“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

When a country ratifies an international human rights treaty, it undertakes to comply with the obligations set out therein. Many of these treaties establish mechanisms for accountability on the level of compliance with these obligations to be open to the participation of civil society. In this case, the obligations of Argentina under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are reviewed before the CESCR. In collaboration with other civil society organizations in Argentina, we have approached critical observations, recommendations and questions through two reports: one more general about various aspects related to obligations in ESCR and another focused on the protection of the health of chronic noncommunicable diseases .

Structural report developed jointly with ACIJ

Together with the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), we produced a report during the month of August with comments on Argentina’s compliance with the rights enshrined in the ICESCR. This report is based on the report that Argentina presented to the Committee in late 2016 to report on the progress it has made in terms of these rights, so it is called “shadow report”.

In this instance, the CDESC opens the opportunity for civil society organizations to comment on the topics covered in the official reports and to suggest questions for members of the Committee to delve into sessions with representatives of the State. To these ends, from FUNDEPS and ACIJ we have presented data alternative to those provided by the government, in some points such as: production and quality of data on ESCR; access to justice in ESCR; education rights; right to inclusive education; right to health; right to gender equality; rights of environmental defenders; among other.

Report on the protection of the health of chronic noncommunicable diseases

Together with FIC Argentina, the O’Neill Institute and the Chair of Food Sovereignty of the School of Nutrition of the University of Buenos Aires, we present a report in which we warn about the situation of chronic diseases in Argentina; at the same time as we suggest to the State the adoption of some measures to reduce the consumption of tobacco products and unhealthy foods.

Measures such as limiting advertising aimed at children, adoption of simpler and more understandable nutrition labeling, tax increases, ratification by the Argentine State of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and adoption of measures particularly vulnerable groups.

The information presented and the questions asked to the State are that next year the final evaluation will be done, after giving Argentina a right of reply and civil society organizations to submit shadow reports again. The concluding observations that the Committee issues are tools to require the Argentine State to comply with human rights standards on ESCR.

More information

– Shadow report of FUNDEPS and ACIJ

– Official reports and other shadow reports

Contact

Carolina Tamagnini – carotamagnini@fundeps.org

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

 

Last Wednesday, August 30, at the annual meeting of the Network of Independent Accountability Mechanisms(IAMNet) held this year in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, a roundtable discussion between representatives of the mechanisms and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on accountability agendas, including FUNDEPS. At the same time, a public outreach event was held to present the work of the IAMNet Network and the characteristics and mandates of the main accountability mechanisms of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), Inspection of the World Bank, the MICI of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB Group) or the CAO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), among others.

For their part, the CSOs that participated in the event addressed opportunities and challenges in accountability in the IFIs and the work that has been done from civil society in accountability.

At the round table, a technical discussion was held around a key question regarding the function of this type of mechanism: “Can Dispute Resolution be compatible with Rights?”. Recall that most of the IFIs’ independent accountability mechanisms have a dispute resolution function for complaints from communities affected by projects funded by these financial institutions. In that regard, the current problems of the dispute resolution process were discussed in the way it is currently being developed; and sought to address what an effective rights-based dispute resolution process should be, and what their outcomes should be.

On the other hand, in the days leading up to and after the aforementioned event, strategic meetings of two working groups were held that address issues and agendas related to our work at Fundeps. On 28 and 29 August the annual meeting of the EuroIFI network was held and on 31 August a strategic meeting of the IAWG (International Advocates Working Group) working group, of which we are part. The EuroIFI Network is an informal network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that focus their work on IFIs such as the World Bank, the European Investment Bank and the Monetary Fund, among others. The IAWG is a network of NGOs around the world that share information, lessons learned, best practices and strategies around accountability mechanisms; and supports communities that complain to these mechanisms.

Our participation in these three events has been very useful, not only because we were able to share information and experiences in terms of accountability with key players in this agenda, but also because it has enabled us to know and acquire more information regarding specific cases of presentation of complaints to this kind of mechanisms. Moreover, in view of our work on accountability mechanisms, and in particular in relation to the ICIM and the advice we are giving to communities in Córdoba and Bolivia regarding the possible submission of complaints to the ICIM.

