Open letter from MP Alina Gorghiu to the Minister of Labor

The proposal of the Ministry of Labor to merge the National Agency for Equal Opportunities with the one against human trafficking should be reanalyzed, believes PNL MP Alina Gorghiu.

In an open letter addressed to the relevant minister, she shows that such a decision would not be appropriate, even if there is a need for efficiency and institutional consolidation.

The National Agency for Equal Opportunities is the only state authority that coordinates public policies and the legal framework in the field of preventing and combating domestic violence, Alina Gorghiu reports.

In the context in which, in the first eight months of this year, 40 women were cruelly killed by current or former partners, and every year over 60.000 women turn to the state for support, the liberal deputy says that any diminution of the agency's powers would mean the irreparable loss of the progress made, the weakening of the intervention capacity and the loss of the trust of the victims.

Alina Gorghiu shows in the open letter that the institution manages the national telephone line 0800.500.333, available non-stop, for victims of domestic violence, discrimination and human trafficking.

She points out that among the risks of merging the two institutions are endangering Romania's accession to the OECD, violating international commitments and the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, but also a negative message sent to Brussels, given that the European Commission has already validated the role of the National Agency for Equal Opportunities as the coordinating institution of the national strategy 2022-2027.

Translated by: Radu Matei