Cécile Kashetu Kyenge (; born Kashetu Kyenge, 28 August 1964) is an Italian politician and

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

. She was the Minister for Integration in the 2013–14 Letta Cabinet. From 2014 until 2019, she was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP). Kyenge is of Congolese descent. After moving to Italy in 1983 at the age of 19, she became a qualified ophthalmologist in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...

. She has founded an intercultural Association (DAWA) to promote mutual awareness, integration and cooperation between Italy and Africa, particularly in her country of birth, the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is also the spokesperson of the association "March First", which works to promote the rights of migrants in Italy. In February 2013 she was elected member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

for the Democratic Party in Emilia-Romagna. Two months later she was appointed Minister for Integration in the

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

government formed by Enrico Letta, becoming Italy's first

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

cabinet minister. She supports the introduction of a ''

Jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( or , ), meaning 'right of soil', is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contrast to ''jus sanguinis'' ('right of blood') ass ...

'' law to grant

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

to children of immigrants born on Italian soil.

Biography

Kyenge was born in Kambove ( Haut-Katanga District) in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 28 August 1964. She arrived in Italy with a student visa in 1983. She has a degree in medicine and surgery from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. She is a specialist in ophthalmology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. In 2002, she founded the Association for Intercultural DAWA ("dawa" is a Kiswahili word meaning "medicine"), with the aim of promoting mutual understanding of different cultures and develop processes of awareness, integration and cooperation between Italy and Africa, particularly in the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

where Kyenge focuses mostly her efforts. Since September 2010, she has been the national spokesperson of the Italian association "March First" that works to promote the rights of migrants. She collaborates with various organizations and associations in national campaigns on the rights of citizenship. She collaborates with many Italian magazines, including ''Combonifem'' and ''Corriere Immigrazione'', an online newspaper and a weekly journal on the culture of Italy of the present and future.

Early political career

In 2004, Kyenge was elected in a district of the town of

for the Democrats of the Left and later became the provincial head of the Forum of International Cooperation and Immigration. On 7 June 2009, Kyenge was elected provincial councilor in Modena for the Democratic Party (PD) and joined the committee Welfare and social policies. She is also responsible for immigration policies in

for the Democratic Party. On 25 February 2013, Kyenge was elected member of the

for the PD in Emilia-Romagna.
Immediately after her election to the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

, with the support of other signatories ( Pier Luigi Bersani, Khalid Chaouki and Roberto Speranza), she began to promote a plan for a law granting citizenship to children of immigrants born on Italian soil (a so-called '' Ius soli'' law).

Minister for Integration (2013-2014)

In April 2013, Kyenge was appointed Minister for Integration in the

government formed by Enrico Letta, becoming Italy's first

cabinet minister. Her ministerial nomination was repudiated in some circles on cultural and/or racial grounds, being met by

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

insults from individual politicians belonging to the Northern League such as Roberto Calderoli, VP of the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic (), or simply the Senate ( ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform iden ...

, who called her an

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

, in addition to racist campaigns orchestrated by the New Force party and other far-right groups. Her treatment as Italy's first black minister has been described by ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' as "shameful" with "limited condemnation". Writer and University of Tokyo Professor Flavio Rizzo further analysed the climate around Minister Kyenge in the context of Italian inability to relate to diversity and "the emergence of

institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...

European Parliament tenure (2014-2019)

Kyenge was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

in the elections of 2014 as a candidate for the Democratic Party from the constituency of North-East Italy. During her time in parliament, she was a member of the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. In addition to her committee assignments, she served as vice-chairwoman of the parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. She was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime), the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights. She was an MEP from 7 January 2014 through 7 January 2019. Kyenge led the EU-Election Observer Mission for the 2015 general election in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

Personal life

Kyenge married engineer Domenico Grispino in 1994 and filed for divorce in 2019. Kyenge and Grispino have two daughters named Giulia and Maisha. Grispino is a supporter of

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...

and ran as a member of

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

in 2019 for a municipal position. Kyenge lives in Castelfranco Emilia.

References

External links

Profile on the Italian parliament's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyenge, Cecile 1964 births Living people People from Haut-Katanga Province People from Castelfranco Emilia Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore alumni Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to Italy Democrats of the Left politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) Italian ophthalmologists Women ophthalmologists Academic staff of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Letta Cabinet MEPs for Italy 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Italy 20th-century Italian physicians Women government ministers of Italy 21st-century Italian women physicians 21st-century Italian physicians 20th-century Italian women physicians Women members of the Chamber of Deputies (Italy) Italian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent