The Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ) is a nonpartisan and non-profit organization dedicated to defending the rights of the most disadvantaged groups in society and strengthening democracy in Argentina. Founded in 2002, ACIJ aims to uphold the effective application of the Constitution and the principles of the rule of law, promote compliance with laws that protect disadvantaged groups, eliminate discriminatory practices, and contribute to developing participatory and deliberative democracy practices.

One of the main goals of ACIJ’s Strengthening Democracy Program is to fight corruption and state capture in Argentina from a democratic and human rights perspective. In essence, the program’s view is that democracy necessarily requires the input of citizens in strengthening institutions as an indirect exercise of popular sovereignty; thus, the participation of citizens in facing corruption is a prerequisite for positive and sustainable results.

ACIJ seeks to facilitate access to clear and organized public information about corruption cases and trials in progress, foster transparency and accountability in the judiciary’s prosecution, and promote civic engagement against impunity. For this purpose, we have built an observatory of corruption cases, which allows citizens to follow the judicial status of corruption cases.

Other ACIJ actions in the field of anti-corruption include:

• The sanction of Argentina’s Freedom of Information Act, alongside other CSOs.
• The active participation in the process of elaboration of the Asset Declaration and Public Ethics Act in Argentina.
• The leadership, together with other organizations, of the “Anti-corruption Social Agreement” to create a roadmap of the actions that Argentina should implement in the fight against corruption;
• The production of a great amount of publications on Corruption in Argentina: https://acij.org.ar/category/temas/corrupcion-y-captura-del-estado/

For more than a decade, ACIJ has been an active member of the UNCAC Coalition, contributing to monitoring the effective implementation of the UN and OAS conventions against corruption in Argentina. For example, in 2011, we elaborated the country shadow report reviewing Argentina’s implementation and enforcement of selected UNCAC articles for Year 1 of First Review Cycle.

In 2021, with the support of the UNCAC Coalition, ACIJ elaborated a report on the implementation in Argentina of chapters II (Preventive Measures) and V (Recovery of Assets) of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Moreover, ACIJ representatives attended COSP 7 and COSP 10, which took place in Vienna and Atlanta, respectively. During the COSP 10, Clara Lucarella, in charge of ACIJ’ Strengthening Democracy program, was a panelist at the special event on “Victims of Corruption: Back for Payback”.

The organization has already been part of the UNCAC board in two terms: 2016-2017 and 2018-2019. Currently, ACIJ participates in two UNCAC Working Groups (Victims of Corruption and Human Rights and Corruption) and in the Regional Meetings for Latin America and the Caribbean.

1. Improve the capacity of Latin American civil society to work effectively against state capture in their countries by strengthening the regional anti-corruption network;
2. Ensure the recognition of the interrelation between corruption and human rights violations by international bodies.
3. Promote the right of access to public information enabling citizens to control their respective authorities and preventing corruption.

Clara Inés Lucarella is a lawyer who graduated from the University of Buenos Aires. She is a professor of “Human Rights and Guarantees” at the Law School of the University of Buenos Aires. Clara coordinates the Strengthening Democracy Program at the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ). She is the author of several documents published by ACIJ about the judiciary, transparency and corruption, and citizen participation. She has led several projects in ACIJ related to access to information, corruption, the role of the judiciary, among others. Various strategies were used in many of these projects, such as the use of public information, open data and the use of new technologies. She has also represented ACIJ in national and international civil society networks linked to these issues.

As a board member, ACIJ would like to focus on citizen accountability and access to public information as the main means of fighting corruption and state capture. To this end, the organization has already built an observatory of corruption cases, which allows Argentine citizens to follow the judicial status of corruption cases. Other actions in this regard included producing many reports on Corruption in Argentina and sanctioning Argentina’s Freedom of Information Act alongside other CSOs. ACIJ would like to bring this perspective to the board by planning activities and conducting research in this direction.