An open call to all States to stop facilitating extrajudicial killings
We, the undersigned organizations, call on all States to immediately cease or refrain from supporting US extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Counterterrorism and Organized Crime: We’re Taking the Debate to the UN and the IACHR
In the wake of the United States’ new security and defense strategies, the agendas of counterterrorism and drug trafficking in Latin America have converged to legitimize violent and repressive emergency measures. We are participating in various international forums to raise awareness about the impact this convergence has on human rights in the region.
The CSW calls on states to ensure access to justice for women and girls
At the 70th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, a commitment to gender equality was reaffirmed, and countries were urged to eliminate laws, policies, and practices that contribute to discrimination.
Judge Marta Susana Catella to testify before the IACHR on her arbitrary removal
The justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Misiones was removed from her post through a political operation that denied her even the opportunity to defend herself.
The Use of the Counterterrorism Framework to Combat Organized Crime in the Americas
Statement by civil society organizations at the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Full text available here.
Terrorism, Organized Crime, and Gender-Based Violence on the International Agenda
From March 9 to 13, CELS will participate in various forums of the Inter-American Human Rights System and the United Nations, where we will present concerns regarding these issues and how they currently impact human rights in the region and in Argentina.
CEDAW Raises Alarm over Setbacks in the Protection of Women
In its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee pointed to the dismantling of key policies, budget cuts and regressive reforms that weaken the prevention of violence, access to justice, sexual and reproductive health, and equal employment. It urged the Argentine State to urgently restore institutional mechanisms, funding and comprehensive plans to guarantee the rights of women and girls throughout the country.
CEDAW Raises Alarm over Setbacks in the Protection of Women
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) reviewed Argentina and expressed concern over a series of institutional, regulatory and budgetary setbacks affecting the protection of the rights of women and girls in the country. The CEDAW Committee monitors States parties’ compliance with their international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of … Continued
Militarization in the Americas: geopolitical reconfigurations and new practices of violence?
In a regional webinar, various specialists discussed the current situation in the region in light of the United States’ advancing military intervention policies.
Hard Conversations for the Future of Human Rights
Autor/a: INCLO
28 pages
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COP30: debates on lithium, agrochemicals, and the right to protest
We were in Brazil at the UN conference where nearly 200 countries discussed agreements against climate change and its impacts. We argued that the energy transition must be carried out with justice and respect for human rights: without repression, with respect for the right to land, health, food, and sovereignty.
Between Denial and Aggression: Argentina’s Image in the CAT Review
The UN Committee Against Torture understands that Argentina is experiencing a narrowing of civic space. It also notes that prior to this review, nine UN special procedures warned, among other rights violations, about the disproportionate use of force, less lethal weapons, and arbitrary detentions. The government dismissed the evidence.
Argentina before the Committee against Torture: Policies that Deepen Suffering and Exclusion
Together with various social and human rights organizations, we submitted a series of shadow reports on state practices that violate human rights in the country.
Group Of Litigants Against Torture Joint Statement In Response To The Massacre In Rio De Janeiro
The Group of Litigants Against Torture demands immediate and independent investigations, guarantees of protection and non-criminalization for residents, and the participation of international observers to monitor the situation. The organizations’ statement.
UN General Assembly: protest and migration are rights to be defended
These issues were the focus of the debates we proposed in New York during the activities of the Third Committee of #UNGA80
More than 100 organisations warn about caribbean boat strikes from United States
We signed a letter to the U.S. Congress expressing our concern and calling to investigate these incidents.
Gaza: The Limits of International Law
UN resolutions and rulings are documenting and denouncing in real time the crimes taking place in Gaza. Yet UN action is blocked by the veto of global powers—revealing both its necessity and its limits in the face of the massacre.
INCLO members stand in solidarity with Al-Haq against US sanctions and call for immediate reversal of decision
Joint statement from the organizations that make up the INCLO network.
The UN warns about the repression and criminalization of protest in Argentina
In a letter addressed to the national government, nine special rapporteurs expressed their concern about the excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, violence against the elderly and journalists, and attacks on judicial independence. They called on the Argentine State to comply with international standards.
Detention of Migrants in the maximum security prison of El Salvador: Urgent appeal to the UN
Labeled as terrorists without any judicial process, at least 260 people were deported from the US and detained in the Salvadoran CECOT after an agreement between Trump and Bukele. Together with organizations from around the world, we call on the UN Security Council to investigate the situation and demand the releases
Argentina must protect social mobilization, not silence it
More than 35 international and regional organizations call on the argentine government to comply with its international obligations on the right to protest and to investigate the police action on March 12. They also express their solidarity with the demand of decent pensions and concern about the rise of authoritarianism in Argentina.
Repression as policy: Violence, arbitrary detentions, and the use of dangerous weapons in Argentina
The mobilization outside Congress demanding a pension increase on March 12 was violently repressed in a large-scale operation involving five security forces. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich had warned in advance that there would be repression. Tear gas, rubber bullets, and arbitrary detentions marked a day in which the government justified its actions by invoking the narrative of an “attempted coup.”
IACHR Hearing: State fails to address refugee and asylum issues
CAREF, CELS, and the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM) called on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to urge the Argentine government to repeal Decree 942/2024, as it undermines due process guarantees and the right to seek and receive asylum. Furthermore, we emphasized that the State must uphold its obligations regarding the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and, in particular, ensure the competence of the officials responsible for adjudicating asylum claims.
