The new corruption perception index has been released and Argentina once again drops four places (from 94 to 98) and drops one percentage point compared to 2022 (37 points out of 100).
That is to say, we are postponed again, with less than four.
A striking fact from this year's measurement is the focus on the Justice and Corruption axis.
A direct link has emerged between the poor institutional performance of justice and high levels of corruption.
Thus, the countries that are worst placed in the CPI ranking, in turn suffer from serious problems of independence of Justice (Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua).
The new president of Transparency International, Frenchman Francois Valerian, has said that governments must strengthen and guarantee the independence of institutions that apply the law and tackle corruption.
This call is closely linked to the data that emerges from the survey: citizens who do not have access to justice systems and independent judicial powers are condemned to suffer high levels of corruption.
In this international context, our country has changed its government administration and the good omens of the electoral campaign and the first announcements that indicated that the threatening actions against the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation would be set aside or that its composition would not be modified - beyond filling the pending vacancy - it seems that they have changed, in step with new political emergencies.
High-ranking officials of the Executive Branch have already emerged, installing the benefits of expanding the number of judges of the Court, leaving the members of the current composition in a clear minority.
All of this occurs when it is imminent that the Court is going to intervene in the unconstitutionality claims that question several decisions of the Executive.
These judges must rule knowing that they will not suffer reprisals if the meaning of their sentences does not please the rulers.
As I said, in civil society organizations and international organizations that work on these issues, the importance of Justice in strengthening the fight against corruption has been identified.
And this makes maximum sense in this year 2024, which will be a super electoral year in the world.
For the first time, nearly 100 countries will hold elections of all kinds.
Half of them will be presidential (chequeado.com).
That is to say, the justice system of these countries will have to resolve crucial issues such as the illegal financing of politics, electoral systems and challenges to elective acts.
But it is also true that there is no consensus at a global level about what changes to justice systems serve to guarantee their independence and impartiality.
For example, there is much discussion about the composition of the judges' selection and sanctioning body;
let us remember the debates that took place in our country regarding the weight of politics within the Council of the Judiciary or the recommendation of the European Commission for Spain to renew its General Council of the Judiciary and adapt it to the standards of the European Union ( Document 52021SC0710 dated 7/20/2021).
Political attempts to interfere in Justice are a widespread problem in the world and the solutions are not uniform.
Meanwhile, it is imperative that here, it is the Supreme Court of Justice itself that assumes and then leads a long-delayed implementation process of internal integrity policies (vg. sanction of a Code of Conduct modeled on the American Court, sanctioned on November 14, 2023 and which provides for everything from financial aspects of judges to the acceptance of certain government appointments; regulation and implementation of the access to information system; sworn statements of its members; protection of internal and external whistleblowers; conflicts of interest and interest management, among many other topics).
It is worth remembering that the civil society document called “A Court for Democracy” (2002) – in which Poder Ciudadano/TI participated – already pointed out in point 4, the “Lack of transparency in the management and operation of the Judicial Power and, especially, of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation itself” and this motivated one of its judges, Dr. Enrique S. Petracchi, to begin a stage of opening the Court, facing the citizens. .
Among other achievements, that Judge sanctioned agreements on: the publicity of the sentences;
the dissemination of certain administrative acts, parties in cases and accreditation of journalists;
guaranteed the principle of contradiction of the parties in the hearings;
the participation of social actors in the decision processes that authorized the intervention of “amicus curiae” and regulated the holding of public hearings.
Today twenty-two years have passed and it is imperative to deepen and renew those changes that served to give legitimacy to the Court.
It is the head of the Judiciary that must give these signals.
The opposite will encourage the inventiveness of politics to activate projects of control and domination of Justice.