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.

  

Conviction for sexual crimes committed at ESMA during the dictatorship

The Second Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeals convicted Jorge “Tigre” Acosta for the sexual crimes committed against Graciela García Romero, who was kidnapped and held captive at the clandestine detention center known as ESMA. An earlier 2017 ruling had not taken into account her allegations. The Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) had supported Graciela’s pursuit of justice since 2005.

  

Más que nunca’s book release at teatro picadero

With Lef Nawel, Juan Ruocco, Dina Sánchez, Ángela Urondo Raboy, and Paula Litvachky on stage, before a full audience, we delved into the debates put forth in the new book published by CELS and Siglo XXI.

  

Magdalena massacre hearing at the IACHR: the State acknowledges responsibility for the 33 deaths

More than 17 years later, the Argentine State acknowledged before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights its international responsibility for the incident and committed to put a series of measures in place to prevent such cruel deaths from ever happening again. CELS and the Colectivo de Investigación y Acción Jurídica (CIAJ) took part in the hearing as representatives of the victim’s families.

  

2023: shaping the future of democracy with human rights

Celebrations and debates will mark the 40th anniversary of Argentina’s democracy on December 10. From CELS, we are proposing content and spaces for participation to foster the collective momentum to navigate the challenges we are facing today.

  

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.

  

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.

  

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?

  

Sheraton case:  a new trial begins

On November 25, the fourth stage of the trial began for crimes against humanity committed at the clandestine detention and torture center that operated out of the Villa Insuperable sub-station, Buenos Aires Province.

  

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.