ARGENTINA AND HUMAN RIGHTS

For the Argentine State, human rights are one of the fundamental pillars of its foreign policy since the return of democracy. The promotion and protection of human rights cuts across all public policies and includes the main concerns of Argentine society.

This is the result of Argentina’s long history and international prestige in the field of human rights. These are a fundamental part of our identity as a nation, from the eradication of impunity in relation to crimes against humanity and its reflection in institutions, legal norms and public policies to the expansion of fundamental rights for the whole society. 

Our country’s leadership at regional and international levels is reflected in many initiatives, with transcendental contributions to the progressive development of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Some of Argentina’s contributions that position it as a leading country in the field of fundamental rights are its initiatives in the prevention of genocide and other crimes, the teaching and memory of the Holocaust as a means of preventing mass crimes, the elaboration of normative developments in the field of forced disappearance of persons, the right to truth and the use of genetic forensics in the field of human rights, among other issues.

Argentina currently presides the United Nations Human Rights Council and works through its institutions and mechanisms to achieve fairer, more diverse and inclusive societies. At regional level, Argentina has incorporated the Inter-American Human Rights System into its National Constitution since 1994 and considers it a tool for institutional improvement and the development of its laws and legal system.

The national agenda for the protection and promotion of human rights includes several topics and areas that will be part of the World Forum on Human Rights, such as the rights of people and groups in situations of vulnerability and/or historically discriminated groups, children, LGBTIQ people, Afro-descendants, indigenous peoples, the elderly, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, among others. Social inclusion policies focused on respect for economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the fight against discrimination, are also a priority to Argentina.

In the fortieth anniversary year since the return to democracy in our country and with the participation of more than ninety countries, hundreds of civil society organizations from around the world and thousands of activists and citizens, the World Forum on Human Rights will update the diagnosis of the situation on the main challenges for the promotion and protection of human rights in the world.