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Vance Center Co-Organizes Dialogue to Strengthen Argentina’s Fight Against Corruption
At the end of May, the Vance Center and Comisión Pro Bono Argentina organized a dialogue with the legal community in Buenos Aires on tangible ways to support anti-corruption efforts in Argentina and beyond.
Vance Center Associate Executive Director Jaime Chávez Alor speaks on a panel on transparency and anti-corruption efforts in Argentina at the Buenos Aires Bar Association, May 30, 2024. Photo credit: Vance Center
The event, held on May 30 at the Buenos Aires Bar Association, aimed to identify steps to bolster Argentina’s fight against corruption and address relevant issues at the national and regional levels, including international accountability mechanisms and whistleblower protection.
Jimena Vega Olmos, managing partner at Martinez de Hoz & Rueda, opened the conversation with an overview of the newest edition of “Argentina Transparente,” a publication produced by the Pro Bono Commission of the Buenos Aires Bar Association (Comisión Pro Bono Argentina), a member of the Pro Bono Network of the Americas. The study analyzes key aspects of Argentina’s fight against corruption and proposes specific recommendations for the new administration to strengthen government integrity.
Ignacio Meggiolaro, founding partner at MBP Partners, expanded the discussion to a regional level and highlighted the Vance Center’s recent analysis of whistleblower protections in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. He and Vance Center Associate Executive Director Jaime Chávez Alor presented the analysis, which examines the existing legislation and protections, and their current implementation, for whistleblowers uncovering corruption in the three countries.
The final panelist, Hugo Wortman Jofre, president of Poder Ciudadano, the Argentinian chapter of Transparency International, emphasized the need for concrete anti-corruption efforts, particularly regarding whistleblower protection.
Panelists and organizers at the Buenos Aires Bar Association, May 30, 2024. Photo credit: Vance Center
Participants also covered the potential role of various international mechanisms in strengthening the fight against corruption, especially considering Argentina’s efforts to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes government transparency and accountability.
The analysis of whistleblower protections in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, produced in collaboration with the Comisión Pro Bono in Argentina, Derechos Humanos y Litigio Estratégico Mexicano, and Transparencia por Colombia, is part of an ongoing Vance Center project creating a catalog of research on whistleblower protections in Latin America
Other recent outputs include publications that delve into international standards and comparative legislation, as well as practical resources like a manual for handling whistleblower complaints and a guide for ensuring whistleblower protection. The project has also produced country-level research, including an analysis of judicial protection for whistleblowers reporting alleged corruption in Colombia.
Participants in the dialogue on transparency and anti-corruption efforts in Argentina at the Buenos Aires Bar Association, May 30, 2024. Photo credit: Vance Center