«Il n‘y a pas un monde développé et un monde sous-développé, mais un seul monde mal développé»
PRESS RELEASE
Geneva – Buenos Aires, 2 October 2024 – As part of the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council, CETIM and the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) denounced the grave human rights situation in Argentina during the debate on urgent situations requiring the Council’s attention.
The two organisations warned about the severe food crisis in the country, caused by the adjustment policies of Javier Milei’s new ultraliberal government. They also pointed to the serious restrictions on civic space, manifested in attacks on social networks against all dissent, the advance against the right to protest and the criminalisation of social movements and those who demonstrate.
Upon taking office, Javier Milei decided to stop sending resources and food to community kitchens across the country, where hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people, mainly children, were fed on a daily basis. In May 2024, it was revealed that the Ministry of Human Capital had stockpiled 5,000 tonnes of food that had not been distributed since December. The adjustment and interruption in the distribution of resources to these kitchens led to a serious food crisis. 20.6% of households are showing signs of food insecurity, i.e. they do not have regular access to adequate food. In April 2024, 52% of households had to stop buying certain foods (11% more than in June 2023). UNICEF’s eighth survey on the situation of children, adolescents and young people reveals a dramatic situation: 7.7 million children consume less meat and dairy products, and at least one million of them go to bed without dinner or skip a daily meal.
Poverty in Argentina has risen from 44% to 52% in one year. Annual inflation in July was 285%, and cumulative inflation from January to August this year was 95%. Neither the minimum pension nor the minimum wage are sufficient to cover the basic food basket, i.e. they do not allow people to live with dignity and avoid poverty. The purchasing power of wages has fallen by 27.3% since November. This whole situation particularly affects the economic, social and cultural rights of the working classes, people and communities who are already vulnerable: workers, rural and peasant communities, households in working-class neighbourhoods, especially women, children and the elderly.
Alongside the deterioration in living conditions, the right to protest as a mechanism of demanding rights is being restricted. The national government has approved a protocol stipulating that any public demonstration involving the occupation of streets or roads constitutes a flagrant offence, and has authorised the police to repress, evacuate and arrest demonstrators without a court order. This protocol has been criticized by UN special procedures and the government ignored their recommendations.
Since this regulation came into force, at least 93 people have been arbitrarily arrested throughout the country. There have also been several arbitrary arrests of homeless people, which represents a criminalisation of people in extremely vulnerable situations. In some cases, police reports showed no indication that the arrested individuals had committed any crimes, and in others, the initial serious charges could not be upheld due to a lack of evidence.
In view of the above, a full report on the food emergency and the government’s policies will be presented, in collaboration with other organisations particularly peasant organisations in the country, to human rights protection mechanisms so to urge the Argentinean government to ensure that it respects its human rights commitments.
Read the statement in Spanish here
Contact person: Raffaele Morgantini (Representative of CETIM at the UN, raffaele@cetim.ch, + 41 79 660 65 14
