The Agency will support victims of discrimination and assist in filing and handling administrative complaints both personally and online.

Last Friday, March 25, the new Agency for the Protection and Promotion of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination was presented at the Palau de la Generalitat, the seat of the Catalan government. The Agency is an initiative of the Department for Equality and Feminisms and will be responsible for the implementation of Law 19/2020 on Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination. Its objective will be to care for victims of discrimination, assisting in reception, oversight and handling of administrative complaints of discrimination, as well as other functions also provided by the law.

The Minister for Equality and Feminisms Tània Verge opened the presentation by emphasizing that “we are guided by a framework of feminist justice with a very clear precept: without equality there is no freedom,” adding that “this implies that we must start with structural approaches, such as this law and the body that implements it, because the hub of inequality and the systems of oppression that sustain them generate arbitrary domination that is incompatible with democracy and human rights.”

The Agency will deploy a Complaints and Care Service for victims of discrimination with a team of legal and psychosocial staff. The service will receive complaints, initiate the processes necessary to establish the administrative proceedings, and will offer support to the victims of discrimination.

The Secretary for Equality Mireia Mata also attended the presentation of this new body, and stated that “our goal as a Government is that no one should be disdained, denied access to premises or services, or should feel marked or excluded because of their appearance, gender, age, language, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” The director of the Agency for the Protection and Promotion of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination Manuela Fernández also took part in the presentation, stating that this “should be the place to resort to for all those who suffer discrimination.”

An Agency open to all

The Agency, which has been fast-tracked since the approval of the government budget, will be accessible to all citizens so that they can receive support in situations of discrimination and report it before the administration. The Agency offers assistance via e-mail, at [email protected] or via the GENCAT government portal.

In addition, the complaints form has been available at the GENCAT procedures web page and on the Department’s website since the beginning of March. A complaint activates the Victim’s Complaints and Care Service, triggering the necessary machinery to attend to victims and process the complaint. The Director of the Agency stressed the importance of the online complaints form to “breach the barrier felt by many groups, individuals and collectives who feel at risk of discrimination when approaching the administration.”