Protests and escalation of state violence in the Argentine province of Jujuy

Mass mobilizations to protest for higher wages were further heightened by demonstrations against the constitutional reform proposed by the government of Jujuy. The government responded by quashing the demonstrations and criminalizing protesters, resulting in dozens of injured and arbitrary arrests. This new constitution passed in record time restricts the enjoyment of human rights and seeks to avoid social demonstration against the active expansion of mineral extractivism.

  

Limitations on the right to protest in Jujuy

This week, human rights organizations submitted a letter to the Constituent Convention expressing our concern about the proposed human rights setbacks in the province’s constitutional reform. The process has been conducted with unreasonably tight deadlines, lacking the necessary participation and debate, and raising concerns about its legality and legitimacy. This reform will have a detrimental impact on the right to protest, among others.

  

UN universal periodic review: What is Argentina’s human rights situation?

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.

  

In defense of the agreements forged in democracy

On Monday, December 4, the 2017 Annual Report edited by Siglo XXI will become available. The prologue, which we are sharing in advance, calls attention to decisions, measures and events that adversely affect critical items on the human rights agenda as well as protection mechanisms. The government response to grave incidents, repeated incidents of repression and discourses about present-day threats and episodes from the past put the human rights consensuses achieved in Argentina on alert. These have been compounded by judicial decisions that take aim at some of the pillars of democracy. This situation requires safeguarding human rights principles from the dynamic of overall polarization.