Jasmijn de Boo ( ; born August 1975) is a Dutch

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

activist and the vice president of ProVeg International.

Career

De Boo worked at the (now defunct) European Resource Centre for Alternatives in higher education (EURCA) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollm ...

in the Netherlands. Later, she co-developed an

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevit ...

syllabus for veterinary students, on behalf of the UK branch of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (now

World Animal Protection World Animal Protection, formerly The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an international non-profit animal rights organization that has been in operation since 1981. The charity describes its vision as: A world where animal ...

) and the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

School of Veterinary Science. It was launched in 2003. In 2006, de Boo founded the UK political party Animals Count (now Animal Welfare Party). From 2011 to 2016, de Boo was chief executive of the

Vegan Society Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

in Birmingham, England. During that time, the charity doubled its number of staff from 12 to 24

full-time equivalents Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...

. In 2015, de Boo hosted representatives of the German association VEBU on their visit to the Vegan Society in Birmingham. In 2017, VEBU co-founded ProVeg International and renamed itself ProVeg Germany. De Boo joined the ProVeg International executive team in the following year, and became vice president in May 2020.

Political candidacies

De Boo ran in four elections but did not get elected. In 2004, she ran on the party list of the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. Since 2019, the PvdD's political leader is Esther Ouwehand. With 3.8% of the votes ...

, as candidate 5 out of 19. After founding Animals Count, she ran for the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to rejec ...

in Lambeth and Southwark in 2008, with the proposal for an

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

-style animal healthcare system. She also ran as lead candidate of the party in the 2009

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

elections. In 2010, she ran for the Party for the Animals in the Dutch general election.

Personal life

De Boo has been vegan since January 2003 (when she was 27), "mainly orthe animals". She previously became vegetarian in 1987 (aged 11 or 12). De Boo has a partner, Andrew Knight, who is a professor of animal welfare. The couple occasionally co-author scientific publications.

References

{{Animal rights, state=collapsed 1975 births Dutch animal rights activists Living people Veganism activists