IACHR Hearing: State denies responsibility for December 2001 killings and repression
The Argentine State withdrew its previous acknowledgment of responsibility for the repression carried out in 2001, which it had accepted in 2023. Officials declined to answer questions regarding the State’s new assessment of the events that occurred in December 2001. The events of December 19 and 20, 2001, were an extreme manifestation of state violence following the unjustified declaration of a State of Siege.
Intersectionality and protest
Autor/a: CELS, ILEX, CIVICUS
16 pages
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Julio García Romero vs. Ecuador: CELS and RFK Human Rights appear as amicus curiae before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The case was heard in a public hearing nearly 20 years after the Chilean journalist’s death, caused by tear gas used by Ecuadorian police during a protest crackdown.
For the land: A documentary series about agribusiness and human rights
Four episodes, four countries, four stories that show how the use of pesticides affects health, access to land and environment of different communities in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil.
IACHR: Argentina’s government appears aggressive and ill-prepared in hearings on human rights protections
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.
Milei’s government fails to guarantee children’s rights
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.
We denounced the attack on memory policies before the United Nations
Human rights organizations held a meeting with the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances where we warned about this government’s regressive speech and measures against the policies of memory, truth and justice.
From head to toe: the criminal use of less lethal weapons in social protests in Latin America
Autor/a: CELS & Temblores
51 pags.
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The Government reaffirmed its policy of criminalizing protests and defended its use of repression before the IACHR
During a public hearing requested by human rights, labor, and social organizations, representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations expressed their concerns about the use of force, arbitrary detentions, the Ministry of Security’s protocol, and the stigmatization of demonstrators and social organizations.
Letter to German government: Milei’s measures about public politics and human rights for women and LGBTTIQ+ community
In view of Argentine President’s visit to Germany, more than 60 feminist organizations would like to share information on the situation of women’s rights since this government took office.
We denounced the restrictions on the right to protest before the IACHR and the UN: detentions combined with an arbitrary and dangerous escalation of punitive measures
This came after the repression of thislast week’s protest against the “Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines” Bill in Congress. More than 30 people were arbitrarily detained and later accused by the prosecution of serious crimes against democratic order, echoing the government’s accusations of terrorism and an attempt to overthrow the government.
AMIA bombing: landmark ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemns Argentine state
The international tribunal confirmed that the Argentine State is responsible for violating the human rights of the victims and their families, and the collective right to truth, and must commit to investigations and reparation measures. Joint statement from Memoria Activa and CELS.
State terrorism and memory, truth, and justice policies six months into the government of Javier Milei
Autor/a: CELS & Memoria Abierta
15 pages
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Complaint against Bayer AG filed with the OECD for systematic human rights violations and environmental damages
Based on extensive research and numerous interviews, an alliance of six civil society organizations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Germany are submitting an OECD complaint against this company for the serious impacts of industrial agriculture in South America.
UN urges government to review the omnibus bill and protocol, saying they criminalize protest
The special rapporteurs expressed their concern over the Ministry of Security resolution and proposed legal reforms criminalizing protest. They called on the Argentine State to comply with international human rights standards.
With more than 1,700 signatures from organizations, we condemn the protocol against protest before the UN and the IACHR
Jointly with trade unions, social movements, human rights organizations, and entities focused on social, trade, environmental, indigenous, migrant, transfeminist, religious, children’s, student, and political causes, we have requested international mechanisms to demand the Argentine State stop the implementation of new regulations that seek to restrict and repress public protest. These submissions were also supported by 15,000 individual signatures.
CELS provided the Inter-American Court of Human Rights with information about the right to care
In collaboration with other organizations, we submitted our contributions to the Court’s Advisory Opinion on the right to care. This process began after the Argentine state requested the Court pronounce on the content and scope of care as a human right and its connection to other rights.
We denounced before the IACHR the increase in indiscriminate use of less lethal weapons to suppress protests
With over 20 international and regional organizations we questioned the irregular and disproportionate use of these weapons by security forces and their serious consequences on health and human rights of people who exercise their right to protest.
We call for peace and ceasefire in Gaza
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.
IACHR: Request for a visit to Argentina to assess violations against indigenous peoples
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.
2023 Emilio Mignone International Human Rights Award: nominations are open
Candidates will be admitted from July 10 to September 15, 2023. The award is inspired by the life and work of a founding member of CELS.
Guatemala: We call for the electoral process to be respected.
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.
Migrants: serious human rights violations at international borders
Alongside 195 organizations worldwide, we demand that the UN establish an independent monitoring mechanism to investigate the treatment of migrants in border areas and its underlying structural causes.
We filed a complaint against a company in the Techint Group for the disappearance of two human rights defenders in Mexico
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.
Brazil: the threat of the anti-democratic far right
The move to action by these groups is a call for reflection and urgent action. What happens when democracies provide the tools and possibilities for some groups to seek to limit or do away with those same democracies? And what tools do we have to defend democracy in the face of attacks like this one?
Criminalization of LGBTI+ people: petition before IACHR to guarantee rights
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.
At the final hearing before the Inter-American Court for the AMIA bombing, the Argentine State acknowledged its responsibility
On October 13-14, the final hearing was held in Montevideo, Uruguay in the case filed by CELS and Memoria Activa in 1999 charging the Argentine State with international responsibility for the attack on the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.
