The Minister of Justice, Martin Soria; the presidential adviser Dora Barrancos and the Treasury Attorney, Carlos Zaniniled this Tuesday the opening of the 2022 school year of the State Bar Corps School (ECAE), where on the occasion of 8M they analyzed the functioning of courts and prosecutors in the face of violence against women and mentioned the need to launch a Judicial Reform with a feminist bias.
During the meeting, Zannini stressed the importance of training Law graduates “in the defense of the State”, since “the State that has to lead the change and defend the weakest”.
From the auditorium of the central office of Banco Nación, before lawyers studying at the ECAE, the speakers -particularly the sociologist and historian Barrancos- highlighted that “this March 8 finds Argentina in a quite exceptional position” against to the rest of Latin America, given that “the struggles” of recent years allowed the sanctioning of laws that expanded rights, such as the Comprehensive Protection to Eradicate Violence against Women (26485, of 2009); same-sex marriage (26,618, 2010); gender identity (26,743, 2012); the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy (27610, of 2020) and Formal Employment for Trans People (27636, of 2021).
“This March 8 is a moment of reflection about the many rights we have achieved, but also about the need to go for them, to continue fighting for the construction of a society absolutely free of violence, democratic, popular, feminist“, exhorted Barrancos in his speech, which was closely followed by Zannini -he highly praised her- and Soria, as well as by the national director of the ECAE, Guido Croxatto, and the Deputy Treasury Attorney, Horacio Diez, who played an important role in the call and directed the delivery of diplomas to the graduates of the Specialization in State Advocacy (Abogar).
At the opening of the act, Soria conveyed his “pride” and “satisfaction” for the role he attributed to the School of the State Lawyers, which he recognized as training professionals who ensure the defense of the public, and also he praised the work of the Treasury Attorney, which he considered led by “true specialists in the defense of the State representing the interests of the Argentine people.”
“Those of us who have been part of a body of lawyers know the importance of this area,” added the Minister of Justice, referring to the institution that trains lawyers in Public Law, Constitutional Law and Administrative Law to defend the State interests.
The presidential adviser, Dora Barrancos, fought “for the construction of a society absolutely free of violence, democratic, popular, feminist”
The ECAE is part of the Treasury Attorney and during the mandate of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) suffered cuts and a progressive emptyingsuch as the closure of the Master’s Degree in Public Law and the Specialization in Complex Economic Crimes, as recalled by its current director in dialogue with Télam.
“The Master’s Degree in State Law had disappeared in the previous administration, as well as the Specialization in Complex Economic Crimes, which had disappeared and has now returned,” Croxatto said. The two postgraduate courses, which are attended by law professionals who work in the different ministries of the Executive, were reopened as of 2020.
“We must not forget that all this had been erased at a stroke,” Soria remarked in the same vein, while Zannini chose the word “reconstruction” to describe the progress of recovering and prioritizing the ECAE, which he framed within the objective of “defending the State”, because -he stated- “in a world that is marching towards the concentration of power and wealth, the only hope that remains to the individual for the protection of his rights is the State”.
In his presentation, the Treasury Attorney summoned the lawyers who are trained in the entity “to look with new eyes” at Law, jurisprudence and the legal system, to “not look at them as always”, and then praised the analysis history on Criminal Law and the concept of violence against women that Barrancos had outlined.
Zannini, at that point, commented that listening to Barrancos allowed him “once again to learn from a woman”, in an implicit reference to Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and then mentioned what it means that “a political project of the importance of the that we participate is led by a woman”.
The opening of the 2022 school year of the ECAE brought together, on the first floor of the Banco Nación headquarters, lawyers who are pursuing postgraduate degrees together with a dozen officials from the National Executive, apart from Soria and Zannini, all members of the faculty: among them was the Secretary of Management and Public Employment, Ana Castellani.
As the start of classes and the delivery of diplomas coincided with International Women’s Day, the main definitions of 8M were left to Barrancos, who, based on a particular case of violence against women in which the Justice intervened, developed a series of recommendations and/or requirements for the actions of judges and prosecutors.
In this sense, the presidential advisor stressed that in cases of this type, the Judiciary must use “gender-sensitive language”; fully apply Law 26485; give “dignified and respectful treatment, not re-victimizing” the complainants; not summon “joint hearings” with the presence of the aggressor; implement “timely, effective and suitable protection measures, according to the risk faced by the victim”; “corroborate the existence of a history of violence”; notify the people denounced if there are protection measures and give an “adequate judicial follow-up” to the case; as well as “inexcusably repair the victim”.
Regarding this battery of recommendations, Barrancos pointed out that they consist of the basis of the transformations that he seeks for the action of the Courts.
“A very important program is expressed here to induce the Judicial Reform that we want“, summarized.
