ELA - Latin American Justice and Gender Think Tank (Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género)

History

Although ELA was officially created as an institution on May 23, 2003, as established in the General Justice Inspection Resolution No 905 of August 1, 2003, it was not until April 2006 that we started to acquire a more institutional presence.
Before that date, ELA’s partners jointly performed a series of activities without reaching the public presence they now enjoy, attained with the support of the Ford Foundation.

Up until its creation, there weren’t in Argentina any other organizations that worked specifically in the area of gender and justice. That is precisely the gap that ELA has come to bridge.

It all began around three years ago when seven young professional women (Paola Bergallo, Cristina Motta, Eleonor Faúr, Sofía Harari, Gabriela Pastorino, Natalia Gherardi and Laura Pautassi) interested in issues related to justice, gender, public policies and human rights approached Dr. Haydée Birgin, a leader in the area for several decades both at national and international level, and proposed her to create an organization that would fill the existing gap. This group of women had been working, whether in the academia or in the field, in civil society organizations and international agencies.

For her part, Dr. Haydée Birgini had for many years been working on programs in justice and gender funded by the Ford Foundation, from CEADEL (Center for Support to Local Development), an organization that covers a wide range of issues and that served as the institutional umbrella of those programs.

While until then Dr. Birgin had never thought of creating a new organization, the proposal to do so appeared highly attractive. Particularly because the intention was to create an organization that besides working on women’s access to justice would also influence United Nations specialized agencies linked to the issues of women, include the issue of justice in their agendas, and contribute to taking influential actions with other women organizations in the region.
Dr. Birgin decided to accept the proposal of creating this institution as there was no institution as such, and it was necessary to address the issue of generational change in the matter. This is how ELA, Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género, was created.

Then ELA was regarded by its members as a place of study, debate and exchange of ideas and experiences, to channel its interests and energy while the excellent national and international relations of Haydée Birgin offered us the possibility of generating and developing projects aimed at fostering gender equality.

Of course some ELA members already knew one another and had shared previous projects. In general, there was a high level of professional respect among them, which derived in the decision of creating an institution to work together. Later, Beatriz Kohen, a middle aged professional with vast experience in rights NGOs, joined the team. In the past years, Dr. Kohen co-directed along with Dr. Birgin the Access to Justice program: ‘Justice and Gender’ based in CEADEL funded by the Ford Foundation.

At first, much discussion was held on whether ELA had to become an academic think tank or a militant organization. Some of its members had a clearly defined profile in one of these directions, but in general, several members were interested both in knowledge production as well as in incidence in public policies and justice. Thus, we defined our mission:

Promoting the exercise of women’s rights and gender equality through law and public policies.

In the two following years, without settling down in an office and in absolutely ad hoc terms, the ELA partners embarked on a series of activities. Among them, we include:

• Conference program lectured by renowned international female speakers.
• Organization of two international seminars on justice-related issues. (International Criminal Court and Women’s Access to Justice)
• Organization of a seminar on the violence Act and later release of the book “Violencia Familiar Leyes de violencia Familiar. ¿Una herramienta eficaz?”(Family Violence. Family violence acts. An effective tool?)
• Active involvement in two regional projects on gender justice.
• Publication of the book “Informe sobre Género y Derechos Humanos Vigencia y respeto de los derechos de las mujeres en Argentina” (Report on Gender and Human Rights. Effectiveness and respect for women’s rights in Argentina)

The impact of these activities and the welcome we had from the various sectors, civil society and government, account for the need for an organization like ours.

Nonetheless, only in late 2005 with the cooperation of the Ford Foundation, did ELA start to become the organization it is today: An organization that intends to grow and expand.

An organization that since April 2006 has settled in a modest office with staff hired for the implementation of some projects.