Tag Archive for: Gender and participation

,

Serious setback for judicial independence and institutional quality in the Supreme Court

The decision of the Executive Branch to appoint two men to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation by decree, without the agreement of the Senate and through appointments on commission, constitutes an undue advance by the president over the Legislative Branch, a serious attack on judicial independence and a clear offense to the duty to guarantee gender equality in the highest court, which seriously impacts its legitimacy and institutional quality.

“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 appointment made by Decree 137/2025 deviates from the procedure established by the Constitution, and constitutes a clear abuse of a controversial power of the Executive to “fill vacancies in positions that require the approval of the Senate and that occur during its recess” by decree. The aggravated two-thirds majority provided for by the National Constitution to give agreement to the proposal of candidates is intended precisely to prevent the representative of a single political party from being able to appoint a judge. The division of powers is at the very essence of our republican system of government, and can never be overridden by not reaching political agreements regarding particular candidates. The Senate has the power not to give agreement when it considers that the conditions for proceeding with an appointment are not met, that is precisely what the Constitution orders it to do. Silence in no way enables an institutional abuse of this magnitude.

Furthermore, moving forward in this direction ignores the many citizen objections expressed during the public evaluation process of the candidates, which was enabled in compliance with Decree 222/03. The various objections raised the issue of the candidates’ lack of suitability and independence, as well as concerns about some of their views, and raised concerns about the fact that only three women, compared to 104 men, managed to reach the position of Supreme Court judge in its entire history, emphasizing the constitutional and conventional duty of the Executive Branch to nominate women who had the highest qualities to occupy the position.

Constitutional rules do not exist as a mere formality, but as a mechanism to safeguard the balance of powers. Bypassing the constitutional process for the appointment of judges compromises the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, by leaving two of its five members in a temporary and precarious situation, which exposes them to pressure and affects their credibility among citizens.

The search for political consensus for the integration of the Court is essential for its legitimacy and key to the legal security on which social and economic progress is based. Furthermore, if the concern is the efficient functioning of the Court with only three members, this court has the necessary institutional mechanisms to function in this way until its due and necessary integration.

The judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, must be a pillar of respect and trust for society. Argentina does not deserve a court appointed by decree, nor a justice system that disregards the value of independence and impartiality.

 

Abogados y Abogadas del Noroeste Argentino en derechos humanos y estudios sociales (Andhes)
Amnistía Internacional
Área Salud, Economía y Sociedad de CEDES
Asociación Civil Líbera, abogacía feminista
Asociación Civil por el Cumplimiento de los Derechos Humanos (ACuDH)
Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ)
Asociación Pensamiento Penal
Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC)
Asuntos del Sur
Campaña Gqual
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL)
Colectiva Feminista La Revuelta, Neuquén, Patagonia Argentina
Democracia en Red
Directorio Legislativo
Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género (ELA)
Foro Pampeano por el Derecho al Aborto Legal, Seguro y Gratuito
Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN)
Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad
Fundación Mujeres x Mujeres
Fundación para el desarrollo de políticas sustentables (Fundeps)
Fundación para el Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM)
Fundación Poder Ciudadano
Fundación Sergio Karakachoff
Fundación Sur
FUSA AC
Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales (INECIP)
Laboralistas Platenses
Liderar Mujer
Multi-Palabras Santa Fe
Programa Género y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, UBA
Red de Profesoras de Derecho, UBA
Red de profesoras, Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, UNLP
Red Mujeres para la Justicia
Salta Transparente

,

IACHR alert: Argentina must uphold its gender policies to protect human rights

In a historic hearing, the IACHR was informed of the regression of gender policies and access to sexual and reproductive health in Argentina and the State’s failure to comply with its obligations. The economic justification of the cuts by the Government was not accepted by the Commission. Its President and the commissioners present affirmed the existence of gender violence and stressed the need for specific measures to address it. “What is not named does not exist,” they said.

“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 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (IACHR-OAS) summoned the Argentine State on Thursday, November 14, 2024, to its headquarters in Washington DC, to explain the serious regression in gender policies, in policies on sexual and reproductive rights and the lack of compliance with international commitments. Civil society organizations had requested the hearing in order to present evidence of this setback in the rights of women, girls, adolescents and LGBTIQ+ people in Argentina.

