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Entre Ríos and the right to abortion

In the last weeks, a case of non-punishable abortion in the city of Concordia was reported to a girl victim of rape. Health professionals from the hospital where the practice was performed made the case public, violating the professional secrecy and the right to privacy of the patient. A short time later a sentence of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of Paraná was known that condemned the State to pay compensation to a woman who was denied the practice of non-punishable abortion, having to continue with a pregnancy that resulted, after childbirth , in a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) that left sequels to him for life.

“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”.

Abortion in Argentina is legal on grounds

Since 1921, according to Article 86 of the Penal Code and ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in the ruling “F.A.L” of 2012, abortion is legal in the following cases, regardless of the weeks of gestation:

If it represents a risk to life or to the physical, emotional and social well-being of the pregnant person;
If it is the product of a violation.
The same ruling urges the provincial states to provide the necessary conditions to carry out legal interruptions of pregnancies in a fast, accessible and safe manner.

Entre Ríos is one of the 10 jurisdictions that have adhered to the National Protocol or have protocols that meet the criteria established by the ruling F.A.L. At the end of last year the Ministry of Health of the province, through resolutions 2383 and 3616/17, updated its “Protocol for the comprehensive care of people with the right to legal interruption of pregnancy,” repealing the previous guide that was restrictive , and adhering to the National Protocol.

Falsedades around a practice framed in the law

A 13-year-old girl who is pregnant as a result of a rape agreed to her right to interrupt her pregnancy. The practice was carried out on November 10 at the Hospital Masvernat de Concordia, thanks to health and judicial professionals who guaranteed the practice in a safe manner, applying the current regulations.

Anti-right groups used this situation to conduct campaigns based on fallacies and distortion of the facts, to harass and intimidate those who complied with the law by carrying out the medical procedure. They said that the fetus survived 10 hours and also circulated a video in which an apparent human fetus is seen, inside the gestational sac. Then they clarified that the video does not correspond to the case but they did not establish to which medical practice it corresponded.

However, the Ministry of Health clarified in a press release that it is not possible for survival to occur within the conditions established by the protocol, as it did not happen in this case. In addition, he said that he is analyzing the possible occurrences of violation of professional secrecy, the Patient Law and his duties as public officials and indicated that medical secrecy is a key element of the patient’s rights.

They condemned the State for preventing a legal abortion

On December 9, the ruling of Chamber II of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of Paraná was announced, confirming the first instance ruling issued by Civil and Commercial Judge No. 7, Martín Furman. This sentence had condemned the State to pay compensation for the damage caused to a woman who suffered a cerebrovascular accident as a result of childbirth after having denied the legal interruption of pregnancy.

The patient suffers from a congenital disease called Tetralogy of Fallot. In 2005, after 5 spontaneous abortions, she requested a tubal ligation, which was authorized because of the danger that pregnancy meant for her health and her life. He was admitted to perform the tubal ligation, but the operation was not performed because the operating room was not in condition, and it was never reprogrammed.

In 2011, she attended the San Roque Hospital, studying a 10-week pregnancy. He was prescribed medical studies and after meeting the Hospital Multidisciplinary Ateneo, he was advised to stop the pregnancy. The patient consented and the intervention (cesarean section) was scheduled for the following week at the San Martín Hospital, due to the need to have a highly complex institution. When she was admitted for the pre-surgical studies, she also signed the informed consent for the tubal ligation after the interruption of the pregnancy.

That same day, a cardiologist from the hospital burst into his room and managed to get the surgery interrupted, arguing that “what they were going to do to him is a crime.” Then a resident doctor intervened, who ruled the suspension of the cesarean and ordered the referral of the patient to the Posadas Hospital in Buenos Aires. There she was hospitalized for a few weeks until delivery by caesarean section. Eight days later he suffered a stroke with serious consequences: paralysis on the left side of his body and difficulties in reasoning.

The judgment of first instance, confirmed by the Chamber, considers proven the nexus of causality between the non-interruption of the pregnancy and the cerebrovascular accident. In addition, he affirms that the doctors acted guilty because by preventing the surgery, they did not do everything that they should have done to avoid the damage. He also attributes the responsibility to the State, which through doctors of public hospitals “made the plaintiff change a decision that he had already taken legitimately to protect his health and life, also violating his human right to health and, thus, It caused a vascular brain accident.”

Thus, the Justice made room for the lawsuit filed by the patient against the State and sentenced him to pay him an amount of more than $ 400,000 for damages.

However, there was no reproach towards the doctors.

A right of all

It is essential to remember the normative framework in force in our country and promote respect for the right of women and pregnant women to the legal interruption of pregnancy, which has been in force for almost 100 years. The State must not allow dilatory and hindering maneuvers, but arbitrate the means for effective access to this legal practice. The malicious actions of anti-rights groups that misinform the population and refuse to respect the laws in force endanger the health and life of women and pregnant people.

Access to legal interruption of pregnancy without delay or obstacle is a recognized human right in our national and international legal framework. The State must consolidate an institutional framework in which the rights to health, sexuality and reproductive security are respected, eliminating all the judicial and administrative barriers that obstruct access to this right.

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, <maycabalaguer@fundeps.org>

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Córdoba has a non-punishable abortion

After a judicial process of more than 6 years, the Superior Court of Justice of Cordoba rejected the action of amparo filed by the Portal de Belén association that objected the guide that regulates non-punishable abortions, confirming its constitutionality and providing its full force.

“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”.

Background

On March 30, 2012, and following the guidelines of the Supreme Court in the FAL ruling, the government of the province of Córdoba, through the Ministry of Health, approved Resolution 93/12 and the Guide to the care of non-punishable abortions. with the purpose of guaranteeing a fast and safe access to the practice of non-punishable abortions in the provincial public health services.

On April 12 of that year, the Asociación Civil Portal de Belén filed a collective action against the government of the Province of Córdoba. He requested that the ministerial resolution be declared inapplicable as unconstitutional and that the legal figure of non-punishable abortion contained in art. 86 of the Criminal Code. As a provisional measure, he also requested that the suspension of the application of the guide be ordered. The Civil Association for the Right to Decide (Catholics for the Right to Decide) appeared in the case as a third co-defendant in defense of women’s human rights.

The precautionary measure

On April 13, 2012, the first instance judge, Federico Ossola, partially granted the provisional measure requested by Portal de Belén ordering the suspension of the application of the guide, but only for the case provided for cases of violation. On October 3 of the same year, the Third Chamber of Appeals confirmed the precautionary measure.

However, because the application of the Guide was suspended, even in that only case, women and pregnant persons in Córdoba could not access any kind of non-punishable abortion in provincial hospitals, since the judicialization of the protocol generated misinformation in professionals of health and public opinion.