More information

– Network of Independent Accountability Mechanisms

– Video on the IAMnet network

– MICI website

– Inspection Panel website

– CAO website

– Glass Half Full. The state of accountability in development finance – Enero de 2016

Contact

Gonzalo Roza / Coordinador del Área de Gobernabilidad Global

gon.roza@fundeps.org

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

The reality of women in Argentina, urges that organizations take action, organize and strengthen their links. It is essential to generate collective strategies that can generate impacts that make visible the faults that women suffer in our country, such as access to justice, participation, the rights to a life free from violence, health, freedom, equality of opportunity, among many others.

The organizations and individuals that form part of the Abogadxs Alliance for Women’s Human Rights are meeting to discuss the achievements in recent years, the achievements and advances in the recognition of rights and their implementation. But we also put on the table the risks in the implementation of regressive policies, of strategies that continue reproducing the logics of gender inequality, and everything for which we have always struggled and have not yet reached.

That is why we focus our exchanges on two central themes: sexual and reproductive rights, and violence against women. In both areas of discussion we reach starting points for collective strategies, and we generate dynamics of mutual strengthening for those measures and actions that necessarily have to be diagrammed locally.

The human rights of women must be guaranteed by the State, and when this is not manifested in reality, the organizations will continue to carry out collective advocacy to demand that all people, regardless of gender, enjoy all rights and can live their lives without fear and in full freedom.

Contact

Virginia Pedraza, vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

We demand the designation of  #DefensorDelNiñoYa

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

12 years after the enactment of the Law for the Integral Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Law No. 26,061), the Ombudsman for the Rights of Children and Adolescents has not yet been appointed, a figure that should be implemented in within 90 days of its entry into force. The social organizations and prominent personalities in the cultural and social field undersigned express our deep concern.

Despite the commitment to childhood and adolescence assumed by the Bicameral Commission (composed of Carla Carrizo, Samanta Acerenza, Mayra Mendoza, Verónica Mercado, Florencia Peñaloza, Norma Durango, Juan Manuel Abal Medina, Sigrid Kunath, Pamela Verasay and Adolfo Rodríguez Saá ) the legal obligation remains unfulfilled. For that reason, it is essential that they advance with the call to tender for the designation of the Ombudsman for Children, before the end of this year.

It is essential that the designation be made within the framework of a transparent procedure that ensures that the position is covered not only by a suitable person in the subject, with a history in the defense of the rights of boys and girls but, fundamentally, offers a guarantee of an autonomous and independent action with respect to the public organisms with responsibility in the design, management and implementation of childhood and adolescence policies in our country.

Girls, boys and adolescents have the right to have their protection more than a speech.

