The Cundinamarca Administrative Court overturned the decision on the appointment of Defense Minister Diego Molano.. This is within the framework of a lawsuit filed for violation of the quota law.
(You may be interested: Six dead soldiers abandoning the Army counterattack in Frontino, Antioquia).Official sources indicated that the national government will appeal the decision. The decision, meanwhile, is not final, so Molano Aponte will not have to resign.
The plaintiffs pointed out that “the current structure of the Council of Ministers does not meet the minimum percentage of women’s participation in the integration where the requested administrative appointment act was defective”.
And especially the 134th anniversary of the appointment of Molano Aponte as “Minister of Defense by the President,” in 2021.
Articles 1, 2 and 4 of the Quota Law and Articles 13, 40, 43 and 93 of the Constitution
The policy of not guaranteeing by appointment that at least 30% of the ministries are chaired by women, since only 27.7% of the cabinet of ministers is occupied by women”.
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According to the case dated 6 February 2021, in which President Iván Duque appointed Molano Aponte 5 of 18 cabinet ministries presided
woman, equivalent to 27.7% of the cabinet composition, “therefore the appointment of the Minister of Defense did not comply with the minimum 30 percent required by Article 4 of Law No. 581 of 2000”.
In the process, the national government decided to challenge the claims of the case, arguing that there was no reason to revoke the appointment. The executive representative stated that it was true that there were only 5 women in the ministry’s cabinet at the time the case was filed, but that the legal minimum quota was met with this number.
He also stated that there were already 6 women holding different portfolios at the time of response to the request.
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The executive said, “The act of appointing the Minister of Defense does not violate the constitutional provisions and does not ignore the Law No. 581 of 2000. The minimum percentage of women’s representation in the Council of Ministers has been met.”
He added that according to a study by the Civil Service Administrative Department, 44.7% of women’s active participation in positions at the Colombian State’s decision-making levels, published in December 2020, were occupied by women and 55.3% by men. “Thus, it demonstrates great progress in terms of gender equality at the national level and the President’s determination on this issue.”
The Decision Chamber considered that the rule was clear in this case that women in the cabinet should have a 30% participation achieved by 6 ministries for the plaintiffs and 5 ministries for the Government.
He pointed out that at the time of Molano’s appointment, 13 of the 18 ministries were headed by men, with a result of 5.4, and basically whether that figure is closer to 5 (which will justify the Government) or that basically needs to be decided. Number 6 (will agree with the plaintiffs).
And although there is no unified criterion on the subject, he concludes that “the mathematical result of 30% of the 18 ministries, 5.4, should be approximated to the next whole number, the number 6. applies the norm in favor of the discriminated group”.
“Thus, the plaintiffs’ argument is grounded, because to comply with the Quota Act, women’s participation in ministries was reduced by Legislative Decree 134 of February 2021, which appointed the Secretary of Defense. With the 5 positions occupied by women, they represented less than 30% at the time the claim was submitted. For this reason, they do not comply with the minimum requirements in Article 4 of the Law No. 581 of 2000, since they appointed a man with the Decree No. 134. In February 2021, the participation of women in the ministry cabinet was less than 30 percent.”
The court emphasized that the allegations in the case were a call for welfare, as it was revealed that the President violated the legal system by issuing Decree Law No. 134 of 6 February 2021, ignoring the quota law.
And as a result, President Duque was ordered to make a new decision.
appointment, compliance with the provisions of the law, 30 percent of the top decision-making positions in the ministries are guaranteed to be women.
@JusticiaET
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Source: Exame