The background: the constitutionality of the resolution and the guide

On the other hand, in the argument for the unconstitutionality of the ministerial resolution (main file), in the judgment of August 24, 2012 Judge Ossola ruled in favor of the constitutionality of the resolution and the procedures provided by the guide, but he questioned the presentation of an affidavit of the rape victim to access the abortive practice without other collection. He argued that, being an exception, the sworn statement was insufficient to guarantee that punishable abortions are not committed. In May 2013, the Appeals Chamber held that the resolution and the guidance were unconstitutional for contradicting local public law.

In May 2014, the file was sent to the Superior Court, which had to decide on the constitutionality, conventionality and application of the ministerial resolution and the non-punishable abortion care guide. In 2016, on the second occasion that the Court arranged for it, FUNDEPS presented itself as amicus curiae together with other organizations supporting the defense of the sexual and reproductive rights of the women of Córdoba and contributing arguments of international human rights law.

Sentence

The Superior Court of Justice considered that there was no judicial case that allowed it to examine the constitutionality of Resolution No. 93/12, since Portal de Belén had only raised a “mere subjective discrepancy” with the provisions of the Criminal Code in the art. 86, which grants exceptional permission to abort without punitive consequences for women.

He considered that Portal de Belén wanted the State to ignore said article, based on “the only support of his personal opinion“, with the aspiration that “the Province does not recognize the authorization or permission recognized by the basic law to every woman victim of a violation (according to the interpretation made by the CSJN), which would imply establishing a prohibition-against legem-where criminal law does not institute it. “

The majority vote, dictated by Aida Tarditti, Domingo Sesin, Mercedes Blanc de Arabel and Silvana María Chiapero, gave rise to the cassation appeal promoted by the Province and revoked the judgment of the House that had declared the ministerial resolution unconstitutional. Consequently, it rejected the amparo action promoted by Portal de Belén, which sought what the Chamber had resolved at the time, a decision that has now been annulled, so that the resolution remains fully valid.

In summary, he concluded that there is no collective judicial case in the terms proposed by Portal de Belén for the following reasons:

1) The National Legislative Power is the only one with competence to sanction substantive norms with general reach and has already resolved the constitutional dilemma between fundamental legal rights at stake that involves any violation that leads to the victim’s pregnancy through art. 86, subsection 2, of the Criminal Code. The same can be said when the interruption of pregnancy is enabled if there is danger to the life or health of the woman (Article 86, paragraph 1, of the Penal Code).

2) It is not possible to address the analysis of the guide without first doing the same with regard to the Criminal Code that serves as support for the guide, which far exceeds the procedural margins of an amparo. But, also, because this would mean republishing what has already been resolved in the case “F., A. L.” by the Supreme Court.

3) It is not possible to collectivize, in block, non-transferable situations in their configuration and significance without affecting the personal rights of the victims of said unlawful act.

4) An indivisible collective good is not at stake, nor can one hypothesize about how each woman could react and decide about the possibility provided by article 86, paragraph 2. That is why there is no collective legitimacy with repercussions on a right of personal exercise for which the guide aims to establish a procedure to guarantee this exercise.

The implementation of the protocol: a debt with equality

In this context and after years of waiting, it is necessary to ensure the effective implementation of the provincial protocol. From FUNDEPS, we celebrate this judicial decision and the statements of the highest authority of the Ministry of Health of the Province.

More Information

Publication

Authors

Virginia Pedraza

Mayca Balaguer

Contact

Mayca Balaguer maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

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We present a report on the human rights situation in Argentina before the IACHR

On October 30, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a communiqué inviting civil society organizations and other interested social actors of the Organization of American States (OAS) to send information on the situation. of human rights in the region. This information will be used for the preparation of chapter IV A of the annual report of the IACHR corresponding to the year 2018 that will be presented to the General Assembly of the OAS.

“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”.

Each year, the Commission produces an annual report on the human rights situation in the region, reflecting the trends, challenges, advances and good practices that have occurred in the area of ​​human rights in the OAS member states during the year.

For the Annual Report of 2018, the Commission will emphasize the following axes: Democratic Institutionalization, Institutionality in Human Rights, Access to Justice, Citizen Security and Right to the Environment.

Together with lawyers and lawyers from the Argentine Northwest on Human Rights and Social Studies (ANDHES) we present a report on these axes in the areas we work on:

Institutionality in human rights

1. Hierarchical reduction of National Ministries of Environment, Culture, Health, Labor and Modernization and Communication
2. National Budget 2019
3. Comprehensive Sexual Education Law in danger

Access to justice

1. Preoccupation with the draft bill on collective processes
2. Access to the right to abortion in Argentina – Delay of justice in the case of Portal de Belén (by non-punishable abortion protocol in the province of Córdoba)
3. Access to justice for the elderly

Citizen security

1. Institutional Violence in Tucumán
2. Absence of mechanisms to prevent torture in Tucumán

Right to the Environment

1. Affectations to the right to health caused by the use of agrochemicals
2. Concern over project to amend the seed law
3. Failure to comply with the consultation and free, prior and informed consent of provincial law No. 5,915 to the detriment of the environment and the right to life and territory of indigenous communities in Jujuy.
4. Chinchillas Mining Project and the Pozuelos Lagoon in Jujuy
5. The indigenous community of Solco Yampa and the indiscriminate felling of trees in the province of Tucumán
6. Murder of Javier Chocobar in Tucumán

The cases presented in this report give an account of a general situation of regression of the fulfillment of human rights by the Argentine State. The exposed situations of vulnerability are particularly worrisome because they are part of a regional socio-political crisis context. In order to avoid the impact of cuts, the noncompliance with international standards and the promotion of public policies that do not attack the roots of structural inequality impact fully on the populations that are already in a situation of vulnerability, we ask the IACHR to publicly express concern about the state of compliance with human rights in the country.

More information

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

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We present an annual report to INAM and we express concern about its inactivity

The civil society organizations representing the Argentine provinces in the Ad Honorem Advisory Council of INAM on November 10 presented the situation reports. We also regret the inactivity of the Council during the year and the little interaction of INAM with its members.

“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 civil society organizations representing the Argentine provinces in the Ad Honorem Advisory Council of INAM on November 10 presented the situation reports. Likewise, we regret the inactivity of the Council during the year and the little interaction of the INAM with its members. Since last year, FUNDEPS has been part of the Ad Honorem Advisory Council of the INAM, a space for collaboration between the government and organizations committed to the struggle for equality. women. This Council, created under article 9 of the comprehensive protection law 26.485, is composed of organizations from all provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and its main function is to advise and recommend courses of action to address the problem of gender violence. However, since the meeting held in October of last year, the Council organizations have not been able to establish an active communication with the INAM, nor has progress been made in the preparation of the operating regulations of the Council.

Even so, complying with the commitments assumed as advisors, from FUNDEPS we present the annual report of the situation of Córdoba in relation to the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of Violence against Women 2017-2019.

In this regard, it should be noted that our province does not adhere to the National Plan, which we warn as the main warning regarding the commitments assumed by the country in the fight against violence against women, through the signing of the Conventions of Human rights that address the problem, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW (for its acronym in English) and the Inter-American Convention of Belem Do Pará.

