One Voice is speaking at the Romanian Parliament for a fur-free Romania
One Voice is joining its international partners from the Fur Free Alliance (the coalition for which it is the French representative) to speak at the Romanian Parliament on 11 May 2023 in Bucharest. We are asking for a ban on mink and chinchilla farming in the country and, in support of the proposed law that is in the process of being examined by Romanian parliamentarians, have provided our contribution by explaining the One Voice campaign that was launched to pass the law that approved this reform in France less than two years ago.
Slider photo credit: Adrian Daniel Vasile/Humane Society International – Europe
Our fight, relentlessly led for more than twenty years to obtain the closure of mink breeding farms in France and a ban on all wild animal breeding for fashion, was presented on 11 May before Romanian press in Bucharest, thanks to an intervention by our partner HSI/Europe in Romania, and in the presence of around fifteen other friends and members of this international coalition that One Voice has been part of for more than two decades. The famous journalist and television presenter Simona Gherghe led discussions around Gheorghe Pecingina, the deputy supporting the law proposal. Ioana Ciolacu, one of the first Romanian fashion designers to publicly announce her refusal to use fur in her creations, was also present. We were in a prominent position, with France having numerous similarities with this Latin country in Eastern Europe that only has around ten fur farms to be closed down. Our investigation footage, as well as that from Svoboda Zvířat (in the Czech Republic), has also been shown in the biggest Parliament in Europe.
©Amy Veenboer/ Bont voor Dieren«France, considered as one of the jewels of luxury and fashion worldwide, knew to ban farms breeding animals for fur in 2021. They were already in decline. French law settled it: it is not acceptable to subject animals to so much suffering, the planet does not need the additional pollution caused by waste from these breeding farms, everyone’s health cannot be put in perpetual danger by such places. We believe in a ban on fur production in Romania. The population is expecting it; they will rejoice and celebrate those who vote for it, as we have done. This is the meaning of history.»Extract from a speech by Jessica Lefèvre-Grave, Director of External Public Relations and Investigations for One Voice at the Romanian Parliament on 11 May 2023
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A law proposal that follows…
We urged the House of Representatives to approve the bill currently under review to ban fur farms in the country, putting an end to the barbaric practice involving the breeding and killing of animals such as mink and chinchillas. The Romanian Senate voted in favour of the bill in December last year, but the deciding vote is returned to the House of Representatives. If it is passed, Romania will become the twentieth European country to definitively close its breeding farms.
©Adrian Daniel Vasile/Humane Society International – Europe
…an investigation into Romanian fur farms
The ban was proposed last year following the publication of a shocking investigation led by HSI/Europe exposing the abominable living conditions of the animals in fur farms in Romania. The very first footage taken inside the chinchilla breeding farms showed the animals confined in dirty, minuscule cages, their paws often slipping on the mesh flooring, eventually being killed in the name of fashion in improvised gas chambers at only a few months of age. HSI/Europe has announced the launch of an advertising campaign and a petition to show public support for a ban on fur farms in the country.
Our European and International support: Romania Fara Blanuri!
After the discussion, the FFA submitted a letter addressed to the Prime Minister and to members of the House of Representatives asking for their quick agreement for a bill to ban breeding animals for fur in Romania. The letter cited animal protection and public health as the main reasons for such a ban and highlighted the decline in the popularity and economic value of the fur industry in recent years.
©Adrian Daniel Vasile/Humane Society International – Europe
Romania: one of the last countries in Europe to still allow fur farms
To date, breeding animals for fur is banned in nineteen European countries, including fourteen European Union (EU) member states: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Slovenia. A bill aiming to banish this practice is currently being reviewed in Poland and Lithuania. Two countries — Switzerland and Germany — have set up regulations so strict with regard to welfare that breeding animals for fur has effectively stopped, and three other countries, Denmark, Sweden, and Hungary, have imposed measures that have put an end to breeding certain species. Only a small number of EU member states, such as Romania, still allow this practice.
Earlier this year, the Fur Free Europe European Citizens’ Initiative gained more than 1.7 million signatures from EU citizens. Addressed to the European Commission, the ECI asked for a ban on breeding animals for fur and the trade of products using fur within the EU.
Translated from the French by Joely Justice