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.
The Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires confirmed the unconstitutionality of the use of the Fugitive Facial Recognition System (SRFP) implemented by the Buenos Aires City Government
The ruling confirms what CELS and the Observatorio de Derecho Informático Argentino (ODIA) have denounced: the system was operated outside the law that regulates it and without oversight mechanisms.
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.
Urban drug trafficking, migrants, and the defense of activists: some of Cels’ topics for #fmdh23.
Between March 20 and 24, we will participate in the 3rd World Forum on Human Rights, organized by UNESCO, in Buenos Aires. As members of several committees, CELS is participating in more than a dozen activities for exchange and debate.
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.
The right to protest: the need for an intersectional and transfeminist approach
Autor/a: Luciana Pol (general coordination) Cynthia Palacios Reckziegel and Lucía Morale (fieldwork, reaserch coordination, and text)
42 pgs.
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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.
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.
Indigenous peoples: the state fails to meet its commitments and backslides in response to racist pressure
Despite having the right to ownership and possession of their ancestral territories, this right is not enforced nor are there policies in place to guarantee that Indigenous people can live out their lives in keeping with their identity. The progress made in recent decades has not been sufficient. State response is often couched in rhetoric and stigmatizing stereotypes. The growing number of complaints is linked to this historic debt.
Right to protest: meeting of Latin American organizations
On July 25-27 we held an event in Buenos Aires to debate current reality in our region with colleagues from Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico.
Trelew Massacre: after 50 years, former marine Roberto Bravo was convicted in the U.S.
In a landmark ruling, a Miami court found Roberto Bravo guilty of the shootings of Eduardo Capello, Rubén Bonet, and Ana María Villarreal de Santucho and the attempted extrajudicial execution of Alberto Camps in August 1972. The sentence in the civil trial orders Bravo to pay USD 24 million in damages to the four plaintiff families. CELS assisted with the litigation process and accompanied the victims’ families.
