In a press statement released by the Foreign Ministry, the Argentine
government said the UN's message “not only strays from the standards of
professional and independence ethics expected from the head of an
organization such as the Rapporteur, but it also shows a lack of
balance. It is a stray from the Rapporteur's mandate.”
“It's paradoxical that whoever has obtained the mandate to protect
the independence of judges and lawyers lambastes the basic principles of
the law and arriving to conclusions without even getting the answers to
the questions she asked last Friday evening,” the Ministry said.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers,
Gabriela Knaul, urged the Argentine Government to review the bills on
the Magistrates Council reform and ruling of the cautionary measures,
approved by the Lower House last week.
Knaul classified “selection of Magistrates Council members via
political parties” and “limits to the cautionary measures” as bills that
“contradict with the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR).”
“The State has the responsibility to ensure the independence of the
judiciary by respecting its laws and international standards,” stressed
the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.
“By providing the opportunity for political parties to propose and
organize the election of the directors, the independence of the
Magistrates Council is put at risk, which seriously compromises the
principles of separation of powers and independence of the judiciary,
which are fundamental elements of any democracy and any rule of law,”
Ms. Knaul said.
“The provision on partisan election of members of the Magistrates
Council is contrary to Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights and the Basic Principles on the Independence of
the judiciary,” Ms. Knaul said.
The draft law also modifies the requirements to be a candidate to
become a member of the Council, and reduces the majorities required for
the adoption of relevant decisions, including for the removal of judges,
with no possibility of appeal.
“I call on Argentina to establish clear procedures and objective
criteria for the dismissal and punishment of judges, and to ensure an
effective process through which judges can challenge those decisions in
order to safeguard judicial independence,” said the Special Rapporteur.
Argentina expressed on Tuesday its “discomfort” over the “unheard of”
attitude displayed by the UN Special Rapporteur, Gabriela Knaul, who
urged the Cristina Fernández administration to reconsider the Council of
Magistrates reform and injunction regulation bills.
The Argentine government insisted in its reply that the UN Rapporteur
with its release, before receiving Argentina’s reply on her requests
“turned the UN into prosecutor, magistrate and executioner of a member
country”.
The Foreign ministry release says that the Argentine representation
before the international organization in Geneva held a meeting with Jane
Connors, head of the Special Procedures Division from the High
Commissioner Office for Human Rights “to express its displeasure with
the misconduct of the Rapporteur lease” and then states that “the same
concern with the improper conduct of the Rapporteur is shared by the
High Commissioner’s Office”.
Finally Argentina states that the Rapporteur expresses “ignorance or
political partisanship on recommending a participative and inclusive
dialogue with the society and juridical community”, because there was
feedback from civil society which “proposed and obtained several changes
incorporated to the bills in discussion”.
But the judiciary reform which is already partly promulgated in the
midst of great controversy in the Argentine Congress, and despite the
attack on the US Rapporteur, has been questioned by most of the
opposition political arch, magistrates and lawyers groupings plus
national and international organizations.
On Tuesday a decree promulgated the law that controls injunctions
against the state following last week’s session at the Lower House when
the bill was passed amid strong tensions between ruling party and
opposition lawmakers.
The 456/2013 decree was published at the official gazette
promulgating the controversial law, part of the six-bill package
submitted to Congress by President Cristina Fernández with the purpose
of “democratization” Argentina’s judiciary system.
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