Likewise, we made information requests to the corresponding provincial bodies, in order to respond to the information required by the INAM, orders that were not answered within the deadlines established by law. In this sense, we resort to the information gathered through our fieldwork, as well as the data available online in the official sites of the province.

The lack of access to information is another important warning that we warn, mainly given the seriousness of the problem in our province, which already has more than 11 femicides, until August, so far in 2018.

In the report presented, activities were reported in the areas of health, education, media, as well as access to justice and work.

The lamentable inactivity of the Council and the INAM

During the month of September, FUNDEPS along with other advisory organizations presented a request for information to the INAM to understand what the operating guidelines of the Consultative Council are, in order to be able to fulfill the assumed commitments.

During the inaugural meeting of the space, the advisory organizations and the officials of the INAM agreed that during the current year we would be prepared to elaborate the regulations for the purposes of the functioning of the organ. This regulation was never drafted, nor were the consultations and questions of the Councilors answered by INAM.

Also, as part of our work of constant monitoring of media, we have made a report of media violence by the statements of Nicolás Repetto, who in an interview with a young victim of public transport abuse questioned the type of clothing that was using at that time. For this reason, we initiated the corresponding claim process before the INAM, but we did not have a timely or adequate response to our complaint.

Fully recognizing the efforts of INAM to increase transparency and accountability on the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of Violence against Women 2017-2019, carried out within the framework of its commitment to open government, the Lack of interaction and response to civil society is contradictory.

It is also important to analyze the economic context of the country, mainly from the forecast of the funds for the fight for equality and against the violence carried out by INAM. As ELA points out, in its report on the 2019 budget, “INAM had achieved a total of $ 211.5 billion pesos for 2018, as a result of the budget reallocations achieved during the year. For 2019, a total of $ 234,394,881 will be awarded. Although this represents an 11% increase in nominal terms, taking into account the average inflation used by the Executive Power itself in the preparation of the budget (34.8%), this implies a fall of 18% in real terms in relation to to the previous year”.

In a context where the economic crisis and the consequent budget cuts impact especially on women, organizations that do not have a voice to express their opinions and complaints or find an answer in the authorities responsible for promoting gender equality policies in all spheres, worrying.

Without prejudice to the complex reality of INAM, the advisory organizations comply with our commitments, and we hope that next year we will be able to advance in the consolidation of real spaces for public participation, with the guarantee of being consulted and listened to when designing and implementing the public policies to fight against violence against women.-

More information

Contact

Virginia Pedraza, vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

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Business activity and women’s rights in the United Nations agenda

We participated in the call of the Working Group on the Gender Perspective in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in order to comment from our experience on the relationship between business activities and women’s rights.

“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 Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other companies, operating within the framework of the United Nations, made a call for civil society organizations to send their comments on the relevant issues regarding impact. of business activity in the human rights of women. For this, we elaborate comments from the point of view of our work agendas, to comment on the situation of health impacts, on the participation of women in companies, and on women and the media.

First, we address how women experience the impact of human rights abuses related to companies differently and disproportionate, exposing the cases of the tobacco industry and breast milk substitutes. Both industries, with their particularities, have aggressive marketing strategies. The tobacco industry especially targets young women in cigarette consumption through strategies such as flavored cigarettes or “light” or sponsorship of fashion events. On the side of the breast-milk substitution industry, they also operate with misleading marketing and labeling strategies on the characteristics of the products, as well as having great interference in public policies – in a situation of conflict of interest – discouraging breastfeeding. maternal and its replacement by the formula from an early age.

On the other hand, financing for development provided by international financial institutions to the private sector also has environmental, social, health, access to infrastructure and housing, and indigenous rights, which affect women in particular. The IFIs in general have difficulties and failures in the implementation of their policies, and particularly in the design and application of gender policies. We emphasize then that policies in general, and particularly those on gender, should be strengthened so that they establish clear guidelines for clients (especially companies and other private entities) to apply differentiated impact assessments, and also strengthen accountability mechanisms to give effective remedies when there are negative impacts.

Finally, we also exposed all the difficulties and barriers that women face to participate in jobs in the private sector, with information obtained through our research on equal opportunities for women and LGTTBIQ + people in companies, unions and universities. We also send recommendations on how media and advertising industries could fight against gender stereotypes and the disempowerment of women.
More information:
Carolina Tamagnini – carotamagnini@fundeps.org

 

 

 

 

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The SCJ rejected the plans of the “Portal de Belén” in the cause of non-punishable abortion

On November 9, the Superior Court of Justice (SCJ) resolved the definitive integration of the court that will decide on the “Portal de Belén” case, in which the constitutionality of the “Procedural Guide for the care of patients who request non-punishable abortion practices “(Resolution No. 93/12, Ministry of Health). In addition, he urged the plaintiff party to avoid delays in the case.

“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”

Resolution No. 106 of the highest court of the Province of Cordoba is issued on three issues:

  1. The allegation by the Portal de Belén association that the rejection by the Senate of the project of decriminalization and legalization of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy constitutes a new fact to be taken into account by the court.

On this point, the TSJ states that the allegation was made out of time. But also, said that “the supposed alleged novelty became a mere particular legal interpretation rehearsed by the plaintiff on a political-legislative decision of the Congress of the Nation”, prima facie, far exceed “What is specifically discussed in these cars, with the independence of the integral weighting that has been done in the final judgment “. “I have not had a place.” Finally, this request will be rejected as manifestly inadmissible and dilatory.

2. The recusal without cause to the cameraman Sánchez Torres.

Given that three of the seven “natural” members of the TSJ will not resolve in this case due to licenses or excuses (Carlos García Allocco, María Marta Cáceres de Bollati and Sebastián López Peña), the three vacant places will be completed by female judges from a list of 16 judges conformed through Regulatory Agreement No. 1434 – Series “A” of 07/11/2017. The association Portal de Belén opposed that Judge Julio Ceferino Sánchez Torres joined the court through a challenge without expression of cause.

To this request the Court responded that “the recusal without expression of cause is not possible, in Córdoba, in an amparo trial, such as the one dealt with in these proceedings, in accordance with Law No. 4915 (Article 16) . However, even if by mere hypothesis it is admitted that the parties have such an attribution for subsidiary application of the CPCC, the Bethlehem Portal proposal should also be rejected as untimely “, since it took more than three days, which is the deadline for this type of orders. Consequently, it is clear that the attempt of Portal de Belén to prevent Sánchez Torres from joining the Tribunal was only a delaying strategy.

3. The recusal with expression of cause to the four natural vowels of the SCJ.

The plaintiff argued that the four original vowels of the SCJ should be set aside because the deadlines for failure are “overdone”. However, the Court considered that this assertion “has no basis […] and seems rather aimed at delaying and making impossible that this TSJ can finally be issued.”