During the hearing, the commissioners asked the representatives of the Argentine Government present to provide answers regarding the coordination of public policies without a budget; to specify which programs are still in force and what measures they will take to strengthen the administration of justice in cases of gender violence. The Government did not respond to the Commission’s questions, nor did it mention how it will comply with its commitments. It only limited itself to recognizing the lack of budgetary attribution to these policies as an error and promised to make an addendum to the national budget.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations General Assembly, Argentina was the only country to vote against the prevention of violence against women and girls, with 170 votes in favour and 13 abstentions.

Civil society organizations urged the IACHR to recommend that the Argentine State adopt concrete policies that guarantee compliance with its international commitments and ensure the right of women, girls, adolescents, and LGBTIQ+ people to live free from violence and to guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health services. This hearing was an urgent call to action: our country must stop the dismantling of fundamental policies and resume its commitment to human rights, so that the basic rights of its citizens do not depend on regressive political decisions.

The voice of organizations

In their interventions before the Commission, Amnesty International, the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender (ELA), the Mujeres x Mujeres Foundation and the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps) presented information that shows the serious setback in public policies aimed at addressing and eradicating gender violence, and guaranteeing access to health services, especially sexual and reproductive health.

“Since taking office on December 10, 2023, the current Argentine government has systematically attacked the rights of women, girls, adolescents, and LGBTIQ+ people. It dismantled successful public policies; it discredited, without evidence, the institutions responsible for guaranteeing them; it arbitrarily cut budget allocations and reduced the staff that supported the implementation of public policies through mass layoffs. With these actions, the State is violating current international pacts and treaties,” said Natalia Gherardi, Executive Director of ELA.

The situation is alarming: in the first quarter of 2024 alone, of the 2,462 women who applied for the Acompañar Program, only 434 received help. This represents a 98% decline compared to 2023, leaving women at extreme risk unprotected. In addition, the budget executed for these programs in 2024 only reaches 15%, directly and critically affecting women and diversities facing situations of violence.

Regarding the dismantling of public policies for access to sexual and reproductive rights, Lucila Galkin, Gender Director of Amnesty International Argentina, stated that “the purchase and distribution of supplies has been the responsibility of the National State since the creation of the National Program for Sexual and Reproductive Health in 2002, and by constitutional mandate the Ministry of Health of the Nation has the authority to govern public policy to establish a minimum level of rights throughout the national territory. However, suddenly and for the first time since then, the State has left the provision of supplies to the provinces, without any type of transfer or transition in order to avoid putting women’s lives and health at risk, which results in a context of absolute inequality.”

Contrary to fundamental international principles

The dismantling of public policies contradicts fundamental international principles and treaties such as the Belém do Pará Convention and CEDAW, which oblige the State to actively intervene. “These measures not only put the lives of women, girls, adolescents and diversities at risk, but also perpetuate structural discrimination based on gender and violate the international commitments assumed by the Argentine State in this area,” said Mayca Balaguer of Fundeps.

What is happening in Argentina has an impact beyond its borders. The lack of protection for women and people of different backgrounds in the country creates a precedent that could legitimize setbacks in other Latin American states, putting at risk the advances in human rights that cost a lot of effort to achieve. “Using the excuse of considering human rights as ineffective and ideologically driven, Argentina is moving away from its historical leadership role in the promotion of women’s rights, initiatives against gender violence, and the promotion and protection of sexual and reproductive rights,” said Juliana Miranda of CELS. The IACHR has repeatedly warned that setbacks in one country affect the entire region, weakening joint efforts to prevent and eradicate gender violence.

The organizations requested that the Commission carry out a visit to the country to observe the situation and prepare a report, given the seriousness of the setback. “We appeal to the IACHR’s commitment to urge the protection of the human right to live a life free of violence and discrimination for all girls, adolescents, women and diversities in Argentina,” concluded Soledad Deza, president of the MxM Foundation.

  • Watch the full hearing here.

