Criminal Justice & Security

detention conditions
  

“Argentina is responsible for widespread and persistent violations of the Convention against torture”

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, upon concluding his visit to the country, said that detention conditions in provincial police stations and prisons “severely contravene international standards and are incompatible with human dignity.” He also denounced the “degrading” conditions in the Melchor Romero psychiatric hospital and police violence in low-income neighborhoods. At the same time, he urged the Argentine state to allocate “sufficient resources to ensure the timely processing and adjudication of the remaining cases and trials for crimes against humanity.”

surveillance
  

Government must scrap decision to exclude civil society from the WTO Ministerial Conference

The Argentine government has revoked the accreditation of key civil society actors before the World Trade Organization. It attempted to justify this action by admitting it was based on an analysis of organizations’ social networks that aimed to exclude those considered “disruptive.” CELS and other organizations jointly submitted a letter requesting that this decision be rescinded.

security policy
  

Press conference on Santiago Maldonado’s disappearance

A press conference was held in Esquel, 35 days after Santiago Maldonado’s disappearance. The participants emphasized the investigation’s shortcomings in the first crucial days, the violent security force operation in which Santiago disappeared, and the hypotheses used to try to divert the case.

enforced disappearance
  

Ten days since Santiago Maldonado disappeared in Argentina

Today marks 10 days since Santiago Maldonado was last seen trying to escape from an operation by Argentina’s Gendarmerie in the territory of the Pu Lof Cushamen indigenous community, in Chubut province. Human rights organizations convened a massive rally in the Plaza de Mayo today to demand that he be found alive.

prison system
  

Places of confinement: the provincial state must adopt urgent measures

In the 163rd period of IACHR hearings, the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria (CPM), Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) and the Public Appeals Defender exposed the crisis in the system of confinement in the province of Buenos Aires and called on the provincial and national states to take measures to reduce overcrowding, overpopulation, inhuman conditions, lack of access to health, and torture in prisons.

access to information
  

What intelligence is being shared among countries?

The International Intelligence-Sharing Project was launched to demand that governments in eight countries tell the public what information-sharing agreements are in place with other nations. In Argentina, we filed an information request to the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI).

torture
  

Argentine state faces UN Committee Against Torture

The Argentine state’s compliance with the Convention against Torture will be evaluated on Wednesday, April 26 and Thursday, April 27. CELS submitted a report to the UN Committee that carries out the evaluation and contributed to two reports produced with other organizations.

City Police
  

Control the police, not the poor, to reduce violence

Residents of the Flores neighborhood protested at police precinct 38 over serious incidents that they attributed to the historic collusion between police and illegal businesses and the existence of “lawless areas.” The city government responded to those reports with the traditional approach of greater police presence and more ID checks.

democratic justice system
  

Legal Clinic

This booklet summarizes the history and principal milestones of the Human Rights Legal Clinic, created in 1994 by CELS and the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) to provide professional training for law students while promoting human rights.