Nora Cortiñas – Adolfo Pérez Esquivel – Osvaldo Bayer – Juan Carr – Aldeas Infantiles – Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ) – Asociación por los Derechos civiles (ADC) – Red Solidaria – Colectivo de Derechos de Infancia y Adolescencia – Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) – Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC) – Servicio de Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ) – Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género (ELA) – Fundación Huésped – ATE Nacional – Consejo Ejecutivo Nacional de CTA Autonoma – CTA Berazategui – CTA Moreno – CTA Solano – Infancia en Deuda – DNI – Asociación Síndrome de Down de la República Argentina (ASDRA) – AECheLaR-La Rioja– Fundación para el Desarrollo de las Políticas Sustentables (FUNDEPS) – Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM) – Fundación Sur Argentina – Fundación Voz – Grupo Artículo 24 por la Educación Inclusiva – Haciendo Camino – Casasidn – Asamblea por los Derechos de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes de General Pico–La Pampa – Asociación Civil Emprendedores Chepes–La Rioja– Asociación Civil para todos y todas de Gral. Villegas – Asociación Civil Una Mano que Ayuda – Cáritas Obispado de Quilmes – Cátedra abierta de estudios americanistas – Colectivo Cordobés por los Derechos de Niñas, Niños y Jóvenes – CECOPAL – La Minga – SERVIPROH – Programa del Sol – SEHAS –Fundación Che Pibe – Fundación Emmanuel – Colectivo cordobés por los derechos de niños niñas y jóvenes – Asociación por los Derechos de la Infancia (ADI)– Foro por la Niñez La Pampa – Fundación Ayuda a la Niñez y Juventud Che Pibe – PRADE –Práctica Alternativa del Derecho-Santiago del Estero – ANDHES (Abogados y Abogadas del Noroeste Argentino en Derechos Humanos y Estudios Sociales) Tucumán/Jujuy – Casa Osvaldo Bayer – Centro comunitario Infantil La Merced de San Miguel– Centro Cultural Villa El Libertador– Centro de desarrollo integral Pancita Feliz– Colectivo Cultural de Ing. Maschwitz – Conciencia comunitaria de Cañuelas– Consejo local de Niñez de Mar del Plata – Consejo Local de San Miguel – Cooperativa La Comunitaria – Coordinadora Popular Barrio Ludueña de Rosario – Crecer con Derechos de Vicente López – El Vallecito de la Guadalupe, Asociación Civil – El Granero de los Sueños –Escuela de Arte Comunitaria Cruzavias – Foro Hídrico Lomas – Foro Niñez de Vicente López – Foro pampeano por los derechos de los/as niñ@ – Foro por los Derechos de Berisso – Foro por los Derechos de la Niñez, Adolescencia y Juventud de la Provincia de Buenos Aires – Frente Barrial Solano– Fundación El Recodo del Sol – Fundación Proyectando Esperanza – Fundación Rumbos de Integración y Desarrollo Regional – Merendero La Buena Amistad Barrio 2 de Abril – Merendero Latinoamérica, Barrio 8 de Diciembre – Merendero Por un Barrio Digno, Barrio 2 de Abril – Merendero Sonrisas, La Isla Villa Fiorito – MTE –CTEP General Pico, La Pampa – Nodo Cultural Córdoba – PRODEMUR – La Rioja – Promoción de la Mujer Rural – Proyecto Protagonistas de San Miguel – Red Cultura Viva del Este Cordobés – Red Cultural de Chacras de Coria – Red Cultural Perdriel – Centros Angelelli – Red de Fotógrafos – Red de Médicos de Pueblos Fumigados – Red de Solano – Red Nacional de Cultura Comunitaria – Red Sierras Chicas –Fundación Protestante Hora de Obrar – UMEX-Mendoza – Crecer Juntos-Tucumán – Asociación Civil El Amanecer-Formosa

Source: Infobae

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

 

However, in order to start being elected the process was very different. Only through the Act of Women’s Occupation in 1991, the representation of women began to be guaranteed by the State. This law allowed the structures of gender inequality to begin to be overcome. The numbers speak for themselves: before the law, women elected to public office in Congress did not exceed 6% of all seats. Today women occupy 41.7% in the Senate and 38.5% in Deputies. However, there is still a long way to go.

At present, although women make up more than half of the population, female representation does not reach 50% in any decision-making space. According to an investigation carried out by the Latin American Justice and Gender Team (ELA) on the elections, in 2017, there are very few lists that do not comply with the Women’s Act. However, the parties’ interpretation of its application has begun to transform itself into a roof over participation, rather than a guarantee tool.

In the provinces where a parity law has been implemented (Salta, Buenos Aires), the female representation has been higher, but this is not evident in the rest of the country. That is why it is necessary to generate mechanisms that can promote a real commitment to gender equality in political parties, as well as the implementation of a national law of parity that guarantees a representation of women that is in accordance with the social configuration of gender.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

The participation of FUNDEPS in the 2017 edition of the Hack (at) ONG was hand in hand with our health team. Throughout the day of Saturday September 16, we decided to work on an application and web site that would allow better access to information about licensed geriatrics in the city and province of Cordoba.

Our proposal for this initiative was based on the aging of the population, coupled with structural changes produced in society that makes more and more families choose geriatric residences for care, attention and care of the elderly. This is a great challenge for the Argentine State: at present there are no national norms that unify demands for quality and care in these residences. Added to this, provincial norms in general only allude to building issues, within a regulation that is still far from conceiving of old age from a paradigm of human rights.

Within the framework of the Open Government movement, the Municipality of Cordoba and the Province of Cordoba have tried to improve their standards of transparency. The Municipality, today has an Open Government portal that has made available to the public a large amount of data and information. For this Hack (at) NGO 2017, we wanted to encourage better accessibility to information on geriatrics enabled in the Municipality and the Province, while promoting a collaborative type of tool between citizens and the government.

Using this information, we seek to promote the development of a public registry of public and private geriatrics qualified in the province of Cordoba, which also includes the results of the periodic inspections carried out in them.