The court affirms that the departures attempted by “Portal de Belén” are inadmissible, “even more in the context and in connection with the battery of incidents promoted by the plaintiff, which, if they are linked, demonstrate the will to prevent the integration of this court ”

“The broad exercise of the right of defense can not be confused or made compatible – much less tolerated – with the articulation of ostensible and evidently dilatory incidents, as is clear if each of the presentations made by “Portal de Belén” are connected,” concluded the Court.

Consequently, the final sentence will be dictated by the “original” members of the Superior Court Aida Tarditti, Domingo Sesin, Luis Enrique Rubio and Mercedes Blanc de Arabel, as well as by the chambers Claudia Zalazar, Julio Ceferino Sánchez Torres and Silvana María Chiapero.

The situation of the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy in Córdoba

In 2012, after the pronouncement of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in the ruling “FAL s / autosatisfactivas measures”, the Ministry of Health of the Province of Córdoba approved the resolution 93/12 and the Guide of abortion care not punishable in order to guarantee rapid and safe access to the practice of non-punishable abortions in the provincial public health services. Thirteen days later, Portal de Belén – Civil association filed an appeal against the Province of Córdoba, requesting that the resolution and guidance be declared unconstitutional and, as a precautionary measure, the suspension of the same.

In the first instance, the judge in the case made the precautionary measure stating that the guide could not be applied in its entirety, specifically with regard to access to legal interruption of pregnancy in cases of rape. In second instance, the Civil Chamber resolved the amparos presented for the purposes of appealing the first sentence, making room for it. Since 2013, the Superior Court of Justice must resolve the appeals filed and rule on the merits of the case.

Access to the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy is a recognized human right in our national and international legal framework. It is necessary to consolidate an institutional framework in which the rights to health, sexuality and reproductive security are respected, eliminating all the judicial and administrative barriers that obstruct access to this right.

After more than 6 years of the judicialization of the guide, it is time for the court to be issued in this case that, in its own words, “has the maximum social significance and public interest.”

More Information:

Writer: Mayca Balaguer 

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The right to life according to the UN Human Rights Committee

The Human Rights Committee approved on October 30 its General Comment No. 36 on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that establishes the right to life.

“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”

This pronouncement focused on certain issues such as the abolition of the death penalty, the importance of having solid methods of accountability, the protection of the rights of persons deprived of their liberty and the protection of defenders. of human rights against reprisals. The Committee opposed a restrictive interpretation of the right to life and stressed that people have the right to enjoy a life with dignity. In addition, its members highlighted the link between the right to life and the obligation of States to prohibit war propaganda and hate speech.

The right to life before the interruption of pregnancy

With regard to States and their power to adopt measures regulating the termination of pregnancy, the Committee noted that such measures “should not result in the violation of the pregnant woman’s right to life or her other rights under the Covenant,” such as the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Therefore, all legal restrictions that limit women’s ability to undergo an abortion should not, among other things, endanger their lives or expose them to physical or mental pain or suffering. ”

In addition, it indicated that States parties should “facilitate safe access to abortion to protect the life and health of pregnant women” and “should not regulate pregnancy or abortion in a manner contrary to their duty to ensure that women do not they have to resort to dangerous abortions. “In this sense, the Committee understands that States” should not adopt measures such as penalizing the pregnancies of single women, nor apply penal sanctions to women who undergo an abortion or to the doctors who perform them. they attend to do it “.

In addition, she said that “excessive or humiliating requirements should not be established for women who wish to have an abortion,” and concluded that “[t] he obligation to protect the lives of women against the health risks related to dangerous abortions requires States parties to guarantee women and men, and adolescents in particular, access to information and education about reproductive options and a whole range of contraceptive methods. States parties should also ensure that pregnant women have access to adequate health care services, both prenatally and post-abortion. ”

International human rights organizations in tune

This statement is added to a list of expressions that different human rights organizations have had throughout the year regarding the situation of abortion in our country and in the world.

On June 1, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the body that oversees compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, issued its Final Observations for Argentina. There, he was forceful in urging the State to ensure “access to safe abortion services and postabortion care for adolescents, ensuring that their opinions are always heard and duly taken into account as part of the decision-making process.”

In the same vein, before the bill of voluntary interruption of pregnancy was discussed in the Chamber of Deputies on June 13, the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in legislation and in the practice of the UN through a letter congratulated Congress for its consideration of a bill that decriminalizes the termination of pregnancy in the first fourteen weeks, and urged that this project be approved. “We welcome the important step that is being taken to guarantee women all their human rights, including the rights to equality, dignity, autonomy, information and bodily integrity and respect for privacy and the highest possible level of health. , including sexual and reproductive health without discrimination, as well as the right to a life free of violence and not to suffer torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, “the Working Group had expressed.

After the legislative debate, the same Working Group deeply regretted that the Argentine Senate rejected the bill that would have legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and described the decision as a missed opportunity to promote women’s rights in the country.

Something similar happened with the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Convention of Belém do Pará (MESECVI) that greeted and congratulated the Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation for the approval of the bill in the month of June. After the rejection of the project by the Senate, the MESECVI expressed its regret and argued that “[t] he approval of this law would have constituted a significant advance in the consolidation of women’s rights in accordance with the spirit of the Convention of Belém do Pará, since it not only sought to guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights, but also to protect women’s lives, their physical and mental integrity, and their fundamental freedoms. ”

Finally, just over a month ago, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded the fourth report of Argentina on its implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. There he highlighted the high numbers of dangerous abortions in Argentina and the obstacles to access to abortion in the causes foreseen by the current law, such as the lack of adequate medicines and the negative impact of the conscientious objection of health professionals. In addition, it recommended the provision of contraceptive methods throughout the territory, as well as the adoption of effective measures for the implementation of causes of non-punishable abortion in all provinces (as established in the FAL ruling) and access to medicines that allow a safe interruption of pregnancy. It also recommended the regulation of conscientious objection in order not to obstruct the rapid and effective access to abortion, with dignified treatment by health professionals for patients seeking access to abortion services, as well as not criminalizing women who resort to abortion. practice.

All these pronouncements published in 2018 are added to a long list. For years, international human rights organizations have called attention to Argentina and the rest of the world on the standards of protection they must comply with regarding the sexual and reproductive rights of women and pregnant women. It is important to understand the dimension of these expressions: international experts are pointing us the way towards legislation on abortion that respects the commitments assumed in each of the pacts and treaties that Argentina has ratified.

Writter:

Mayca Balaguer

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Considerations on the crime of abortion and injuries to the unborn person in the preliminary draft reform of the Penal Code

Following the preliminary draft of Penal Code 2018, a group of professionals and civil society organizations sent a letter to Minister Germán Garavano requesting that he suspend articles 95 and 96 of the preliminary draft because they are regressive for the rights of pregnant persons.

“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”

Together with a group of professionals and civil society organizations that work in defense of human rights, we sent a letter to Germán Garavano, Minister of Justice and Human Rights, requesting that he suspend articles 95 and 96 of the preliminary draft because they are regressive for human rights. of pregnant people.

