The first vice president and councilor of Housing, Employment, Youth, and Equality, Susana Camarero, has pointed out that the Office of Settlement and Return has carried out 46 services related to hate cases since it began operating last April. This is a resource that, as she emphasized, provides support "in an integral way" to migrant people in situations of social vulnerability, through actions of information, first reception, mediation, and accompaniment.
During an interpellation by the Compromís deputy Isaura Navarro in the plenary of Les Corts, held this Wednesday afternoon, Camarero stressed that "we know that taking the step to report or ask for help is not easy, it requires courage and the certainty that on the other side there is an empathetic, specialized, and effective Administration." In her opinion, it is "a matter that should unite all members of this Chamber: hate crimes are not tolerated, they are prevented, they are reported," something that, she argued, is "exactly what this Consell is doing."
The Equality official has rejected attempts to present the Valencian Executive "as indifferent to hate crimes" and has emphasized: "The facts show just the opposite." She explained that the regional government is committed to "preventing, raising awareness, providing attention and protection within our competencies and in coordination with the rest of the Administrations," based on the "very simple" premise that "there are no excuses, justifications, and also not using such a serious issue as this to build a partisan narrative or to politically discredit the opponent."
In her speech, she reiterated that "hate crimes, dignity, freedom, equality, and fundamental rights do not belong to any political party" and insisted that the Consell "rejects and condemns, without nuances, without lukewarmness, without exceptions any aggression, discrimination, or hate crime, no matter where they come from and who they attack." In her view, "that is exactly the opposite of turning the fight against hate into a tool of political confrontation."
Debate on the institutional response to hate crimes
Waiter has appealed to the "responsibility in public debate" and has warned that one cannot "denounce certain discourses while using insults, disqualification, or contempt for those who think differently." He has criticized that "one cannot demand respect at the same time that they are handing out moral legitimacy cards and deciding who deserves to be heard, who can express an opinion, or who should be pointed out simply because they have a different position from theirs."
The councilor has claimed the measures of the Consell against LGTBIfobia, hatred, and discrimination towards migrant people, gitanofobia, or "any other behavior that threatens and attacks the dignity of people," citing as examples the Orienta offices or the Strategic Plan for the Inclusion, Respect, and Visibility of the Roma People 2025-2030. In this line, she has defended that the position of the regional government is "clear": "To combat any discrimination or hate crime, regardless of who the victim is or what the motive is, using prevention, coordination, the fight against discrimination, without slogans, without trenches, and with prevention." "There are resources, there is management, and there is prevention. Now yes," she concluded.
In addition, she has urged Isaura Navarro to point out "one single tool from that comprehensive plan" that, she said, the Botànic "never did" in its eight years of government in the Generalitat and that the current Consell "has eliminated."
Compromís questions the actions of the Consell
From Compromís, the deputy Isaura Navarro has asked the Consell if it has "done anything to protect victims, prevent discrimination, guarantee that no one is afraid or that there is no one living with that fear of going out on the street," and if "they look the other way or get involved in putting measures and condemning" these situations. She has reminded that hate crimes affect "people who have been singled out, insulted, rejected, murdered like Guillem Agulló, threatened, assaulted for being who they are, for their origin, for their sexual orientation, for their identity, or for their beliefs." Therefore, she has demanded that the Consell "worry about all of us, not just about maintaining their parliamentary majority, because hatred attacks us all as a society."
Navarro has censured that the Valencian Government is positioned "to the side" and "justifies" the positions of Vox, such as demanding residency to access housing or introducing nationality in the statistics of the Generalitat. He lamented that "they applauded and looked the other way when declarations of hate were made here time and again," referring to demonstrations by the far-right formation.
He has also accused the Consell of not "keeping its word" by not supporting NGOs when they are "attacked for their work" and of not condemning or adopting "absolutely anything" in the face of the "racist attacks" recorded a few days ago in Tavernes de la Valldigna (Valencia). At this point, he has demanded the "institutional responsibility so necessary" from the Valencian Executive and has warned of the risk of "giving political voice to hate and racist speeches."
In her reply, the Compromís deputy has denounced that the Consell keeps the strategic plan to fight against hate crimes and the Strategy for Equal Treatment, Non-Discrimination, and Prevention of Hate Crimes "in the drawer," and has reproached the PP for never having "been involved" in the fight against LGTBIfobia. She has also asked Camarero if she shares certain statements from Vox.
Accusations of "irresponsibility and incoherence"
For her part, the first vice president has urged Navarro to inform herself "adequately" and has accused her of "lying," "telling things that are not," something that, in her view, constitutes an "exercise of irresponsibility and incoherence." In relation to the racist assaults in Tavernes de la Valldigna, she has indicated that these events "have been investigated" and that the Consell condemns them, "like all crimes." She has also reminded that in this municipality "a left-wing tripartite of PSOE, Compromís, and Esquerra Unida governs" and that the City Council "has not convened the security table, which is mandatory when there is a hate crime." "Why haven't they convened it?" she has posed to the coalition parliamentarian.
Camarero has also assured that the Consell is involved in all proceedings for sexist murders, and has reproached Compromís for leaving "in the drawer" the case of the victim of conversion therapies in Alaquàs. She has emphasized that "this Consell condemns any hate crime, any discrimination, and any aggression motivated by any circumstance, without exceptions and without double standards."
The vice president has added that in Compromís "they are not there to give lessons when they try to intimidate councilors by preventing them from accessing a commission" in Les Corts, referring to what happened with the councilor of Education, Carmen Ortí, and has asked Navarro if he has "condemned the colleague who did it," referring to the deputy Gerard Fullana. She has also criticized that the coalition "shouts at the spokespeople of the PP for thinking or voting differently or dedicates themselves to insulting here the members of the Consell or the deputies of the PP or Vox."
To conclude, Camarero has warned Compromís that "they have to choose and time is running out: to side with reason and add everyone to prevent, protect, and attend to all the victims or continue insulting."