Ione Belarra Urteaga (born 25 September 1987) is a Spanish politician and psychologist from Podemos who served as Minister of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda from 2021 to 2023. She has been her party's leader since June 2021. She is a member of the State Citizen Council of Podemos, and has been the deputy for

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

in the XI, XII, XIII and XIV legislatures of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

Early life and education

Born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

, Belarra graduated in psychology in 2012 from the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid (; UAM), commonly known as la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 by royal decree. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious univ ...

, where she was a classmate of

Irene Montero Irene María Montero Gil (; born 13 February 1988) is a Spanish politician and psychologist, member of the Podemos party. She most recently served as the Minister of Equality of Spain from 13 January 2020 to 20 November 2023. She is the partn ...

. She earned a master's degree in education; she and Montero left their doctoral programmes because of their political careers. She has worked in research on issues related to education, migratory experiences, and human rights. During those years she has served as an activist and volunteer in various organizations, such as

SOS Racismo SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

and the

Spanish Red Cross The Spanish Red Cross is the national affiliate of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and a nonprofit humanitarian institution in Spain. It was founded by Royal Order by Isabel II in the wake of the Third Carlist War. Referen ...

, and in platforms and campaigns for the closure of the Centers for the Internment of Foreigners (CIEs), as well as in various mobilizations in defense of the human rights of people in situations of special vulnerability. One of Belarra's earliest activist campaigns was against immigrant detention centres.

Political career

Belarra joined Podemos in its founding year, 2014. The following year, she entered its national executive, the Citizens' Council, where she was put in charge of the area of human rights, citizenship and diversity. She led Podemos's list in the Navarre constituency in the

2015 Spanish general election A General elections in Spain, general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 20 December 2015, to elect the members of the 11th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 266 seats in the Senate of Spain, ...

, being one of two Podemos members elected by the region. From July 2018, she and

Pablo Echenique Pablo Echenique Robba (born 28 August 1978 in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina) is an Argentine-born Spanish physicist and politician. As a scientist, he holds a position at the Spanish National Research Council in Zaragoza (CSIC). He came to Spai ...

filled in as parliamentary and general spokespeople of Podemos, respectively, during Montero and Pablo Iglesias's joint maternity/paternity leave. After the

November 2019 Spanish general election A general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 10 November 2019, to elect the members of the 14th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 265 seats in the Senate. The election was held as provided und ...

, Podemos entered government with the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE), and Belarra became Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda from January 2020 to March 2021. She then became Minister of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda. After Iglesias's retirement, Belarra was voted secretary general of Podemos with 88.69% of the members' votes in June 2021, while

Yolanda Díaz Yolanda Díaz Pérez (; born 6 May 1971) is a Spanish politician and labour lawyer, currently serving as Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain, Second Deputy Prime Minister since 2021, and Ministry of Labour (Spain), Minister of Labour and Socia ...

succeeded Iglesias as leader of

Unidas Podemos Unidas Podemos (), formerly called Unidos Podemos () and also known in English as United We Can, was a democratic socialist electoral alliance formed by Podemos, United Left, and other left-wing to far-left parties in May to contest the 2016 S ...

Animal Welfare Law

In 2022, Belarra introduced legislation to ban the sale of pets in shops, convert zoos into wildlife recovery centres and impose prison sentences for abusers as part of Spain's first animal-rights bill, which notably did not target

bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

. A month later, the PSOE group in the Congress of Deputies tabled an amendment to restrict the scope of the text, excluding animals related to hunting, a decision which was strongly criticised by Unidas Podemos. Despite this disagreement, the two parties voted together in Congress on 6 October to reject the motions to reject the bill tabled by the People's Party (PP), Vox and the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party ( , EAJ; , PNV; , PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially the Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been de ...

(PNV).

Israel–Gaza war

In October 2023, Belarra accused the EU and the US of "being complicit in Israel's war crimes" and called for

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

to be denounced before the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

because of what she identified as ongoing "planned

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

" in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

against the Palestinian peoples.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belarra, Ione 1987 births Living people Autonomous University of Madrid alumni Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) People from Pamplona Politicians from Navarre Podemos (Spanish political party) politicians Spanish women psychologists Leaders of political parties in Spain Members of the 15th Congress of Deputies (Spain)