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Top 30 Europeans


Ayaan Hirsi Ali Founder of the AHA Foundation, Netherlands


Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Dutch feminist activist, writer, and politician. After receiving an MA in political science at the University of Leiden, she served as member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006, supporting non-Western immigration into Holland. A victim of child genital mutilation and a former illegal immigrant who fled to the Netherlands in 1992, Ayaan has devoted much of her career to defending the rights of Muslim women and raising awareness of ‘honour’ violence. In 2004 she worked alongside director Theo Van Gogh to produce the film Submission, about the oppression of women in conservative Islamic cultures and in 2007 she wrote her memoirs, Infidel, which became a New York Times bestseller. Ayaan founded the AHA foundation in 2007 and campaigned for policymakers to design new codes and enforce existing legislation to protect victims of honour violence and forced partnership. The 43-year- old received global acclaim for her charity which was awarded the Freedom Prize of Denmark’s Liberal Party in 2004 and was acclaimed Europe’s leading politician in the field of integration by the Norwegian Human Rights Service organisation.


Krystian Legierski Elected representative at Warsaw City Council, Co-founder of Greens, Poland


Of Mauritian and Polish descent, Krystian Legierski is Poland’s first openly gay person to be elected into public office. Krystian’s Green Party election to Warsaw City Council in 2010 symbolised a turning point in Polish politics, which has long been characterised by discrimination against minority groups. Prior to his career as a politician, he was an activist in the movement for gay rights. In 2003 he co-authored the first draſt of a law on civil unions that would legalise same-sex partnerships, but the law was rejected by the lower house of parliament. Since 2009 he has been involved in further efforts to introduce the bill. In 2004 he co-founded the Green Party and attempted to end the mayor’s official ban on Warsaw’s gay pride parade in 2005. Krystian, who holds a degree in law and administration, co-hosted the radio programme Better Late Tan Never from 2006 to 2010 which discussed gay and lesbian topics.


Nyamko Ana Sabuni Minister for Integration and Gender Equality, Sweden


Nyamko Ana Sabuni serves as minister for integration and gender equality in the Swedish government. Born in the African nation of Burundi in 1969, she was the first black person to be appointed a minister in Sweden. Nyamko began her political career in the Liberal People’s Party, as board member of the Liberal Youth of Sweden from 1996 to 1998, before becoming a minister under the Swedish coalition government in 2006. Nyamko is particularly passionate about campaigns to protect young women from genital mutilation and has fought for ‘honour’ killings to be included as an independent category within the Swedish criminal code. Nyamko authored the book Te Girls We Betray (2006), which is about women in Sweden living under the threat of female circumcision and honour violence and she continues to demand legal protection for girls at risk, despite facing major opposition from hostile groups.


John Abraham Godson MP, Poland


John Abraham Godson is Poland’s first black MP. His political rise began in 2007 when he joined the Lodz city council, before successfully taking a seat in the Polish lower house of parliament in December 2010. His swearing-in ceremony was regarded as historical moment in Poland and was broadcast live on Polish television. Te BBC also noted John’s achievement as a breakthrough in a country that has only 4,000 black residents. Te Nigerian-born politician, who moved to Poland in 1993 and claimed official Polish citizenship in 2001, primarily uses his position as member of the Civic Platform to promote the importance of education. John acts as a primary example of this, having two doctorate degrees: in political science from the University of Warsaw, and management from the University of Lodz. Re-elected in 2011, John Godson reflects Poland’s gradual acceptance of multiculturalism and differing ethnicities.


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