The text proposed in the Draft of Penal Code 2018 does not accept the important modifications approved in the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation in the recent treatment of the bill that decriminalized and legalized the interruption of pregnancy on a voluntary basis until the 14th week of gestation.

1. The proposed wording does not substantially change the conditions and guidelines set forth in arts. 85 and next. of the current penal code in force since 1921, although it uses different expressions and, on the contrary, may be regressive.

2. The fundamental change foreseen in the legal reform debated and approved in Deputies is not contemplated, that is, that the abortion is not punishable when the woman voluntarily decides to interrupt the pregnancy in the first 14 weeks of gestation. Consequently, the grounds for exemption from punishment in the preliminary draft under analysis remain the same as those currently in force: danger to the life and health of women and in case of violation.

3. The new proposed text qualifies health in its physical and mental aspect, while in the current penal code in force, as well as in the project approved in Deputies, only “Health” is spoken, which we consider more correct, because enables the development of the broad concept according to WHO guidelines that does not limit the concept of health to physical and mental aspects only. Therefore, the change is limiting and can be interpreted restrictively, generating greater obstacles when it comes to accessing the legal interruption of pregnancy for this reason, as it is currently planned.

4. The enumeration proposed by the preliminary bill in relation to the grounds for exemption from punishment is also restrictive insofar as it does not expressly contemplate the possibility of deciding to terminate the pregnancy when there is a diagnosis of non-viability of extra-uterine life of the fetus (for example in the case of anencephaly ), as today is accepted and admitted by the jurisprudence for decades, and was expressly consigned in the project that had half sanction.

5. In relation to the amount of the penalties provided for the crime of abortion instead of the current one from 1 to 4 years, it is established from 1 to 3 years, thus reducing the maximum in one year, which may mean greater possibilities that the prison sentence is not effective, although it depends on the judicial criterion since as a general principle in the Preliminary Draft the penalties are effective compliance. It should be noted that the project with a half sanction established a substantially lower penalty: from 3 months to a year with the possibility of being left in suspense at the discretion of the judiciary criteria.

6. In the Preliminary Draft the possibility of suspension is extended and even the benefit is extended with the possibility that the judge decides to leave the penalty without effect, but it should be noted that in addition to being substantially greater than in the project with half sanction, there was a judicial process that occurred when the termination of pregnancy was practiced only after the week 14, ie, from week 15 of pregnancy – and provided that the other causes that do not have a deadline of expiration-, which substantially reduced the universe of cases caught in the criminal sphere.

The circumstance that this Draft incorporates this figure of suspension of punishment or exemption from punishment at the discretion of the criminal judges intervening in proceedings against women, does not improve the clearly punitive and persecutory issue that this crime involves for women. In addition to continuing to prosecute, women are subject to the discretion and discretion of criminal judges, who will graduate the sentence and decide discretionally on its amount, suspension or exemption.

7. We consider it necessary to emphasize that the evolution of comparative law and the most modern tendencies in the criminal field and in the international law of human rights, which permeates and especially affects sexual and reproductive rights in the 21st century, point not only to decriminalization and legalization of the IVE during the first weeks of pregnancy, but consider that the criminal appeal is disproportionate, discriminatory against women and only applicable as a measure of last resort (ultima ratio).

8. As a result, legal systems abandon criminalization and resort to other measures outside the criminal context. Compared legislations abstain from incorporating into the codes new norms that suppose the creation of new crimes or criminal types, such as, for example, abortion in its culpable form, which this preliminary draft incorporates.

The preliminary draft that concerns us deepens this regressive path, creating more criminal figures directly linked to abortion that until now was always contemplated in its intentional form (ie with intention). Creating the crime of wrongful abortion not only strengthens the punitive path, but it also constitutes a direct threat to the professionals involved in health practices, who see a new criminal figure that involves them beyond other criminal figures that will be applied to them. the commission of harmful acts due to malpractice, which are already contemplated.

9. Wrongful abortion is a very scarce figure in comparative legislation. Very few penal codes outside Spain (Article 146 with a prison sentence of three to five months alternative with fine and disqualification in your case from one to three years), where non-punishable abortion is contemplated before 14 weeks of pregnancy; only three countries in Latin America contemplate it – two of them with serious maternal mortality problems – such as Guatemala (article 139 with one to three years imprisonment); Costa Rica (Article 122 sixty to one hundred and twenty days of fine) and El Salvador (Article 137 prison from six months to two years). The Preliminary Draft adopts for this figure the same penalty as El Salvador, one of the Central American countries with the highest criminalization against women.

10. Therefore, we consider it necessary to suppress the crime of miscarriage of the criminal code proposed in the preliminary draft in art. 87 inc.2, which is also public action may be seriously intrusive to the privacy of women.

11. On the same path of punitive increase directly related to the sexual and reproductive rights of women, the preliminary draft incorporates two new offenses: injury to the fetus, called “injury to the unborn person”, in its willful and guilty manner. Nor do we find reception of these figures in comparative law, more than the few examples offered by the laws of Peru that includes the fraudulent figure and Spain, El Salvador and Colombia that admit both intentional and culpable. In the rest of the legislation these criminal types are not contemplated. It could be understood that this crime gives the fetus a certain legal status, alien and different to the body of the woman or pregnant person, trying to equate it with a person already born. This question has been the object of deep analysis in the jurisprudence, in particular by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in the previous FAL and by the Inter-American Court in the Artavía Murillo case whose conclusions do not validate the criterion that informs this crime, but quite the opposite.

12. On the other hand, in the preliminary projects that were made in our country so far this century (2006 and 2014), these figures that are reproduced here are incorporated (in 2006 only the malicious form was included), with many criticisms and observations, including the dissidence presented by one of the members of the Drafting Commission to art. 96 of the Preliminary Draft of the reform created by Dto.678 / 2012, to which we refer (See “Draft of the Criminal Code of the Nation – Det. PEN 678/2012”, Dissident Dra. María Elena Barbagelata). On both occasions, the Public Ministry of Defense also held that in the face of any pretension to incorporate the crime of injury to the fetus, it will be essential to bear in mind that these proposals frequently violate women’s right to choose, encourage social control policies of the pregnancy and motherhood and unjustifiably expand the punishable area (See “Opinion for the preparation of the new Criminal Code of the Nation with a gender perspective” Dra. Stella Maris Martínez – General Office of the National Ombudsman).

For the above, we advise the deletion of arts. 95 and 96 of the preliminary draft of the penal code 2018, especially taking into account that these crimes are also public action. (Articles 71 and following of the Draft).

PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS THAT SUBSCRIBED THE DOCUMENT:

ASOCIACIÓN DE ABOGADOS DE BUENOS AIRES (AABA)–

Dras. María del Carmen Besteiro

Dra. Gabriela Nasser

Dra. María Elena Barbagelata

Dra. Julieta Bandirali

Dra. Nelly Minyersky

Dra. Nina Brugo Marcó

Dra. Sandra Mónica González

Dra. Verónica Heredia

Dra. Natalia Ferrari

Dra. Cristina Raquel López

Dr. Ricardo Huñis

Dr. Guillermo Goldstein

Dr. Carlos Alberto López de Belva

Dra. Alba Rocío Cuellar Murillo

FUNDACION MUJERES EN IGUALDAD (MEI)

Sra. Monique Altschul

CEDEM- (Centro de Estudios de la Mujer)

Lic. María Luisa Storani

AMNISTÍA INTERNACIONAL (AI)

Lic. Paola García Rey

CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS LEGALES Y SOCIALES (CELS)

Dra. Edurne Cárdenas

EQUIPO LATINOAMERICANO DE JUSTICIA Y GÉNERO (ELA)

Dra. Natalia Gherardi

UNR- FACULTAD DE DERECHO- PROGRAMA GÉNERO Y SEXUALIDADES

Dra. Analía Aucía

CLADEM ARGENTINA

Lic. Milena Páramo

INTEGRANTES DE LA COMISIÓN DE LOS DERECHOS DE LA MUJER DE LA F.A.C.A:

Dra. Silvia Pedretta

Dra. Marisa Eisaguirre

Dra. Mariela Jesús

Dra. Mabel López

ASOCIACIÓN DE MUJERES PENALISTAS DE ARGENTINA (AMPA)

Dra. Mariana Barbitta

CATOLICAS POR EL DERECHO A DECIDIR

CUERPO DE ABOGADAS FEMINISTAS DE CÓRDOBA (CAF)

FUNDACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO DE POLÍTICAS SUSTENTABLES (FUNDEPS)

XUMEK (ASOCIACION PARA LA PROMOCIÓN Y PROTECCIÓN DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS (MENDOZA).

MUJERES X MUJERES

MULTISECTORIAL DE MUJERES DE SANTA FE

ALIANZA POR LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS DE LAS MUJERES (RED QUE AGRUPA MAS DE 300 ABOGADAS DE TODO EL PAIS)

Dra. Mariana Romanelli

Dra. Mariana Vargas

Dra. Daniela Fagioli

Dra. María Elisa Vilca

Dra. Mariana Hellin

Dra. Laura Julieta Casas

Dra. Susana Chiarotti

Dra. Mónica Menini

Dra. Soledad Deza

Dra. María Urueña Russo

Dra. Mariana Soledad Alvarez

Dra. Raquel Asensio

Dra. Paula Condrac

Dra. Larisa Moris

Dra. María Renée Carrizo

Dra. Karina Selva Andrade

Dra. Alejandra Perez Scalzi

Dra. Silvia Juliá

Dra. Manuela G. González

Dra. Lucía Puyol

Dra. Mariana Ripa

Dra. Sabrina Frydman

Dra. Patricia Bustamante Quintero

Mg. Cecilia Russo

Dra. Analía Mas

Dra. Andrea Caleri

Dra. Eleonora Lamm

Dra. Lucila Puyol

Dra. Valentina Tarqui Lucero

Dra. María Gabriela Pellegrini Salas (AAMJUS)

Lic. Dora Barrancos

Dra. Celeste Perosino

Lic. Mónica Tarducci

Sra. Marta Alanis

Sra. Julia Martin

Lic. Dolores Fenoy

Lic. Victoria Tesoriero

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UN Committee ends report on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Argentina

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded on September 28 the fourth report of Argentina on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

After an interactive dialogue with the Argentine delegation, the Analysis Committee was integrated The report was presented by the State and also the information by civil society organizations through the shadow reports.

“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”

Main conclusions

One of the central issues addressed by the Committee was the financial crisis, because in a context where poverty rates continue, policies to reduce social programs have been implemented, deepening the vulnerability of some social groups. The Argentine State was also questioned about the situation faced by its government institutions, the degradation of some ministries to secretariats, and about the appointment of the Ombudsman.

On the other hand, he expressed his concern for the repression of social protest and access to the land of native peoples. In addition, although the Committee congratulated the adoption of the Gender Identity and Equal Marriage Law in the country, it drew attention to the lack of access to work and harassment in the educational system for LGBTI people, people with disabilities, migrants and women. He also asked the State about youth unemployment, informal work, and several issues related to education (school dropout, sexual and reproductive education and teaching of native languages).

Find more information on public education and comprehensive sex education.

Equality between men and women

Argentine women are affected by the unpaid work of family care, the low rate of labor participation, lack of universal provision of social services and low representation in senior positions in various sectors (particularly justice and the private sector). Therefore, the Committee recommends strengthening legislative provisions and public policies with assigned budgets, aimed at achieving equal rights for men and women, including a public system of comprehensive care, the implementation of measures against social stereotypes that affect women and the promotion of reconciliation policies between work and family life.

On equal opportunities for women and LGBTI people in media organizations, you may be interested in the following link.

Sexual and reproductive rights

Regretting that the bill of voluntary interruption of pregnancy was not approved, the Committee highlighted the high numbers of dangerous abortions in Argentina

and the obstacles to access to abortion in the causes foreseen by the current law, such as the lack of adequate medicines and the negative impact of conscientious objection by health professionals. He also highlighted the lack of a normative and institutional framework to guarantee adequate health services for intersex people.

Among its recommendations in this area, are the provision of contraceptive methods throughout the territory, as well as the adoption of effective measures for the effective implementation of the causes of non-punishable abortion in all provinces – under the provisions of the FAL ruling – and access to medications that allow a safe pregnancy termination. It also recommended the regulation of conscientious objection in order not to obstruct the rapid and effective access to abortion, with dignified treatment by health professionals for patients seeking access to abortion services, as well as not criminalizing women who resort to abortion. practice. Finally, it recommended adopting a normative and institutional framework to guarantee adequate health services for intersex people.

Violence against women

The Committee is concerned about the seriousness of violence against women and girls, with 251 femicides in 2017, despite some progress (such as the inclusion of the figure of femicide in the Criminal Code and the law of Integral Protection). For this, he urged the State to consider the needs of victims of gender violence in the judiciary, to implement free and specialized sponsorship services for women and to improve measures to guarantee the investigation, punishment and reparation of acts of violence , in order to achieve full protection for women and their children.

Feeding

On this point, the Committee regretted the absence of an explicit constitutional recognition and protection of the right to food, the lack of implementation of the Family Agriculture Law No. 27,118, budget and personnel cuts in the family agriculture sector and the increase of people who depend on school and community dining rooms.

He also expressed concern about the increase in the rates of overweight and obesity, the absence of state measures to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks and the lack of adequate regulation to restrict the advertising of unhealthy foods.

In this sense, its main recommendations were to adopt a normative framework that expressly recognizes the right to food and that guides public policies that ensure a healthy, nutritious and sufficient diet, especially for disadvantaged groups. This includes ensuring the effective implementation of the Family Farming Law and taking effective measures to discourage the consumption of foods and beverages harmful to health. At this point, it was even recommended to increase the tax on sugary drinks, strengthening the regulation of the Argentine Food Code in terms of front labeling of foods, including information on sugar in the products, and implement restrictions on the advertising of food and drinks harmful to health, particularly those intended for children and adolescents.

