Aminata Toure is a German politician of Alliance ’90/The Greens, the German green party, mainly active in Schleswig-Holstein state politics. 

She was elected on 29 June 2017, at the age of 25, to the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein and served as vice-president of the Landtag until 2022. She recently made history, becoming the first Black member of a German state government when she was sworn in as the social affairs, youth, family, seniors, integration and equality minister in Germany’s northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein in June. 

Education 

Aminata Touré was born on 15 November 1992; her parents fled to Germany following the 1991 Malian coup d’état. She was born in Neumünster. Following her Abitur, she studied political science and French at the University of Kiel, earning her Bachelor’s degree in 2016. She studied abroad for a semester in 2013–14 at the Complutense University of Madrid. From 2014 to 2017, she worked for the member of parliament, Luise Amtsberg. 

In 2012, Touré joined the Kiel Green Youth and was elected as its speaker in 2013. In 2016, she was selected as an assessor in her state’s green party, an office she held until her election to the Landtag in 2017.

Becoming Germany’s First Black Minister

Aminata was a candidate for the Schleswig-Holstein Green Youth in the 2017 Schleswig-Holstein state election and was number 11 on the party’s electoral list. She also simultaneously ran for the single-seat constituency of Neumünster. Touré did not enter the Landtag following the election, as the Green Party only received ten seats; Aminata later filled the seat vacated by Monika Heinold, named Minister of Finance of Schleswig-Holstein. Within her state parliamentary faction, she is the speaker for Migration, Women & Equality, Children & Youth, LGBT Issues, and Anti-Racism.

Upon Rasmus Andresen’s departure from the European Parliament in June 2019, his office as vice-president of the Landtag was vacant, and the coalition elected Aminata to succeed him on 28 August 2019. She is the first Afro-German, as well as the youngest, Vice President of a Landtag. In the negotiations to form a coalition government between the SPD, the Green Party and Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 federal elections, Aminata was part of her party’s delegation in the working group on equality, co-chaired by Petra Köpping, Ricarda Lang and Herbert Mertin.

Aminata was nominated by her party as a delegate Federal Convention to elect the President of Germany in 2022. After the 2022 Schleswig-Holstein state election, Aminata’s party, Alliance ’90/The Greens, entered into a coalition with the CDU under Minister-President Daniel Günther (CDU).

Aminata was appointed on 29 June 2022 as Minister of Social Affairs, Youth, Family, Senior Citizens, Integration and Equality in the Second Günther cabinet, replacing Heiner Garg (FDP). She told German media that she sees her role as “special” given the numerous messages she has received from people who say her appointment has meant “a lot to them.” 

She said she would also take the opportunity to fight for equality and against right-wing extremism. 

These issues have been her hallmark since she was first voted into Schleswig-Holstein’s state parliament in 2017. Since 29 June 2022, she has been serving as Minister of Social Affairs, Youth, Family, Senior Citizens, Integration and Equality of the State of Schleswig-Holstein.