This Monday closed the deadline for the presentation of the applicants to occupy the five positions of the direction of the National Institute of Human Rights (INDDHH) and the Ombudsman’s Office. Until last Friday the list was made up of 12 names, but on the closing date it ended with 16 more names, for a total of 28.
Now the list will go to the consideration of the General Assembly, where those who occupy the positions will be formally elected. The procedure provides for two successive electoral instances where the appointees must be elected with a qualified majority (two thirds). In the event that such a result is not reached, a third election will be held where the chosen ones will be appointed by absolute majority.
In the context of designations, there is a latent discussion about the interpretation of Law 18,446, with which the INDDHH was founded. This norm establishes that the candidates must be proposed by the organizations that make up the National Human Rights Assembly. However, there is a discussion regarding the power of legislators to present candidates directly.
Despite the controversy, there are a total of 14 candidates whose names were nominated by parliamentarians related to the ruling party.
In addition to the current directors of the INDDHH, Mariana Motta and Wilder Tayler, proposed again by Mothers and Relatives of Disappeared Detainees, by the Soca Memories of the Coast Executed Memory Commission, by AGORA – Identity, Human Rights and Soriano Canarian Memory Commission Memory, Justice and against the impunity of Soriano, by the Collective for Memory, Truth and Justice of Tacuarembó, by the Working Group for Truth and Justice of Bella Unión and by CRYSOL, until a few hours ago the list of candidates was made up of :
· The lawyer Javier Palummo, proposed by Mundo Afro, DNI Internacional, Gurises Unidos, and Data Uruguay.
· The psychologist specializing in children’s rights, Oscar Rorra, presented by Atabaque, Instituto Raíces Afro, Mundo Afro, Uafro and the Black Uruguayan Cultural and Social Association.
· The former defender of neighboring Ana Agostino, presented by Claeh, the National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (Anong), Gurises Unidos, the Instituto Raíces Afro, Cotidiano Mujer and Clan Gubaitase Charrúa.
· The former director of the National Support Directorate for Released Persons, Jaime Saavedra, proposed by Anong, the Association of Relatives and Victims of Crime, El Abrojo, Idas y Vueltas and the Network of Friends of Perico Pérez Aguirre.
· Former Colorado legislator Gloria Robaina, presented by Gurises Unidos and the deputy for Rivera Marne Osorio.
· The addiction treatment specialist, Tabaré Martínez, presented by the Association of Friends of the House of Afro-Uruguayan Culture and the Dianova Uruguay Foundation.
· The criminal lawyer Santiago Ruete, presented by the nationalist senator Carmen Asiaín.
· The lawyer specializing in Family Bernardo Legnani Píriz, promoted by the senator of Cabildo Abierto Guillermo Domenech.
· The lawyer advising the office of Herrerist senator Gloria Rodríguez, Sandra Rivas Zaglio, nominated by the substitute senator of the National Party, Sergio Delpino.
· The specialist in corporate social responsibility, Jimena Fernández Bonelli, recommended by Senator Carmen Sanguinetti from Colorado, Manos Veneguayas and the Network of Companies for Sustainable Development.
· The former president of the National Institute for Adolescent Social Inclusion (Inisa) Gabriela Fulco was proposed by the deputy of the National Party Álvaro Viviano.
· The former commissioner and security adviser Robert Parrado, nominated by the deputy of the National Party Javier Radiccioni.
new names
At the end of the term, the new names that appear on the list are:
· The lawyer and former socialist Federico Álvarez Petraglia, recommended by the same organizations that nominated directors Motta and Tayler, with the exception of CRYSOL. In his case, as he explained The Daily the decision not to support him by the latter organization relates him to the fact that he is the defender of the former mayor of Florencio Sánchez, Alfredo Sánchez.
· The philosopher, researcher and former Secretary of Human Rights Nelson Villareal, recommended by the National Association of NGOs, the Southern Observatory, Fearless Women and the Luis Pérez Aguirre Network of Friends.
· The lawyer specializing in labor law and labor relations and professor of Human Rights at the University of the Republic (Udelar), Daoiz Uriarte Araújo, nominated by the Soca Memory Commission and CRYSOL.
· The president of the Israelite Central Committee of Uruguay, Marcos Israel Cúneo, presented by said organization.
· The former mayor for the National Party in San José and former director of Culture during the administration of José Luis Falero in that department, Fernando Rampa, recommended by the Human Rights Organization Stop Abuse Uruguay and Moved by Life Families United for our children.
· The specialist in domestic violence, Marcelo Cantón Pombo, proposed by the Jacinta Balbela Center for Children.
· The historian and archivist at the University of the Republic (Udelar), Isabel Adela Wschebor, presented by the Human Rights Secretariat and by the Gender and Equity Commission of the PIT-CNT.
· The environmental lawyer specializing in transgenics and agrochemicals and a member of the TÁ Collective, Santiago Mirande, nominated by the Single Union of Rice and Allied Workers.
· Pablo Galain, researcher and professor at the Andrés Bello University of Chile, proposed by Senator Graciela Bianchi.
· The author of “Knowing the truth: the story of my kidnapping”, Sergio Hugo Molaguero, nominated by Colorado deputy Omar Estévez, the Center for Human Rights of Uruguay, the Uruguayan Institute of Culture, Center for Retired Officers of the Armed Forces and the Rioplatense Foundation for Studies.
· The advisor of the Legal Division of the General Inspection of Labor and Social Security of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Carmen Rodríguez Núñez, recommended by the nationalist legislators Gloria Rodríguez, Gustavo Penadés, Juan Martín Rodríguez and Daniel Martínez
· The director of INAU, Dardo Rodriguez Custodio, recommended by the deputy of the Independent Party, Iván Posada.
· The representative of the All Truth Association – made up of relatives of victims of the guerrilla movement in Uruguay – and son of Carlos Burgueño, assassinated in the “taking of Pando”, Diego Burgueño, was introduced by the nationalist deputy Nancy Núñez.
· Sofía Maruri Armand Ugón, lawyer and master’s in human rights from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), nominated by Vice President Beatriz Argimón, by the University of Montevideo and by the Fundación Kanguro.
Organizations denounce “changes in criteria” in the election and support the current directive
A conglomerate of more than 50 civil society organizations prepared a joint document where they reject and denounce “the pronouncements that, from the political system, seek to violate the law and turn the National Institution for Human Rights and the Ombudsman’s Office into a distribution of charges , assigning political quotas according to affinity with the government or the opposition”.
“This represents a new attack on the Institution, where the usual losers, the most vulnerable, the most violated, due to the action or omission of the State,” they maintained.
For the signatories “the law is clear and does not admit another interpretation” in that those who propose the applicants can only be “the social organizations authorized to participate in the National Human Rights Assemblies.”
