On August 1st, the General Assembly failed to elect, after two voting instances, the new INDDHH Board of Directors since none of the 24 candidates reached the required two-thirds of votes.
In this sense, this Thursday, August 11, the General Assembly will meet again, as provided in article 37 of Law No. 18,446, of 2008, to proceed with the election of the new members of the INDDHH, this time by majority absolute (for the period 2022-2027).
At a time when Parliament is in session, a group of more than 30 social and human rights organizations will present, before the Contentious-Administrative Court, an action for annulment of the process of electing the new Board of Directors of the INDDHH, to understand that there are candidates who were not promoted by any social organization, as established by law, and there was no control process for the requirements required to join the Institution.
Respect the spirit of the Law
For its part, the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Uruguay – Crysol sent a letter to the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, through which they request that the government coalition “proceed to appoint the new members of the Board of Directors of the Institution National Human Rights and Ombudsman, respecting the letter and spirit of Law 18,446 that created it”.
They recall that Article 36 stipulates “very clearly that its integration will seek to ensure the pluralistic representation of the social forces of civil society interested in the promotion and protection of human rights, in accordance with the principles of gender equality and non-discrimination.” .
Crysol indicates that parliamentarians “must choose with sovereignty in order to ensure broad representation of social forces and organizations interested in promoting human rights standards.”
“They should not be limited to choosing personalities with experience, training and knowledge, but representatives of social organizations in a plural way with different thematic sensitivities. Likewise, as we have always stated, we consider it particularly important to comply with the recommendation that the greatest possible continuity be maintained when appointing new directors, and in this case, the re-election of Dr. Mariana Mota and Dr. Wilder Tayler who have carried out work that is recognized even at an international level”, they state.