 

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

, ,

Civil society organizations and academics reject before the Senate the candidacy of Lijo and García-Mansilla to the CSJN

Gides (Social Rights Research Group), Fundeps (Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies), El Telar and Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir Argentina we appear before the Chamber of Senators of the Nation to explain the reasons why we consider that The candidates to fill the vacancies in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla, do not meet the conditions required to integrate the highest body of justice in our country.

“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”.

As academic and civil society organizations with a long history in the field of human rights, we understand that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, as the main guarantor of the National Constitution and the Rule of Law, can only be made up of people whose experience reflects strong suitability and independence, as well as a firm commitment to constitutional principles and human rights.

Ariel Lijo faces serious accusations in the Judicial Council, including negligence in the investigation of corruption cases, unjustified delays in legal processes and accusations of illicit enrichment, in addition to criminal charges for illicit association, money laundering, bribery and influence peddling. . Furthermore, he lacks professional or academic merits to support his candidacy.

For his part, Manuel García-Mansilla holds an ideological position that could affect the defense of human rights and the international commitments assumed by our country. During his career, he has questioned the hierarchy of international human rights treaties signed and ratified by Argentina. She has also expressed her opposition to the right to abortion, even in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape. Its incorporation into the highest body of justice of the Nation implies a serious risk for the guarantee of the rights of women and pregnant people.

Likewise, we express our deepest concern about the flagrant lack of representation of various sectors of society in the potential composition of the Supreme Court. The inclusion of new members should reflect gender diversity and thematic and regional specialization, to ensure adequate representation of a federal country like ours. It is necessary to emphasize that gender diversity in public positions and decision-making bodies is a legally binding requirement derived from our constitution and international treaties.

Furthermore, on this occasion some organizations sent questions and concerns for the candidates to answer publicly, as enabled by the procedure of the Upper House.

The questions presented to García Mansilla include: How do you justify your candidacy to the Supreme Court in a context where equal gender representation is required and your appointment would perpetuate the underrepresentation of women on the court? What concrete actions have you taken to advance women’s rights and diversities in your career? While the questions asked to Lijo were: How can her candidacy contribute to equitable gender representation in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation? How do you guarantee transparency and ethics in your judicial decisions?

In these contexts, we believe it is essential that the Senate consult the candidates along the lines expressed here, as well as investigate in detail the crucial points that we have noted in our challenges.

We demand that the Senators rise to the occasion, and NOT agree to the approval of these candidacies in defense of Human Rights and the highest values ​​of justice.

Ícono de validado por la comunidad
Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

,

They ask the Senate to guarantee a composition of the Supreme Court that includes women

Given the absence of women in the presidential proposal to fill the vacancies in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, a group of 12 civil society organizations sent a letter to the president of the Agreements Commission of the Chamber of Senators, Guadalupe Tagliaferri, so that the public hearing for the appointment of the two male judges proposed by the Executive Branch does not begin because it is unconstitutional and discriminatory based on gender. Likewise, it implies a strong setback in the diversity that the highest court must have, with a serious impact on its legitimacy.

“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 all of Argentine history there were only three women in the Court compared to 104 men. Instead of reversing this alarming reality, the Executive Branch decided to integrate this court only with men. Today it is the Agreements Commission of the Upper House, the body that has the historic opportunity to prevent us from having an absolutely male Court for at least 7 years, leaving out women who meet the conditions to occupy that position and reinforcing the stereotypes that block their access to places of power and decision-making.

The moments of greatest political participation of women in these spaces also coincided with important advances in gender matters. The creation of the Court’s Women’s Office and the Domestic Violence Office, fundamental organizations for documenting and reversing discrimination and violence, took place when Carmen Argibay and Elena Highton de Nolasco were part of the highest judiciary.

An equal integration of the Supreme Court and equal access to public positions, especially in hierarchical and power bodies, are political rights of women and the State has the obligation to make them effective, in accordance with the commitments assumed in international rights treaties. humans with constitutional hierarchy. Likewise, Decree 222/03 includes these standards for the process of appointing judges to the Court and establishes that a diverse gender composition must be promoted when defining appointments.

Although in the Argentine Judiciary 57% of the staff is made up of women, they occupy only 31% of the positions of judges in the national and federal justice system and only 29% of the highest authorities there.

