"Poverty particularly affects children and adolescents."

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Transcript of Karina Batthyány's column
in InfoCLACSO – June 26, 2024

At the FLACSO Argentina headquarters, the International Postgraduate School of the Network of Postgraduate Studies in Childhood and Youth (RedINJU) is being developed, which represents quite well the work we do at CLACSO.

First, because it is a cooperative and collaborative network, where activities such as the eleven schools that preceded the current one, postdoctoral training programs, and other activities carried out by the network in terms of research and knowledge dissemination take place. Furthermore, it involves the three audiences with which CLACSO works: social movements and organizations, the academic sector, and the public policy sector.

Second, because at CLACSO we have promoted the instrument of the Platforms for Social Dialogue (PDS) with the will to develop spaces for social dialogue throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, based on the conviction in building transformative alternatives for our region.

– At a very particular moment in Argentina, the sociopolitical landscape for children and young people is very complicated. Marisa Graham, head of the Ombudsman's Office for Children and Youth of the Argentine Republic, commented in some detail on how certain rights are being curtailed and very specific difficulties are arising within the framework of a new government. What is your analysis of these political changes in Argentina?

– In reality, the issue of children and youth is central. But it also points to regressive policies and cuts to rights for the population in general. And rights policies that profoundly disrupt daily life—that is, those elements that were painstakingly built up over years to improve and transform the daily lives of everyone, and of course, of children, adolescents, and young people as well.

Today, incredibly, rights are being curtailed at an unprecedented rate due to regressive policies affecting not only living conditions but also fundamental rights such as the right to education, the right to health, and the right to care. Both in Argentina and throughout the region, progress had been made, but unfortunately, with these types of governments and the policies they implement, we are seeing a regression.

Furthermore, two central elements are called into question: first, democracy. What are we talking about when we refer to democracy if it isn't precisely what allows for existence in terms of well-being, in terms of the best possible conditions for everyone?

And the second issue is inequality. If we start from a situation of inequality where we say that our region is the most unequal on the planet, then this inequality gap has certainly deepened in Argentina in recent months. And let's not forget poverty—how poverty has increased in Argentina since the beginning of 2024. Poverty that affects everyone, but particularly children, young people, and of course, women within those categories.

– In that context, it's difficult not to include the issue of care work. Marisa Graham raised it as a completely related topic, given the concrete impact of unpaid work, mostly done by women. These changes—reductions or decreases due to inflation in some very central allowances—also begin to jeopardize and put them at risk, don't they?

– Yes. First, the care initiative, where Argentina was making significant progress, was cut short. Starting in December 2023, with the change of government, there had been progress in implementing a law, a system, and concrete policies. And a few policies at the provincial or local levels have been dismantled or are being targeted for dismantling.

This situation is not unique to Argentina, because unfortunately in other countries that had made progress in establishing care systems, when neoliberal and right-wing governments come to power, these policies are quickly cut back, even in Uruguay.

Furthermore, in concrete terms of the well-being of children and adolescents, all the cuts associated with what may be the education system but are actually care policies, especially for early childhood and the pre-school years, are also being dismantled. And this only serves to push caregiving back into the home, that is, into families and women. It's countless hours of caregiving.

And on the other hand, those same women who are burdened or overburdened with that unpaid care work, see their pension possibilities cut with all the reforms that are being made, where clearly many women are going to lose the possibility of one day accessing a pension, a retirement or a pension.

– You're talking about regression, about far-right logic, and I'll take you to what happened in Panama. We had elections in that country with the victory of José Raúl Mulino as the new President, a person extremely close to Ricardo Martinelli, the former President convicted of corruption crimes within what appears to be the far-right framework. What are your thoughts on this?

The first point of reflection is the concern about how these far-right governments are spreading in various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, in this case, Central America. What has happened in Panama is just one more point on that map that is shaping these far-right expressions in our region and in the world.

So, we certainly have much to reflect on and, through the work we do at CLACSO, to try to find alternatives for this new moment, where once again we must place democracy at the center, in all its full meaning and content, as well as democracy associated with civic engagement and the rights of everyday life. Finally, let us not forget Panama's geographical and geopolitical location in relation to this new electoral victory of the far right in our Latin American and Caribbean region.

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