Deterioration in the right to protest and freedom of expression, rollback of memory policies, weakening of protections for LGBTIQ+ rights, austerity measures affecting pensioners, and a rise in child poverty, are among the critical issues the Commission warned about in its annual report. We summarize the Commission’s key findings.
During the 58th session of the Human Rights Council, CELS participated in two interactive dialogues with Special Rapporteurs to present on the current situation in Argentina.
The representative from the La Libertad Avanza administration claimed poverty is decreasing but could not provide any specifics regarding social policies for children and adolescents. Nor did he address the provision of medical supplies to guarantee sexual and reproductive health. Additionally, he denied the existence of gender-based violence. During the hearing on memory policies, he attacked human rights organizations, accusing them of seeking revenge for the last military dictatorship.
On Thursday November 14, Argentina will face three hearings where various social movements, human rights organizations and unions will present evidence of serious setbacks in public policies. The key issues raised will be memory, truth, and justice; prevention, punishment, and eradication of gender-based violence; and social and food policies.
This is what the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said in its evaluation of Argentina. The Committee expressed concern about the official decision not to distribute food and funds to soup kitchens and community spaces. It also criticized the increase in child poverty, the repression of protests and the bill to lower the age of criminal responsibility.
Human rights organizations call on Venezuelan authorities to respect the rights to protest and freedom of expression. It is essential to find peaceful solutions to the crisis that strengthen democracy in the region.
On July 28, Venezuelans participated massively and peacefully in the presidential elections, demonstrating an inspiring commitment to democratic principles. This occurred despite the fact that the electoral process was severely marred by human rights violations and irregularities. The undersigned international organizations condemn the lack of transparency in the announced results.
On a new tour in Europe, President Javier Milei will visit Hamburg and Berlin this weekend. Together with the German organization Misereor, we are publishing this report in Spanish and German on the concrete risks to human rights posed by the measures of the La Libertad Avanza government.
Published in German on the Heinrich Böll Stiftung website.
We participated in a consultative opinion hearing of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on climate emergency to orally present an amicus curiae prepared alongside other organizations. Developing fiscal policy standards is essential to addressing the consequences of climate change.
The endorsing INCLO member organizations come together to express grave concern about civil liberties infringements occurring in various countries across the world in connection with the war in Gaza.
The denouncement was made during the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. We spoke with special rapporteurs about how the government’s economic and social policies degrade the living conditions of the majority of Argentines.
We sent a statement to CERD expressing our concern about the closure of the INADI, the entity in charge of the implementation of Argentina’s international commitments on racial discrimination, and about the statements made by different authorities about this.
Given the persecution of human rights defenders and the expulsion of United Nations mechanisms, we take a stance together with other civil society organizations about this serious precedent in the region.
Alongside over 230 organizations, CELS signed a document expressing alarm over the reactivation of a law that infringes upon the right to freedom of association, risking the militarization of civic space within Venezuelan society.
We endorsed a note to international organizations signed by more than 185 civil society organizations calling for an immediate ceasefire by Israel in Gaza, as well as urgent humanitarian measures.
CELS and the INECIP submitted a joint report to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to help develop legal standards to guide the design and implementation of State regulations to protect human rights in the production and marketing of firearms.
Rights organizations and representatives of indigenous communities highlight an increase in violence and structural racism by the state, denial of access to territory, lack of prior consultation and the critical situation in the province of Jujuy.
The national elections on June 25 were suspended by the courts. Almost two hundred organizations urge the State of Guatemala to take the necessary actions to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.
The complaint was filed jointly with their families and organizations from Mexico and Luxembourg. We requested that urgent and necessary measures be taken in the search for lawyer Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia, who have not been heard from since mid-January. They disappeared after a community assembly regarding the Ternium company’s failure to make payments to the community for its mining activity.
Argentina will be reviewed in the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, January 23. It will have to report to its peers on compliance with its international commitments on human rights matters. CELS, along with other organizations, produced reports as prior contributions for the assessment and recommendations to be produced by this mechanism. We will also be present at the session in Geneva.
On October 28 we took part in the thematic hearing as members of the LGBTI+ Litigators of the Americas Network alongside other organizations from the region. We put in an urgent call for reform of Argentina’s drug law and repeal of the misdemeanor codes that allow the criminalization of sex trafficking in public spaces.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is reviewing the lawsuit filed by the “José Alvear Restrepo” Lawyers Collective Corporation (CAJAR) for the illegal intelligence work, threats and persecution suffered by its members over the past 30 years. The case represents an opportunity to sanction illegal and arbitrary intelligence actions and practices that States deploy against social organizations and human rights activists and demonstrates the need for clear rules to regulate and control intelligence activities.