It is the duty of the Executive Branch to propose women for the Court who have the qualities, suitability and commitment to the rights required for such a function and, of the Legislative Branch, to promote and ensure that said obligation is fulfilled.

For this reason, Amnesty International, the Latin American Justice and Gender Team (ELA), the Women’s Network for Justice, the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps), Women in Equality (MEI), the Foundation for Study and Research of Women (FEIM), Fundación Poder Ciudadano, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP), the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), the GQUAL Campaign and the Association for Civil Rights (ADC), ask the Senate not to begin the discussion of the specifications to appoint two judges to the Court in order to guarantee gender equality in the Argentine Justice.

 

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

 

*Image taken from a publication of the Gender with Class Foundation

,

Protection against gender violence is a commitment to the entire society

Three days after the 9th anniversary of Ni Una Menos and five after the publication of the femicides report that confirmed that in 2023 there were 250 victims in our country, the national government decided to close the Undersecretariat for Protection Against Gender Violence. A woman dies every 35 hours in Argentina, while one in two women in a relationship has suffered or is suffering from domestic violence and there are no state structures to resolve it.

“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”.

According to data from the National Registry of Femicide of the Women’s Office of the Supreme Court of Justice, there have been between 226 and 260 victims of femicide per year from 2017 to 2023. It is clear that lethal gender-based violence is far from being resolved. The problem is real and not ideological. To these lethality data we must add the 124,000 calls to line 144, a state policy that has been in existence for 10 years and is a hub for prevention.

Public policies to address cases of gender violence are part of a commitment that the Argentine State has historically made within the framework of international agreements and that is why gender institutions were created almost 40 years ago to carry them out. Argentina occupies a privileged role in the fulfillment of these agreements and has been a pioneer in taking measures against discrimination and violence against women and LGBT people. It is taken as an example internationally.

Without specialized bodies in the comprehensive approach or sufficient personnel and budget, the Argentine State will not be able to design and implement adequate policies to prevent and punish these acts. But, furthermore, you will not be fulfilling your obligations. With the closure of the Undersecretariat for Protection Against Gender Violence, the Argentine State goes back to times prior to 1987 when the first undersecretariat for women was created and retraces a path of progressive progress that it achieved in the last 37 years.

Our National Constitution grants constitutional status to the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), committing to the development of policies aimed at eliminating discrimination against women by all appropriate means and without delay and enshrining the Inter-American Convention to Prevent , Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women (Belem do Pará) in 1996 through Law No. 24,632. With the closure of the Undersecretariat, the commitments no longer have reference authority for the design of policies and budgets and Law No. 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women will no longer have enforcement authority.

Fiscal regulation cannot be done at the cost of deaths and other forms of discriminatory violence against the population. Our society has built a consensus against gender violence. It is not an option to reverse four decades of progress.

We demand that the government rise to the urgency and immediately designate an adequate structure to respond to a problem that does not cease. We urge Congress to ensure that the laws it defines for social protection are executed.

 

SEE ACCESSIONS: La protección contra la violencia de género es un compromiso con toda la sociedad

Descargar Documento / Download File
,

Civil society organizations and academics reject the candidacy of Lijo and García-Mansilla to the CSJN

Gides (Social Rights Research Group), Fundeps (Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies) and Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir Argentina presented ourselves to the Ministry of Justice of the Nation to explain the reasons why we consider that the candidates for fill the vacancies in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla, do not meet the conditions required to integrate the highest body of justice in our country.

“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”.

As academic and civil society organizations with a long history in the field of human rights, we understand that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, as the main guarantor of the National Constitution and the Rule of Law, can only be made up of people whose experience reflects strong suitability and independence, as well as a firm commitment to constitutional principles and human rights.

Ariel Lijo faces serious accusations in the Judicial Council, including negligence in the investigation of corruption cases, unjustified delays in legal processes and accusations of illicit enrichment, in addition to criminal charges for illicit association, money laundering, bribery and influence peddling. . Furthermore, he lacks professional or academic merits to support his candidacy.

