The national government announced the closure of 81 Access to Justice Centers (CAJ), entities dependent on the Ministry of Justice led by Mariano Cuneo Libarona. The multidisciplinary spaces provided free primary legal care to vulnerable populations. From ATE they denounced that with these resolutions, there is a danger of there being 400 more layoffs.
Through a statement, the Ministry of Justice justified that The closure of the CAJs is due to the fact that they “inefficiently provided services of the Judiciary and other agencies”. The justice portfolio noted that “the Executive Branch determined that the CAJ accumulated employees from different previous administrations in offices around the country, without demonstrating results and duplicating functions” and assured that the operating expenses “cost Argentines more than $8 billion per year.”
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Along these lines, the ministerial authorities stated that “In the new stage that our country is experiencing, it can no longer happen. This Government takes care of taxpayers’ money“. And they concluded: “All citizens are guaranteed access to justice through the Judiciary, the Public Ministry, the Ombudsman, and/or the Assistance Center for Victims of Crime. Therefore, It is unjustifiable to finance more offices, more employees, and more resources dedicated to the same function.“.
Ate warned about layoffs
In this frame, The Association of State Employees (ATE) warned that the closure of these access to justice centers will lead to 400 layoffs. From ATE they detailed that the CAJ “are made up of interdisciplinary teams of lawyers, psychologists, social workers, community mediators and administrative personnel” and described that “they are responsible for carrying out a comprehensive approach to legal-psychosocial problems to guarantee transversal and interdisciplinary listening. “Usually, in each case they attend, there are one or more unsatisfied rights.”
Currently, the Cuneo Libarona portfolio has 105 CAJ in all provinces, in vulnerable neighborhoods, which once the closure of the 81 offices is completed, there will be 24 left nationwide, that is, one per province.
In this context, Silvina Silva, worker at the Padre Bachi Access to Justice Center in La Matanza and Delegate at the Ministry of Justice, stated that They are “on alert due to the imminent layoffs in the CAJs that are distributed throughout the country due to a resolution of which we were notified today“. According to what he reported, there have been a total of 270 layoffs in the area since December. “Now, with these resolutions, there is a danger that we will have 400 more layoffs,” he added.
