"The government has a very safe vision of …

Mariela Belski, Amnesty International's director for Argentina, has condemned the Prosur countries' request to limit competition from the inter-American system, signed by Argentina, a decision called "100% political" ". Asked about the current human rights guarantee in the country, Belsky said: "We warned that it was a government whose vision of human rights was one of the most important. man was very safe: the approach is determined by security. "

-Because of the objections made by Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Chile against the human rights system, do you consider that the country has problems with regard to rights guaranteed by international conventions?

– Clearly, the human rights agenda is not a priority program for the government. Most human rights policies are defined by the Ministry of Security. The role of the Human Rights Secretariat has been very marginal in those years; this is not a domain considered transversal. In the abortion debate, for example, there could have been significant participation and mainstreaming of gender issues within the state, but this has not been the case. And we wonder if he did not want to differentiate himself from the previous direction or simply because he has another look. We wonder if this meets a political strategy or if it is an issue that does not concern you, which is not a priority, that you do not understand. They do not understand what human rights mean, which affect the lives of all citizens of our country.

– In which cases did the Human Rights Secretariat not act as it should?

– In very relevant cases, such as those of Rafael Nahuel, Santiago Maldonado or Sala Milagro, who did very badly because they did not know how to handle these situations that overwhelmed them.

In these cases, however, the Ministry of Security played a leading role.

– Yes, it seems that it is the government agency that is the most involved on issues related to freedom of expression, the right to move freely. What we interpret when a government enforces the human rights policies of a Ministry of Security, is that the appearance of the rights of the government. man is tinged with security.

– What does the letter sent by members of Prosur imply?

– The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the OAS in general are funded by the contribution of the Member States. In fact, the inter-American system was created to strengthen a culture of guarantee and respect for human rights, imitated by the African, European System. It is the most advanced regional system and has been emulated by other countries. The system envisages people who have been victims of various human rights violations in their own country and does not find an adequate response; this gives them the opportunity to seek justice in another area. What we are noticing is that we want to limit the capacity of the inter-American system, citing the autonomy of each country.

Does Argentina share the objections to the inter-American human rights system with the rest of the signatory countries? Why did you subscribe to the document?

– It is a 100% political strategy, perhaps determined by solidarity with one of its current regional partners, which could be affected by a decision of the Inter-American Commission. All signatories want to put "a limit", and that is strong. In the field of human rights, Argentina has an ultra-progressive constitution, which incorporates international treaties and advanced laws, such as the law on immigration, that this government wants to amend .