Likewise, we express our deepest concern about the flagrant lack of representation of various sectors of society in the potential composition of the Supreme Court. The inclusion of new members should reflect gender diversity and thematic and regional specialization, to ensure adequate representation of a federal country like ours. It is necessary to emphasize that gender diversity in public positions and decision-making bodies is a legally binding requirement derived from our constitution and international treaties.

For all of the above, we reject the candidacies of Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla to the CSJN. We demand that constitutional guarantees be respected to achieve an equitable composition that takes into account regional and gender diversity, as well as the minimum conditions of professional experience required to occupy one of the most important positions of justice in our country.

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

,

Red Global Cedaw: experiences of construction of shadow reports by feminist social organizations

Last Tuesday, April 26, we participated in the third meeting of the CEDAW Global Network where we shared experiences on the preparation of 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”.

All States that have signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) must submit periodic reports to its Committee to account for compliance with the international obligations assumed with their signature and accession. The civil society organizations of each country, depending on their experience and the work they carry out, can present a “shadow report”, a kind of alternative and complementary report to those presented by the States parties to account for the reality of women that they know first-hand, so that the Committee has the necessary tools to prepare the final recommendations.

In view of the relevance of the participation of organizations in this process, we were invited to participate in the meetings of the CEDAW Global Network, organized by Gloria Ramírez, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights at UNAM. The objective of this Network is to create a space for convergence, dialogue and discussion around the experiences of elaboration and participation in the formation of CEDAW reports.

From our experience we present and share the process of preparing three reports for CEDAW, all in the framework of the 65th session of the Convention: Tobacco control in Argentina: pending tasks to protect women’s health; Gender violence and public communication policies and Access to natural resources of rural women in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina.

We heard contributions from both the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights at UNAM and civil society organizations from Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay and Colombia.

Throughout the meeting we shared experiences by country regarding the challenges of each region, as well as the implementation of the gender perspective in the different areas of the country. The possibility of collaboration agreements with the Chair was explored and we delved into the progress and challenges in reference to gender violence in each country.

In this framework, together with the Global Network and the organizations that make it up, we will continue working to support cooperation in monitoring the implementation of the commitments assumed by the States party to CEDAW, the preparation of shadow reports and the exploration and development of advocacy strategies to collaborate in the guarantee of the human rights of women and diversities and gender-based dissidence.

 

More Information

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org 

,

Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office: “The media and information in the pandemic”

During the year 2021, faced with a pandemic context, we participated in the first Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office in virtual mode, through a videoconference platform and, at the beginning of this year, the reports resulting from the process were published.

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.

Communication during the pandemic

The Public Hearings of the Public Defender’s Office have been held every year since 2013, with the exception of the 2019-2020 period, fulfilling the mandate of the Audiovisual Communication Services Law to evaluate the functioning of the body through citizen participation.

The theme that governed the conversations of the last Hearing was “The media and information in the pandemic”. The meetings that were held were of the utmost importance since it was an issue that has affected not only the country but also the world in a transversal way. Approaching communication from a rights and gender approach implies conceiving all citizens as subjects of law and commits the State to guarantee their participation and incidence in political decisions. This becomes urgent in a context in which information is a fundamental human right for survival, which is why this Hearing allowed the Public Defender’s Office to internalize the needs and claims of the different actors in society regarding this issue. and all those who touch us as communicational citizens.

The thematic axes that were debated were: right to communication and Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services; access to audiovisual communication services in coverage of the pandemic; information and disinformation in the audiovisual media about the Covid-19 pandemic; specific considerations in the audiovisual coverage of the pandemic on historically marginalized sectors; State and public communication policies linked to the operation of audiovisual communication services in a pandemic; situation of the workers of the press, regulation and organization of work; proposals, suggestions and requests addressed to the Public Defender’s Office in relation to audiovisual media in a pandemic.

Our intervention

Organized by regions, the first virtual audience was that of the Central Region, which includes the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fé and Entre Ríos, divided into two days due to the large call. Through the participation of Mayca Balaguer, coordinator of the areas of Legal Affairs and Gender and Sexual Diversity, we participated in this Public Hearing contributing from a human rights and gender perspective.

In reference to the aspects that we consider positive and negative in the media coverage of the pandemic, we highlight that the media served and had a fundamental role as a channel for transmitting information related to Covid-19 and health measures. However, we express our concern about some cases of fake news, disinformation and even bad examples.

