News

On 12 March last, UNI Americas had the honour of signing an agreement on the promotion of human rights in the presence of Judge Baltazar Garzón. The signing ceremony took place on the National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice on the premises of the Argentine Bankers Association.

The event was organised jointly by Sergio Palazzo, Secretary General of the Bankers Association (La Bancaria) and President of UNI Americas Finance, the National Secretary for Human Rights and Gender Equality, Claudia Ormachea, and the Assistant Secretary for the area, Eduardo Negro.

Judge Garzón is currently President of the Governing Board of the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights (CPIDH) and Adriana Arce is the General Director. The Centre operates under the auspices of UNESCO.

The centre is a decentralised unit set up within the Secretariat for Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice of Argentina. It was created under an agreement between the Argentine government and the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO). Its purpose is to promote the deepening of the democratic system, the consolidation of human rights and the upholding of the values of life, liberty and human dignity.

The signatories to the agreement highlighted their desire to carry out complementary and reciprocal actions to promote and defend human rights. UNI Americas, La Bancaria and CIPDH recognize the need to establish a common regulatory framework for the implementation of such actions and will determine how such cooperation should be established.

The participation of former Spanish judge Dr Baltazar Garzón was particularly important given the continuing role he plays in the fight for human rights at the international level. This was evidenced by the international arrest warrant he issued against the Chilean dictator Pinochet and against Leopold Galtieri, the Argentine general accused of genocide.

Garzón became internationally known when he ordered the arrest of Augusto Pinochet whom he indicted for the death and torture of Spanish citizens during the Chilean dictatorship and for crimes against humanity. He also opened up the possibility for crimes against humanity to be filed in Spain against Argentine citizens who were responsible for the disappearance of Spanish citizens during the dictatorship in Argentina between 1976 and 1983. Within this context, the National High Court of Spain sentenced Adolfo Scilingo to 640 years in prison.

“The signing of this agreement is a source of great pride to UNI Americas. which at its regional conference honoured Alicia Cadenas and Walther Larrea for their relentless struggle for truth, memory and justice”, said Adriana Rosenzvaig, Regional Secretary.

As the poet Léon Gieco once said: “All of this is loaded in the memory, Arming life and history”.