Germany, Switzerland, UK, and US Called to Account for Not Supporting a Comprehensive Waiver of Intellectual Property and Mandating Pharmaceuticals Transfer Technology.
Together with other human rights organizations, in this session we worked on various security and human rights issues.
The economic perspective that has been imposed on accessing life-saving technology faces us with a new global division between vaccinated and unvaccinated countries. A waiver on intellectual property could eliminate unequal access to vaccines and shortages.
650 civil society organizations call for a thorough investigation of the repression of social protest and request an on-site visit by the IACHR and the creation of a group of experts.
After receiving the document, the international organization urged Bolivia to investigate the violations committed by Jeanine Áñez’s facto government. These crimes remain unpunished to this day.
A global response that recognizes vaccines as a common good of humanity is urgent. The temporary suspension of patents is a mandatory step to massively produce the supplies necessary to face the pandemic in the world and guarantee the right to health and life in all countries.
Seven human rights organizations are defending at the ICSID the end of privatized pensions in Argentina. Social security is a human right and pension funds are meant to ensure a decent life for people and not enriching companies.
Both the execution of the Argentine girls and the most recent disappearance of their cousin are human rights violations that require an immediate, independent and effective investigation.
Human rights organizations from across the region condemn the assault on democratic stability perpetrated by the outgoing president.
Civil society organizations presented a joint document of comments and recommendations to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the application of gender perspective oriented standards in prisons for pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding and trans women, and the children living in detention centers with their mothers.
Abuelas, Madres de Plaza de Mayo – Línea fundadora and CELS denounce the arbitrary detention of members of one of the oldest and most respected human rights organizations in Egypt, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
In its Merits Report, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission states that Argentina violated the right to life, to the personal integrity of the victims and their next of kin, the right to adequate judicial protection, and the right of society as a whole to the truth.
The OAS must protect the autonomy of the IACHR by renewing the contract of its Executive Secretary, in accordance with current institutional frameworks.
Nine months after the institutional breakdown in Bolivia, we denounced the de facto government and its impunity for extrajudicial executions and other grave human rights violations.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has set a precedent with its decision to grant territorial and ancestral rights to Indigenous peoples in Argentina—how will this ruling affect the region?
Upon the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of Brazil’s refusal to extradite the ESMA repressor to Argentina, human rights organizations are urging the neighboring country to reconsider its sentence so that justice may be served in the country where the crimes were perpetrated.
CELS endorses letter addressed to the UN in which family members of victims of racial police violence and human rights organizations worldwide ask for independent inquiries.
The protests erupted in response to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on Monday. INCLO condemns the disproportionate use of force against protesters and calls on police to act in accordance with international standards on the use of force and the management of assemblies.
Along with the Vladimir Herzog Institute and five other organizations, we denounced the Brazilian authorities for their declarations on the anniversary of the 1964 military coup to the Special Rapporteur of The United Nations on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
Organizations from across the Americas warn the Human Rights Committee about the risks of regressive standards of protection on the right to protest.
This joint statement from human rights organizations condemns the Bolivian government’s decision to veto two members of the Independent Expert Group of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The collaborative document provides an account of generalized human rights violations perpetrated by state agents between October 18 and December 31, 2019. It also highlights that the violence unfolded by security forces was exacerbated by the president’s suspension of the Constitution.
We condemn the coup d’état, political persecution and the violence committed by those who do not respect the democratic order in Bolivia. This rupture with the rule of law should prompt an immediate reaction by the region’s states. It is imperative that regional mechanisms and UN bodies initiate a dialogue with countries, in particular to ensure the right to asylum and refuge.
On November 11, a pleading hearing in the AMIA case took place at the 174th session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), held in Quito, Ecuador. The participants in the hearing included Diana Wassner de Malamud and Adriana Reisfeld, from the Memoria Activa association of family members of AMIA victims, as well as … Continued
Since 1984 the communities have demanded a single property deed without subdivisions to former state parcels 55 and 14 in the district of Rivadavia, Salta province.
During two side events at the United Nations, Jean Wyllys and Luciana Zaffalon were intimidated by Brazilian officials.
Representatives of various organizations gathered in Geneva discussed the situation in the United States, the Philippines and Brazil, in light of authoritarian governments that have a sharp anti-rights discourse.