlena Malag in April 2023.
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In January 2024, Sylwia Spurek asked Prime Minister Donald Tusk to change the position of the Polish government in the European Council, because the government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had previously openly opposed both Article 5 and the entire draft Directive.
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Sylwia Spurek stated that at the trilogue stage the Directive "had few real teeth left", which limited its effectiveness.
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Sylwia Spurek is an opponent of the so-called male linguistic dominance and defines herself using feminine endings in the professions she performs.
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Sylwia Spurek criticized Ursula von der Leyen in 2021 for her lack of action towards the Istanbul Convention being ratified by the European Union.
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Sylwia Spurek has been striving for an implementation of this mechanism since 2003, but no government has introduced such a provision into the legal system.
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Sylwia Spurek raised the problem of the lack of popularity of parental leave among men.
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Sylwia Spurek considers the right to abortion to be a human right, and abortion as a simple medical service.
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Sylwia Spurek expressed hope that the EU intervention on reproductive rights will be the beginning of a debate on changing the Treaties and expanding EU competences on the matter.
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Sylwia Spurek considers that further violations of the rights of EU citizens, as well as breaches of the rule of law in the Member States, clearly demonstrate the need to transfer competences in the field of health protection to the EU institutions.
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Sylwia Spurek openly criticized the European Commission, including Commissioner Dalli, for lack of initiative on the protection of reproductive rights and for unwillingness to change her competences.
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In 2019, Sylwia Spurek said that women and girls should have access to affordable and modern contraception, such as through reimbursement of contraceptives.
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Sylwia Spurek stressed that women's reproductive rights should not be the subject of a political play.
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On 21 January 2020, five days before the Holocaust Remembrance Day, Sylwia Spurek shared on her Twitter account a graphic by Australian artist Jo Frederiks, which depicted dairy cows in striped shirts decorated with the Star of David.
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Sylwia Spurek responded to the accusations by referring to a quote from Isaac Singer:.
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When in 2019 reports of illegal and extremely inhumane animal experiments in the LPT laboratory near Hamburg came to light, Sylwia Spurek began working with NGOs to clarify the situation.
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Sylwia Spurek is a supporter of the ban on animal farming, angling, horse riding and hunting.
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In 2020, Sylwia Spurek objected to the Sejm's proceeding of the bill allowing children to participate in hunting.
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Sylwia Spurek criticized the investment in the Vistula Spit canal, deeming it unnecessary, costly and harmful to the environment.
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Sylwia Spurek devotes a large part of her activities to changing the food production system.
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Sylwia Spurek is in favor of stopping financing the livestock sector.
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Sylwia Spurek stresses that healthy, sustainable food should be affordable, and that subsidies for research and development, investment support for factory farms, and animal feed production should be redirected to the crop production sector.
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Sylwia Spurek supported an increase in VAT rates for animal products.
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Sylwia Spurek advocated the withdrawal of the Polish "Milk at School" program, describing it as indoctrinating.
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Sylwia Spurek openly criticises the actions of the European Commission, especially the Farm to Fork Strategy, believing it to be insufficient in the face of the 21st century climate crisis.
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Sylwia Spurek stated that the Law and Justice party used a strategy to demonize refugees during its campaign in the 2015 parliamentary elections.
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Sylwia Spurek is a supporter of the separation of the State and the Church and advocates freedom of conscience and religion.
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In 2024, Sylwia Spurek was nominated for the of Woman of the Year award as part of the global Vegan Women Summit event taking place in May 2024 in Los Angeles, USA.