Under Argentina's Presidency Pro Tempore, the 39th Meeting of Ministers of Interior (and Security) and the 45th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of MERCOSUR and Associate Members were held jointly on 9 June at the Palacio San Martín.
The session was opened by the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, and the Minister of Justice, Germán Garavano. Both Ministers underscored the important and fruitful work undertaken by the different Committees and Work Groups and the opportunity to strengthen exchanges between countries so as to share good practices to live in fairer and safer societies.
The participating Ministers underscored the willingness to work towards regional integration "with a human face" so as to enhance people's life quality. They renewed their commitment to the eradication of violence against women, which afflicts our countries, and agreed on the need to act jointly to fight against organized crime.
Minister Bullrich underscored Argentina's commitment to regional integration with the aim of improving our citizens' life quality in terms of security, justice and governance. She remarked that common borders cannot prevent the accomplishment of such goals; on the contrary, complex criminality calls for joint solutions. She encouraged the delegations present at the meeting to apply the MERCOSUR Information Exchange System.
The Minister also addressed the "Declaration on the Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of All Forms of Gender-Based Violence" submitted by Argentina's Presidency Pro Tempore, which was subscribed by the Ministers of Security of the region, and stated that this is a major issue for our countries given the high femicide figures. She highlighted important initiatives and policies carried out by her Ministry.
Minister Garavano stressed the need to harmonize our countries' legislation on complex crimes, and specially to strengthen efforts to fight against corruption through civil and administrative proceedings in order to eradicate this scourge and have the funds restituted to the State. He also underscored the importance of the declarations to be approved at the meeting on the situation of women imprisoned for drug-related crimes, on access to justice for migrant women, on the treatment of imprisoned foreigners, and on personal data protection.
Press release No. 236/17
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