International Desk (EFE).- The government of Javier Milei announced Tuesday that it would transform the Human Rights Secretariat into a sub-secretariat, cutting 40% of the organization’s structure and 30% of its staff to reduce public spending.
“The Ministry of Justice has determined that the Secretariat of Human Rights will be transformed into a sub-secretariat, cutting 40% of its structure and 30% of its staff, for an annual saving of 9,000 million Argentinian pesos (7.8 million dollars),” announced presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni at a press conference.
According to the spokesman, the Human Rights Department “will now guarantee all human rights and not defend a partisan ideological sector.”
Adorni also announced that various Ministry of Culture offices, which had eight national institutes “created and maintained according to political interests and focused on certain historical figures,” would be closed and centralized.
Milei’s istration economic strategy
According to the Argentine government, these headquarters will merge to avoid duplication of work, which “consumed 65% of the budget” on salaries and running the sector.
“President Milei’s government continues to work on closing down useless institutes, agencies, and regulations,” added Adorni at the Casa Rosada, the seat of government.
200 government areas and 10 ministries have been abolished, and around 45,000 government employees have been laid off since Milei assumed executive power on Dec. 10, 2023, according to official figures.
As a result of the adjustment, the Argentine economy contracted by 1.7% in 2024 and unemployment stood at 6.4% at the end of the year, up just 0.7 percentage points in 2023.
However, this figure masks a high level of informality (42%) and self-employment, and the destruction of half a million ed jobs in 2024, including 100,000 salaried employees in the private sector and 62,200 in the public sector, which prompted numerous measures of force in various sectors.
Milei orders the deregulation of maritime and river transport
On Wednesday, Javier Milei’s government approved the merchant navy deregulation, opening maritime and river transport in Argentine waters to foreign vessels and crews.
The measure, promoted by Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, who declared maritime and/or river navigation for commercial, enger, and freight transport, is an “essential service” related to services and offshore operations.
In a social media message, Sturzenegger celebrated the measure, claiming it defends the constitutional principles of “freedom of navigation and trade” and modernizes the regulatory regime.
“Excessive regulation had covered everything, even the basic principles of the constitution,” he stressed.
The measure has been rejected by, among others, the United Maritime Workers’ Union (SOMU), which issued a statement in March, prior to the possible g of the decree.
They warned of the “serious damage” to workers as a result of the changes to working conditions, the possibility of foreign personnel and vessels operating in Argentine waters, and the declaration of maritime and river activities as “essential” which limits the right to strike.
“The fact of opening the door to foreign shipping companies, including Chinese ones, which pay salaries of no more than 400 dollars, means the end of the national merchant marine in a short time,” sources within the sector confirmed to EFE. EFE
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