Likewise, regarding media and symbolic gender violence, we state that during the pandemic we observed that in many cases the media reinforced gender stereotypes, fundamentally through a strong stigmatization of fat bodies, motivated by changes in habits in diet and sedentary lifestyle caused by isolation. Far from promoting healthy habits in a way that respects body diversity, we noticed that many media outlets fell into fat-phobic and stereotyping discourses.

Regarding the role of the State, we highlight the need to develop visibility strategies for alternative, self-managed, community media from different parts of the country, which are dedicated to reporting from the territories. We believe that the contribution of these media is key to recovering the voices and perspectives of non-hegemonic sectors from a perspective that respects human rights, especially those that are made up of women and dissidents, people with disabilities, racialized, fat, etc. At this point, a more equitable distribution of the official guideline may be a key factor in sustaining these media, which, due to the socioeconomic consequences derived from social isolation, may cease to exist, fueling the monopolization of information in the hands of hegemonic media.

The importance of citizen participation in communication policies

The Public Defender’s Office’s main objective is to promote and guarantee the rights of audiences in pursuit of democratic communication throughout the country. To achieve this, it holds public hearings that seek to actively participate and involve citizens in decision-making so that these are made in a transparent manner and, ultimately, a more informed and participatory society is generated that has access to its right to communication.

In these public hearings, they function as a mechanism for the State to carry out an updated diagnosis on the operation of the audiovisual media, recovering different points of view, opinions, experiences and studies provided by citizens. This makes it possible to inform, design and implement public policies aimed at the recognition and exercise of the rights of the audience.

For this reason, we celebrate this space for citizen participation in which we participate, since it is essential to guarantee equal access to information and to expand the diversity of voices in the government decision-making process. This promotes the construction of informed, inclusive, more democratic, fair and equitable public policies that incorporate a rights approach.

Autor

Irene Aguirre

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

,

The rights of women in Argentina in times of Covid-19

Situation during the first year of the pandemic and recommendations to promote measures with a gender perspective.

“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”.

During 2020, together with other organizations, we worked on the preparation of a report that presents a monitoring of the responses given by the Argentine State to address the pandemic and the impact of these responses on women’s rights. This monitoring seeks to report on the status of women’s rights in Argentina in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic during its first year, contribute to the fulfillment of women’s rights and gender justice and urge the State to take the necessary measures to guarantee and protect rights from a gender perspective.

Within this Gender Roundtable, a working group has been created that has prepared this report made up of Lawyers from the Argentine Northwest in Human Rights and Social Studies (ANDHES), Amnesty International Argentina (AIAR), Center for the Implementation of Constitutional Rights (CIDC), Ombudsman’s Office of the Province of Buenos Aires, Latin American Justice and Gender Team (ELA), Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (FUNDEPS), Observatory of Adolescents and Young People / Gino Germani Research Institute (OAJ / IIGG ), La Hoguera Feminist Organization, Network for the Rights of People with Disabilities (REDI) and Xumek, AC for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The report describes the initiatives and approaches adopted by the Argentine government to protect the rights of women and diversities during the first year of the pandemic from March 2020, when the first case of COVID-19 in the country was reported, until the end of 2020. The following priority issues are addressed: political participation and gender perspective in the measures; gender-based violence; the right to care; and access to sexual and (non) reproductive health.

Download Executive Summary

Download full report

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

,

Equity in the media: why and for what?

In the early morning of June 11, the Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in the Communication Services of the Argentine Republic was enacted. A Lley product of the feminist struggles in favor of a democratization in the media organizations in both labor spheres and as producers of meaning.

“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 media have a fundamental role in the construction and reproduction of meanings and representations about social and subjective reality. As such, they can contribute to the support and justification of inequalities or they can question them, both from their speeches through the content they produce and disseminate as well as within themselves, being understood as work spaces with a specific labor organization.
Investigating how media content is produced, who produces it, what is their training and trajectory, and what place each one occupies within the media allows us to have a map of the situation to address the violence and structural gender inequalities that they reproduce within these spaces.
The media companies, specifically the large commercial media, are characterized by their work structure founded from an androcentric approach. What has conditioned the income, permanence, development and work performance of women and, of course, has excluded transvestite, trans, intersex and non-binary people.
This is visible in the labor trajectories differentiated by gender:

Source: Chaher and Pedraza (2018). Media and gender organizations. Córdoba: Fundeps, Communicate Equality.

