FALGBT and the National Ombudsman signed agreement to create LGBT ombudsmanship at a national level

In order to improve access to LGBT rights throughout the country, FALGBT will work alongside the National Ombudsman to inaugurate an LGBT ombudsmanship at a national level. After the inauguration of such offices in Bariloche and Buenos Aires, it would be one of the first national-level initiatives in Latin America.

The Argentine Federation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People (FALGBT) welcomes the agreement signed this morning with the National Ombudsman’s Office, run by Secretary General Carlos Haquim, in the office’s headquarters, Suispacha 365, Buenos Aires.

Under the terms of the agreement, a “technical cooperation program” will be created between the National Ombudsman and FALGBT in order to create the LGBT ombudsmanship at a national level, which will pursue, among other actions, providing tools for the defense and protection of human and other rights for LGBT people in the country: information exchange, technical and bibliographical documentation of mutual interest, project design, strategy implementation, and management of advocacy campaigns about national and provincial mechanisms to protect the rights and interests common to the parties, such as the advocacy of legislation and national and provincial practices, in tune with international human rights instruments to ensure its effective implementation.

It is worth noting that last December, the first LGBT ombudsmanship was set in motion, in that case in Buenos Aires, by way of a similarly termed agreement entered between FALGBT and the Buenos Aires City Ombudsman.

“This new space is part of the proposals to turn legal equality into real equality as envisioned in the Civic Responsibility Plan devised by the Argentine LGBT Federation and the United Nations system in Argentina, and is one of the first of its kind at a national level in Latin America. We are in need of institutional spaces like these to work against the discrimination and violence that our community still experiences in daily life. We know that together with the National Ombudsman we’ll make progress in this area,” stated Esteban Paulón, president of FALGBT.

“We’ve been working with the entire team for more than a year to settle on this step and it’s a great pleasure to begin charting this course of joint endeavors with FALGBT,” added Secretary General Carlos Haquim, responsible for the National Ombudsman’s Office.

“We are happy and proud to have this new work tool. Our more than 60  organizations instantly recognize the various discriminatory situations that occur all over the country, and this tool permits us to better respond to our community, which is nothing other than to ensure happier and more dignified lives,” said Claudia Castrosín, vice president of FALGBT.

In addition to Carlos Haquim, secretary general of the National Ombudsman’s Office, and Esteban Paulón, president of FALGBT, Buenos Aires city legislator María Rachid, FALGBT secretary general and ATTTA president Marcela Romero, FALGBT vice president Claudia Castrosín Verdú, and LGBT ombudswoman for the City of Buenos Aires Flavia Massenzio took part in signing the agreement.