Democracy is cared for inside and outside Congress
The forms of deliberation, public demonstration, journalistic work, the restriction of state violence, are all necessary conditions for social and political coexistence within the framework of democracy.
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The police operation deployed in front of Congress, while it was in session, was violent and excessive, outside the current regulations for action in response to demonstrations. It was organized by the Ministry of National Security, with an excessive deployment of different forces that caused injuries from rubber bullets, irritating gases with an unprecedented capacity for damage, and blows from tonfas. In a historical regression, there were police with firearms, something that had been avoided in all governments more than 20 years ago. The police intimidated older people, left around thirty journalists with injuries of varying severity, and attacked human rights defenders and protesters from different political sectors. Threatening freedom of expression and demonstration, it advanced in the streets, on the sidewalks and in the plaza.
Within Congress, the regulations are violated: days of debate pass on an opinion that is not known, which is being written outside the committees as the sessions progress. These irregularities, in the face of society, deteriorate the institutions. Furthermore, as expressed in the bill, the delegated powers requested by the Executive Branch could impact legislative paralysis and expanded margins of arbitrariness given the vague, general and elusive way in which they are expressed.
The democratic conditions of debate and coexistence are today deeply tense and rarefied. While legislators debate the destiny of the country and its economic and natural resources in record time, the highest officials publish messages that celebrate and encourage police violence and violence by particular groups.
We call on political parties, all authorities with public responsibilities and the different sectors of the community to make an urgent call for respect for the rights that are being violated, for democratic coexistence, in appropriate institutional terms and without repression.
Signing:
Andhes (Abogados y Abogadas del Noroeste Argentino en Derechos Humanos y Estudios Sociales)
Asociación Ecuménica de Cuyo (FEC)
ELA (Equipo argentino de justicia y género)
Fundeps (Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables)
CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales)
Fundación Protestante Hora de Obrar
Asociación para la promoción y protección de los Derechos Humanos Xumek
Fundación SES
Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN)
CAREF – Comisión Argentina para personas Refugiadas y Migrantes
Consciente Colectivo
Red Argentina de Abogacía Comunitaria (RAAC)
Campaña Argentina por el Derecho a la Educación (CADE)
