76
Amnesty International Report 2017/18
grass for cattle grazing, and burial sites; 19
families had been expelled from the land and
forced into vagrancy with diminishing access
to food and water.
ARGENTINA
Argentine Republic
Head of state and government: Mauricio Macri
Women and girls faced obstacles in
accessing legal abortions. Indigenous
Peoples continued to be criminalized and
discriminated against. Migrants’ rights
suffered significant setbacks.
BACKGROUND
Argentina’s human rights situation was
reviewed under the UN UPR process and by
the UN Committee against Torture. The UN
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
(WGAD), the UN Independent Expert on
sexual orientation and gender identity and
the Rapporteur on Argentina for the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights
visited Argentina during the year.
In November, Congress approved the
national law on gender parity.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Women and girls continued to encounter
barriers to accessing legal abortion when the
pregnancy posed a risk to their health, or
when it resulted from rape. Full
decriminalization of abortion was pending in
parliament.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
According to civil society information, at least
254 femicides occurred between January
and November. The National Women's
Institute and the National Plan of Action for
the Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of
Violence against Women for 2017-2019
appeared to lack the necessary resources to
be fully implemented.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
The majority of Indigenous communities still
lacked legal recognition of their land rights,
despite the Constitution recognizing their
right to ancestral lands and natural
resources.
In January, local police and members of the
Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA) – a
militarized federal police – closed off all
access points to the Indigenous land
inhabited by the Mapuche community Pu Lof
en Resistencia in Chubut province. The
community reported attacks by the police,
including beatings and intimidation of
children.
1
At least 10 community members
and their supporters were arrested. In August
the GNA conducted an illegal raid in the
same community, during which Santiago
Maldonado – a non-Indigenous supporter of
the Mapuche community – disappeared. In
October his body was found in a river in the
territory. The judicial investigation into his
death was ongoing at the end of the year.
The Neuquén provincial government, oil
unions and industry created an investment
plan for the Vaca Muerta oilfield, located
partly on the land of the Lof Campo Maripe
Indigenous community, without the
community’s participation.
Authorities used legal proceedings to
intimidate Indigenous Peoples, including
accusations of sedition, resisting authority,
theft, attempted assaults and killings. Agustín
Santillán, an Indigenous leader of the Wichí
people in Formosa province, spent 190 days
in pre-trial detention from April to October
with more than 28 criminal proceedings
against him.
REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS
Bypassing parliamentary debate, the
government modified the 2004 Migration Act,
limiting entry and residency rights and
potentially hastening deportations.
The Asylum Act had not yet been fully
implemented, 11 years after its adoption, and
the National Committee for Refugees had no
specific budget. The reception system for
asylum-seekers remained slow and
insufficient and there was no integration plan
Amnesty International Report 2017/18
77
in place to help asylum-seekers and refugees
access basic rights such as education, work,
health care and language training.
Despite Argentina’s commitment in 2016 to
receive 3,000 Syrian refugees, no
resettlement programme had been created.
Fewer than 400 Syrian refugees had
benefited from a private sponsorship and
humanitarian visa scheme.
IMPUNITY
Trials before ordinary civilian courts
continued to be held for crimes against
humanity during the 1976-1983 military
regime. Between 2006 and May 2017, 182
rulings were issued, bringing the total
number of convictions to 756 and acquittals
to 74.
In July, the Federal Court of Mendoza
issued a historic decision under which four
former members of the judiciary were
sentenced to life in prison and barred from
holding public office for contributing to the
commission of crimes against humanity
during the military regime.
The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Luis
Muiña – who was found guilty of crimes
against humanity – that one day served in
pre-trial detention must be considered as
two, if the person has been detained without
sentence for more than two years. Congress
then passed a law clarifying that the so-called
“2x1 formula” may not be applied to crimes
against humanity, genocide or war crimes.
2
Public hearings continued in the case of the
cover-up of the investigation into the 1994
attack on the Jewish Mutual Association of
Argentina building. A government decree
issued in April 2017 transferred classified
documents from the Prosecution Unit to the
Ministry of Justice, compromising the
independence of the investigation and
restricting complainants’ access to evidence.
FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND
ASSEMBLY
Indiscriminate detentions took place during
an International Women’s Day demonstration
on 8 March. Many women reported that they
were mistreated, detained and humiliated by
police; some said they were forced to
undress completely.
In April, teachers were violently repressed
while demonstrating for fair wages.
Participants reported that police used tear
gas and beat them while the military stood
by. At least four teachers were arrested.
In September, 31 people were violently
detained and held at several police stations in
the capital, Buenos Aires, for more than 48
hours for participating in a mass
demonstration following the disappearance of
Santiago Maldonado. Those detained
reported that they were beaten and some
women were forced to undress.
In December, many protesters took to the
streets in Buenos Aires to express their
disagreement with a legislative reform
proposed by the government. The police
used excessive force and there were reports
of arbitrary detentions during the
demonstrations.
3
The call by WGAD to national authorities to
immediately release social leader and activist
Milagro Sala was not implemented. In
August, the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights requested that Argentina offer
Milagro Sala house arrest or other alternatives
to prison. This request was only partially
implemented since its conditions did not
comply with domestic and international
standards.
1. Argentina: Violent repression of Mapuche Peoples (
AMR
13/5477/2017
)
2. Argentina: Amnistía Internacional repudia la aplicación del 2x1 a
delitos de lesa humanidad y estará presente en Plaza de Mayo (
News
story
, 9 May)
3. Argentina: Autoridades deben garantizar protesta pacífica e
investigar violaciones a derechos humanos tras represión frente al
Congreso de la Nación (
News story
, 15 December)