Currently, there is a tool at the municipal level to find information about licensed geriatrics in the city of Córdoba. We considered that on this basis could be worked on including information at the provincial level, while generating a dynamic of operation of the registry in which the participation of citizenship is possible. The day ended then with a first draft of the tool in which it was possible to geolocalize the geriatrics of the City of Cordoba and map in the first instance some geriatric at the provincial level. It should be noted that today there is no public registry in the Province of Cordoba with this systematized information. In the future, we hope to achieve the publication of this information and its incorporation into the tool developed.

Contact

Agustina Palencia <agustinapalencia@fundeps.org>

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

 

On September 15 we celebrate the International Day of Democracy. Democracy is both a process and a goal, and only with the full participation and support of national governing bodies, civil society and individuals can the ideal of democracy become reality to be enjoyed by all, everywhere.

The celebration and commemoration of this day is presented as an opportunity to reflect on the state of democracies in the world. Precisely, international days seek to raise awareness, raise awareness, signal that there is an unresolved problem, an important and pending issue in societies. In this case, the day of democracy seeks to remember how relevant it is to ensure that states establish healthy regimes in which human rights find their place and are fully guaranteed and respected.

The celebration of this date was due to the fact that the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in its resolution A / 62/7 (2007) encouraged governments to strengthen national programs dedicated to promoting and consolidating democracy.

This date was first held in 2008. The date was chosen because it was precisely on 15 September 1997 that the world parliamentary organization “Inter-Parliamentary Union” adopted a Universal Declaration on Democracy which reaffirms its principles and the elements and practices necessary for a democratic government.

The world is currently attending a time when it is necessary to renew votes regarding democratic principles. Movements like the Alliance for Open Government specifically seek to aggiornar democratic principles, ensuring that they guarantee full citizen participation and respect for human rights.

  

  

Contact

Agustina Palencia, agustinapalencia@fundeps.org

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

 

One of the major socio-environmental conflicts facing the province of Cordoba due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier is the application and irregular use of agrochemicals in fields close to homes, neighborhoods, schools or other human settlements. constitutes a great risk to the health of the exposed communities.

A case in point of affecting the human right to a healthy environment and health is that of neighbors and neighbors of Barrio Ituzaingó Anexo, who have been demanding respect for their rights for more than ten years. This neighborhood is located southeast of the City of Cordoba, bordering the north with an industrial zone and bordering with rural areas to the north, east and south. There are approximately 5000 people, who live in 1200 houses in 30 blocks.

In March 2002, it was the first time that a group of mothers worried about the health situation in the neighborhood began to complain to the authorities for the analysis of diseases and possible contaminants. This process of struggle that began since then was carried out by the group “Madres de Barrio Ituzaingó.

Although the process was long, as a result of the social struggle, neighbors and neighbors gained access to potable water through running water, building the Primary Health Care Unit, creating the Provincial Registry of Tumors and thus also achieved normative advances in environmental matters. In this last aspect, municipal ordinances were issued that established the “sanitary and environmental emergency” and prohibited aerial and terrestrial fumigations to less than 2,500 meters of any dwelling or group of dwellings), that finally resulted in the prohibition of fumigations throughout the ejido of the city (ordinances n ° 10505/2002, 10589/2003, 10590/2003).

The judicial process began in 2008 when neighbors made complaints denouncing the existence of diseases, abortions and malformations attributed to the fumigations that were carried out in the fields adjacent to their homes. After a lengthy judicial process, in August 2012 the First Criminal Chamber issued an unprecedented ruling on environmental pollution due to the use of pesticides in urban areas, condemning a producer and an agroaplicor pilot. On September 12, the Supreme Court of Justice was issued regarding the complaint filed by the defendants, rejecting the request and confirming the decision of the Crime Chamber.

We welcome the resolution issued by the Argentine Supreme Court and set a precedent for similar cases in which communities are violated their fundamental rights by the irregular application of agrochemicals. In this context, we also consider it necessary to comply with local regulations that have created zones of environmental protection and restrictions on the use of agrochemicals (such as Alta Gracia in which we work). Along these lines, we support the establishment of a national law on minimum environmental budgets, referring to the regulation of distances for the application of agrochemicals guided by the precautionary principle, which will establish a reference framework that will safeguard the fundamental rights to the environment and health.

