HRC58: Respect human rights of Afro-Argentinians

On 27 March, the Human Rights Council held a panel in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This day is commemorated around the world on 21 March, remembering the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, when police opened fire on demonstrators peacefully protesting against apartheid laws, leaving more than 60 dead.

The panel was entitled ‘Sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’. The panelists included Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Michal Balcerzak, Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director of the Programme Branch of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Bernard Mogesa, Secretary of the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission, and Joan Carling, Executive Director of Indigenous Peoples Rights International.

In his introduction, Türk stressed that today, 60 years after the adoption of the convention, it is important to remember how far we have come and how hard we have fought for equality, racial justice and an end to discrimination. In this sense, both Türk and Balcherzak insisted that we cannot accept any rollback of our hard-won achievements.

In this context, the organisation DIAFAR, together with ISHR, delivered a joint statement highlighting the serious rollbacks in human rights that Argentina is experiencing. The Argentinian government has adopted a position of denial regarding international human rights commitments, including those falling under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

DIAFAR and ISHR denounce that the current government has dismantled specific policies aimed at Afrodescendant and Indigenous Peoples. Institutional spaces that were won after years of struggle and mobilisation have been eliminated, leaving these communities without access to historical reparation programmes and effective recognition of their rights. This not only deepens pre-existing inequalities, but also perpetuates marginalisation and structural racism.

In the joint statement, ISHR and DIAFAR highlighted the promotion of hate speech by high-level officials within the Argentinian government. This has generated a climate conducive to an increase in racist expressions and acts, such as the vandalisation of the monument to María Remedios del Valle, an Afro-Argentinian soldier known as the ‘Mother of the Nation’ for her role in the country’s war for independence. To date, the monument has not been restored and those responsible have not been identified.

ISHR and DIAFAR demand that the Argentinian State reverse these decisions and return to the path of fulfilling its international obligations. They ask the international community to urge the Argentine government to guarantee these rights.

Watch the full statement and video below: 

We make this statement with the African Diaspora of Argentina (DIAFAR). DIAFAR have systematically denounced the structural inequalities and ongoing human rights violations facing the Afro-descendent communities in  Argentina. We call for the reinstatement and full implementation of public policies that guarantee equality and non-discrimination.

The current government has dismantled the specific policies aimed at Afro-descendant and Indigenous Peoples, deepening inequalities, marginalisation and structural racism. An example is the dissolution of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) and, with it, the Commission for the Recognition of the Afro-Argentine Community.

Furthermore, regarding the criminalisation of social protest and the repression of defenders, we have witnessed the persecution of trade unions and human rights movements with arbitrary arrests and the disproportionate use of force against protestors.

Hate speech promoted by high-level officials has generated a climate conducive to racist acts, as observed with the vandalisation of the monument to María Remedios del Valle in 2023. Additionally, the persistence of racial profiling by the security forces remains a concern, yet compulsory training for the security forces on this issue and the creation of a register of racially-motivated arbitrary detentions, which are measures recommended by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Acosta Martínez case, have not yet been implemented.

We demand that the Argentinian government reverse these decisions and fulfil its international obligations. We call on OHCHR and all States to urge the government to guarantee the human rights of Afrodescendants and Africans.