Learn more about food labeling and consumption of sugary drinks.

Health and tobacco use

The high consumption of tobacco has a great negative impact on the health of people in Argentina. The regulation of taxes on tobacco is insufficient and the regulation on advertising campaigns is precarious, so the Committee recommended to our State to adopt more robust measures for the prevention of consumption. Among these, mention is made of the tax increase at a level sufficient to have a deterrent effect on tobacco consumption, the prohibition on advertising, and information campaigns on the negative impact of tobacco on health, with emphasis on the protection of tobacco products. children and youth

In addition, he urged the State to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and to adjust the internal regulations on the advertising of tobacco products to the standards established in this Agreement.

Here you can read more about the tobacco control framework agreement.

Mining and the environment

The use of certain unconventional methods of exploitation of hydrocarbons, such as fracking, and the local impact of these forms of exploitation were another concern of the Committee. In particular because of the negative impact they can have on the environment, water and health. Therefore, the country was recommended to adopt a fracking regulatory framework that includes assessments of its impact in all provinces, prior consultations with affected communities, and appropriate documentation of its effects on air and water pollution, emissions radioactive, the risks to health and safety at work, the effects on public health, noise pollution, light and stress, seismic activity that can trigger, threats to agriculture and soil quality, and to the climate system.

Agriculture, healthy environment and health

The increase in the use of pesticides and herbicides that include glyphosate is worrisome, despite the serious adverse impacts on health and the environment of many of them, indicated as probably carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). ) of the World Health Organization.

In this regard, the Committee recommended that Argentina adopt a regulatory framework that includes the application of the precautionary principle regarding the use of harmful pesticides and herbicides, particularly those that include glyphosate, to prevent negative health impacts from its use and in the degradation of the environment.

On the application of agrochemicals, you may be interested in the following link.

 

Writer: Mayca Balaguer

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Acclamation in the Public Defender’s Office continues: new Provisional Director

The last week of September, the Bicameral Commission for the Promotion and Monitoring of Audiovisual Communication, presided over by Senator Eduardo Costa (UCR), unexpectedly decided on the provisional appointment of a new Public Defender: Eduardo Jesús Alonso.

“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 decision to appoint a Provisional Defender was agreed by the ruling party with ignorance of the opposition. The Commission meeting was convened to deal with the anomalous situation that the Public Defender suffers and to be able to analyze the appointment process. The designation itself was not part of the agenda. The surprise then, was the designation of Alonso, whom the majority of the Commission did not know: neither his name, nor his career, nor his curriculum, nor the reasons why he proposes him as Provisional Defender.

Finally, as the designation did not take place, the deputies of all the blocks agreed on the appointment of Alonso, which will remain in force until the titular Defender is appointed, within a period of 60 days. It should be noted that since the Chair of the Commission it was clarified that the provisional designation is intended to fulfill the operational and administrative functions of the Public Defender’s Office and can not take any resolution of an institutional nature.

For now, the only thing that is known about the new Public Defender is that he is a young lawyer of 32 years who, with the assumption of the new management in 2015, went to work in the General Secretariat of the Presidency.
The Public Defender’s Office for Audiovisual Communication has been unaccompanied since November 14, 2016 when, before the end of the mandate of Lic. Cynthia Ottaviano, the Bicameral Commission of the Congress decided not to appoint a new defender or renew the mandate of the outgoing defender. From that moment, the lawyer María José Guembe, Director of Protection of Rights of the Ombudsman, was an interim reference.

The institution of the Public Defender’s Office is essential because it acts as an intermediary between the communication actors and the public, representing the interests and rights of the audiences. In recent weeks, we have carried out a report of media violence against the entity. From the Public Defender’s Office, they informed us that they have problems to respond to the procedures and claims and clarify that “The delay is due to the Bicameral Commission of promotion and monitoring of audiovisual communication, telecommunications technologies and digitalization of the which depends on this body, has decided to appoint a new person in charge of the Public Defender’s Office until the situation of acefalía is regularized and a new Public Defender is elected. ”

In this way, the continuity of this acclamation since 3 years ago, is a violation of the citizenship since their rights can not be fully enforced without the full action of this body. Until a new Public Defender is selected and appointed, the rights of the audiences remain at risk.

Writer:  Emilia Pioletti

Contact:

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Repeated figurine: Complaint against Baby Etchecopar for media violence

The sexist and discriminatory comments of Baby Etchecopar said in its radio program “The Angel of the Midday” on Radio 10, generated a great repudiation of social movements and women, from which several complaints were filed, including a criminal violate the national law 23.592 that penalizes discriminatory acts. The regulation imposes a penalty of imprisonment of one to three years to those who make propaganda based on ideals or theories of superiority of a group of people.

“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”

In virtue of the acts of Mediaeval and Symbolic Violence against women generated by the comments of Etchecopar, from the FUNDEPS Gender Team we filed a complaint with the National Communications Agency (ENACOM), in repudiation for the dissemination of these messages that promote discrimination against women, legitimizing inequality of treatment and reproducing sociocultural patterns of inequality and generators of violence against women.

The misogynistic sayings that motivated our denunciation took place on September 10 as part of a telephone discussion with Silvia Ponce, leader of the Evita movement, who was in a social protest against the adjustment and economic policies of the Mauricio Macri government.

In this context, the radio operator asked her if she was a beneficiary of a social plan, to which she replied that she did. So he asked her if she worked. When Silvia answered affirmatively again and said that she worked every day at home, Mr. Baby Etchecopar interrupted her saying: “No no, but not at home. You answer me what I ask you because cassette no. Do you work or do not you work? ”

We consider that such an expression is totally discriminatory, sexist and that it makes the work of women invisible, since domestic activity is work, even if it is not remunerated. In fact, it is one of the main causes of inequality between men and women.

According to INDEC data, 9 out of 10 women dedicate part of their day to this type of tasks, which includes the care and maintenance of the home. Also, 76% of unpaid domestic jobs in Argentina are performed by women. Even those who work full time dedicate more time in their life to these activities than men who are unemployed. This fact implies less leisure time for women, training and professional development. Which translates into lower income, more precarious work and the so-called “glass ceiling” that prevents us from accessing the hierarchical positions of power.

Lastly, after taking Leader Silvia Ponce out of the air, Baby Etchecopar said: “I have six children. Who sends you to fuck, boluda? Stop fucking. ” We repudiate such expression not only by the level of aggression, but by setting a clear example of gender violence: and according to the Law of Integral Protection of Women 26,485, as media violence, understood as “all publication or dissemination of messages and images stereotyped through any mass media, that directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women, insults, defames, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or threatens the dignity of women and legitimizes the inequality of treatment or builds socio-cultural reproductive patterns of the inequality or generators of violence against women “.

Baby Etchecopar with his sayings endorses and replicates the models of domination and protection over the woman’s body.