More information

 – Public Health Driven by Agribusiness | El Entramado

Contact

 Male Martinez Espeche, malemartinez@fundeps.org

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

 

We made a presentation before the Constitutional Court of Colombia to bring to the court legal arguments about the obligation of the state of the protection of the Great Marsh of Santa Marta. This Ciénaga is a deltaic system of wetlands located to the north of Colombia and is considered one of the most productive ecosystems of the Caribbean for its important hydrological and ecological characteristics. Despite their protected status, the Ciénaga and the fishermen who inhabit it have suffered for years the significant decrease in freshwater that feeds the ecoregion and the inadequate handling of soils and water basins. The deterioration of the Ciénaga is due to a structural crisis that has not been properly addressed by the different entities with competence in the area.

Faced with violations of fundamental rights, environmental degradation and the inaction of the competent authorities, on November 10, 2016, two inhabitants of the Palafitic peoples who live in the Ciénaga filed a protection action in coordination with Dejusticia. The action was filed against 26 public entities of the Colombian national and local order, as well as against private companies. The guardianship action focuses on three issues. The first of these consists of the excessive use of the water sources and the lands of the swamp by the agroindustry and the omission in the duty of control by the authorities. They have built dykes, dried up terrain, diverted rivers, but the response of the authorities has been insufficient. The second, addresses the lack of proper maintenance and dredging of rivers and streams that feed freshwater to the marsh. Although millions of contracts have been signed to carry out these activities, few results are visible. Finally, the tutelage warns about the infrastructure projects that are planned to be built on the ecoregion.

The 25 of November of 2016 the guardianship was admitted, the judge of first instance denied the action alleging its improbency. It was considered that, although the great deterioration of the Cienaga was evident, this situation had been attended through a popular action previously promoted by another citizen. This decision was contested and the ruling was confirmed in second instance on February 16, 2017 by the Civil and Agrarian Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia. In April of this year the case reaches the Constitutional Court of Colombia. In this instance we present an amicus curiae (Latin expression that refers to a friend of the court or friend of the court). The latter is a presentation made by a third party outside the litigation, where they voluntarily offer legal and / or technical arguments to collaborate with the court before the sentence.

We consider that the case requires a structural response, in which the different entities with competence over the region participate and dialogue, always guaranteeing the participation of the communities. We believe that this is an ideal case to carry forward a model of dialogic justice in Colombia, to seek a structural solution to the problem, to hold public hearings where all parties involved have the possibility of being heard and that control is carried out active by the State. Similar statements have been made in cases in which we have been working as in the situation of contamination of the treatment plant for liquid effluent from the Bajo Grande WWTP or in the conflict over the operation of the Porta plant.

Wetlands are an important food, shelter and breeding site for a wide variety of wild species, and their protection and conservation are of particular importance. In addition, there are numerous international treaties that require active policies to protect the environment and the communities that live there. The Constitutional Court has the opportunity to establish clear guidelines regarding the protection of the human right to a healthy environment for a site of key environmental importance, as well as for vulnerable populations. In this sense, it is necessary that the Court and civil society follow up judiciously and permanently to the orders that are given in the sentence to verify the situation of the affected communities.

We support and promote the initiatives of participation of all the actors in the structural processes of modification of public policies.

Image credit

Dejusticia

More information

Constitutional Court has last word to save Big Marsh of Santa Marta | Dejusticia

Contact

Victoria Gerbaldo – victoriagerbaldo@fundeps.org

Juan Carballo – juanmcarballo@fundeps.org

This publication seeks to approach activists in DESCA a diagnosis about the main shortcomings in production and access to relevant information for the implementation of the ESCR, some witness cases that show the importance of the use of these tools in the incidence by the enforceability of These rights, current standards in the matter and levels of disaggregation requested by universal and regional treaty bodies.

The fundamentals of the amicus seek to prove violations of fundamental rights, environmental degradation and the inaction of the competent authorities. We consider that the case requires a structural response, in which the different entities with competence over the region participate and dialogue, always guaranteeing the participation of the communities. We believe that this is a case for ideal to carry out a model of dialogical justice in Colombia, to look for a structural solution to the problem, to carry out public hearings where all the parties involved have the possibility to be heard and to carry out a control active by the State.

Exponemos ante el Comité datos alternativos a los brindados por el estado argentino a finales de 2016 en producción y calidad de los datos sobre DESC; acceso a la justicia en DESC; derecho a la educación; derecho a la educación inclusiva; derecho a la salud; derecho a la igualdad de género; derechos de defensores y defensoras ambientales.