Organization: Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ)
Name of Organization’s Representative: Clara Inés Lucarella
Website: https://acij.org.ar/
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Country: Argentina
Which seat are you nominating for? Americas Regional Seat

Profile of Organization

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

The work of ACIJ’s Anticorruption Program focuses on addressing the problems of corruption in Argentina.  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 to face corruption is a prerequisite for positive and sustainable results.

ACIJ seeks to facilitate the public access to clear and organized information related to corruption cases and trials in progress, in order to foster transparency and accountability in the prosecution by the Judiciary and to promote civic engagement against impunity.

Organization’s Experience

ACIJ is a member of the UNCAC Coalition and regularly participates in the monitoring process of the implementation of the UN and OAS conventions against corruption in Argentina.

ACIJ produced in 2011 the country shadow report reviewing Argentina’s implementation and enforcement of selected UNCAC articles for Year 1 of First Review Cycle. In 2021, 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).

Some of ACIJ’s main achievements in the anticorruption field are:

• ACIJ succeeded in making criminal investigations about corruption public in Observatorio de Causas de Corrupción;
• ACIJ achieved, alongside other CSO’s, the sanction of Argentina’s Freedom of Information Act;
• ACIJ actively participated in the process of elaboration of the Asset Declaration and Public Ethics Act in Argentina. ACIJ is part of the partnership that created the Open Asset Declarations website;
• ACIJ led and produced together with other organisations an “Anti-corruption Social Agreement” in order to create a roadmap of the actions that Argentina should implement in the fight against corruption;
• ACIJ has produced a large number of publications on Corruption in Argentina.

Top Three Priorities to Achieve for the Coalition

Profile of Candidate

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. She is currently studying the Professoriate for Secondary and Higher Education in Legal Sciences.

Clara is part of the Strengthening Democratic Institutions Program at the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ). She is the author of several documents published by ACIJ about transparency. She has led several projects in ACIJ related to access to information, corruption and the Judiciary. Various strategies were used in many of these projects, such as the use of public information, open data and new technologies. She has also represented ACIJ in national civil society networks linked to these issues.