For these same facts that generated our complaint is that the Criminal Prosecutor, Contravencional and Faltas 18, specialized in Gender Violence of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, in charge of Federico Villalba Díaz interim, decided to impute it for discrimination in the context of violence of gender.

The prosecution requested the intervention of the Ombudsman’s Office and the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI). In turn, the National Communications Agency (ENACOM) also initiated a summary against Etchecopar to determine if Law 26,522 was violated, which seeks to prevent gender violence and protect the most vulnerable audiences.

The media has an undeniable responsibility in the construction of citizenship, since they are not only opinion makers, but also endorse and legitimize practices of society. We welcome the intervention of these institutions in this case and we continue to demand full compliance with and respect for the laws that protect women in order to continue building a more egalitarian society.

Author:

Valentina Montero

Contact:

Virginia Pedraza

vir.pedraza@gmail.com

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With Integral Sex Education you don’t get involved

Last Thursday, Córdoba awoke with posters of the campaign #ConMisHijosNoTeMetas on public roads and urban collectives. The slogan was born a few weeks ago, when the reform of the Law of Comprehensive Sexual Education was discussed in the plenary session of the National Congress commissions. On that occasion, an opposition group demonstrated to prevent progress with this legislation, arguing that Comprehensive Sexual Education could not become “indoctrination” by ideology, giving rise to the slogan of this campaign.

“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”

 

A necessary reform

The Law of Integral Sexual Education (ISE) N ° 26,150, in force since 2006, never had an effective national compliance. During the months in which the legalization of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy was debated, Integral Sexual Education was mentioned as an urgent policy both by those who promoted the legalization of abortion and by those who opposed it. In the 2017 Learning tests, 8 out of 10 high school seniors said that sex education and gender violence are issues that the school should address and it does not.

On September 4 (World Sexual Health Day), a majority opinion was reached in the plenary of commissions that dealt with a project to reform the law of ESI. It seeks to strengthen the law to make it clear that it is mandatory in the entire national territory, in institutions of state or private management, beyond the “institutional ideology and the convictions of its members.” In this way, access to a fundamental human right that has been legally recognized for 12 years will be deepened.

That confabulation can be seen

However, the opposition sectors did not take long to be heard and began with a campaign on social networks with statements such as “with the children,” “the children are the parents, not the State” and “not the gender ideology in the school”. They define “gender ideology” as that “set of anti-scientific ideas that, for authoritarian political purposes, uproot human sexuality from its nature and monopolize it through culture.” They affirm that “the deconstruction of the human being will lead to chaos and extinction, as we have already done with nature and other species.” And in their documents they present false concepts about what is sex, gender, sexual orientation and identity. gender, with statements such as “there are only two genders”, “no one is born in the wrong body” and that trans people “suffer from gender dysphoria”.

The role of the Municipality in matters of public space advertising

This misleading and malicious campaign not only circulated through social networks. Hundreds of posters with the slogan “#ConMisHijosNoTeMetas – Yes to sex education, not gender ideology” appeared in spaces of municipal public domain in the city of Córdoba, in flagrant violation of articles 1, 15 ° clause a) and 40th paragraph e). of the Ordinance N ° 10378 of “Regulation of advertising carried out through advertising in the City of Córdoba”.

That is why, together with the Córdoba de Todos Foundation, and with the support of more than 50 social organizations, we made a presentation requiring the Municipality to immediately withdraw the advertisements. We argue, on the one hand, that the campaign violates the spirit of the ordinance, which aims to “regulate the advertising carried out by advertising in spaces or places of the Municipal Public Domain or susceptible to be perceived directly from them, with the purpose to safeguard public safety and morality, as well as to preserve and promote the cultural, aesthetic, landscape, urban and historical values ​​within the municipal ejido. ” On the other hand, the ordinance establishes in article 15 that the announcements can not be contrary to the law, affect morality or good customs, or be discriminatory. This applies to public road signs as well as to mobile advertisements, that is, those that were mounted on vehicles of the Public Transport Service (article 40).

Numerous media echoed our claim. Just a day later, we learned that the Coniferal company, concessionaire of the transport service, decided to remove the advertising of the lunette of their cars.

A fundamental human right

Integral Sexual Education is a human right of which the girls, boys and adolescents of our city are inalienable holders. This has been recognized by the Special Rapporteur for the Right to Education, who in his report to the United Nations General Assembly stated “The right to education includes the right to sexual education, which is a human right in itself, which in turn is an indispensable condition to ensure that people enjoy other human rights, such as the right to health, the right to information and sexual and reproductive rights. ”

This is consistent with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1999 and approved by National Law 23,849 in our country a year later, which obliges the States Parties to respect the stated rights and to ensure their application “to every child subject to their jurisdiction, without distinction whatsoever, regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social status, economic position, physical impediments, the birth or any other condition of the child, his parents or his legal representatives “(article 2). It also orders them to adopt “all administrative, legislative and other measures to give effect to the rights recognized in this Convention, and with respect to economic, social and cultural rights” to the maximum extent possible. dispose … “(article 3).

It is a non-delegable obligation of the State to build the conditions for the fulfillment and active exercise of all rights, and this can not be an exception. The exercise of this right of children and adolescents can not be hampered by a campaign that misinterprets and confuses what should be understood by Comprehensive Sexual Education, except in areas of Municipal Public Domain.

Saying “ConMisHijosNoTeMetas” means reducing the exercise of this right exclusively to the family. It puts children and adolescents in a passive place, contrary to the current paradigm that must respect them as subjects of law. We understand that families are key in the path of education, and their role is unavoidable, but it is also absolutely necessary that there are public policies to guarantee this human right.

And now?

We still await a favorable response from the Municipality of Córdoba, which stated in the media that the issue is under study and will be analyzed in the coming days.

With our claim we do not seek to limit freedom of expression, although we do not share the ideology of those who promote the campaign. We understand that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, but can we say anything by protecting ourselves in this right? Or is there a limit when words violate other human rights? Advertising, as well as the media, is one of the determining agents in the transmission of cultural patterns, and can collaborate both in the promotion of values ​​respectful of human rights and in the perpetuation of inequalities. The regulation of the content that is promoted in the public space, such as the municipal ordinance on which we base our claim, marks that limit. In addition, as we explained in our presentation to the Municipality, it is not appropriate to use municipal public domain spaces to disseminate messages that “weaken channels of dialogue, describe in a pejorative manner positions endorsed even by official bodies for the protection of human rights, and incite violence and democratic intolerance. ”

We also believe that it is essential that the government promote a campaign strengthening its commitment to the full implementation of the Law of Comprehensive Sexual Education, taking into account that in our city we have municipal public schools where the expressions of the advertising campaign in question can have generated confusion and conflict.

It is important to understand that what is in conflict is the Comprehensive Sexual Education, understood from a human rights approach and respect for sexual and gender diversity, consistent with our current legal framework and international standards that regulate the subject. It is this sexual education, as the fundamental right of our children and adolescents, that we must defend.

Contacts

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org