To make this graph, only binary data were obtained in terms of gender, that is why it has not been possible to reconstruct work trajectories taking into account the diversity of identities, such as transvestites, trans, intersex and non-binary people. At the time the investigation was carried out, there was only a single trans person working in one of the Córdoba media. Currently there is some progress in this regard, although it remains insufficient. It is possible to recognize the structural gender inequalities that make it difficult, even more than for cisgender women, to access employment, particularly in these types of companies with diverse and dissident identities.

Now, when observing the graph, it is possible to notice that although most of the people who graduate from careers related to communication in the city of Córdoba and Buenos Aires are women, less than half of them go to work in the media commercial. Even fewer are promoted to higher positions, a situation that is reproduced again, although with a deeper inequality, in union spaces.
These career paths are traversed by personal paths. Unpaid domestic and care work falls mainly on women and femininity, affecting their autonomy. As a result, they are the majority among part-time workers and hired under precarious regimes in order to reconcile their working life with unequally distributed care responsibilities. To this must be added micro-chauvinisms and all types of violence that are combined with masculinity pacts, which perpetuate these unequal and exclusive structures.

The lack of gender and care policies, as well as the lack of gender awareness and training in a transversal manner, or the delegation of this responsibility to feminist communicators and gender editors, are some of the obstacles that many of the media companies most important in the country have not been able to overcome. Even in a context of profound changes in favor of gender equality and the demands of the audiences.

What does the law say?

The recently enacted Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in Communication Services of the Argentine Republic is inserted in a national and international legal framework and of historical claims of various social and feminist movements, of which it is the result. Claims that were previously reflected in national legislation, such as Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas in which they develop their interpersonal relationships, Law 26,743 on Gender Identity and the Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services, among others. As well as public policies, such as the creation of the Public Defender’s Office and the AFSCA, were the result of the commitments assumed by the State in the fight against gender violence.

Its purpose is “to promote equity in the representation of genders from a perspective of sexual diversity in communication services, whatever the platform used” in all the country’s communication media, although it is only mandatory for those of management state. This law does not seek parity, but goes further: it is based on the principle of equity and the inclusion of all gender gender identities in all positions of the media labor structures, breaking with binarism. the promotion of democratization and diversity of voices and their labor structures.

This democratization process from a gender and diversity perspective is understood as gradual, gradual and only mandatory for state-run media, while privately managed media will be encouraged through the preference in assigning official guidelines in cases to carry out measures in the sense proposed by this law.

These positive action measures move away from the punitive paradigm to establish proactive policies that encourage transformations respecting the times and processes of each privately managed media.

In turn, the corresponding authority will be created for the implementation of the law in order to guarantee its compliance.

We celebrate these legal advances that are the result of the insistent struggle of feminist movements, especially feminist communicators and journalists who in their daily practices sustained, and still do, transformations inside and outside their work spaces. We are aware that the struggle does not end with the enactment of a law, but requires a comprehensive and intersectional implementation plan to achieve real equality and make the rights formally sanctioned tangible.

We will keep our attention on the implementation of the law and the public policies designed and carried out to achieve it.

Más información:

Gender and International Financial Institutions: the case of the Inter-American Development Bank

This document proposes a descriptive and evaluative analysis of the implementation of the Gender Policy in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and its main objective is to investigate such implementation based on the weaknesses and strengths identified in the Bank’s gender policy. , in order to continue making progress in incorporating elements and tools that guarantee women’s rights and diversity.

Descargar Documento / Download File
,

Analysis of the IDB Invest Gender Risk Assessment Tool

This document proposes a descriptive and evaluative analysis of the recently published (2020) “Gender Risk Assessment Tool” (HERG) of the IDB Invest, which is a gender plan for companies to evaluate the impact of their projects on gender issues and structure prevention processes.

Descargar Documento / Download File