Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Argentina, adopted by the Committee at its forty-sixth session (12–30 July 2010)

Addendum

Information provided by Argentina on the follow-up to the concluding observations of the Committee *

A.Introduction

1.Argentina is going through times of great challenges, during which women’s long struggle has culminated in both legislative advances and political undertakings and in the formulation of an integrated policy in which women have assumed an increasingly central role.

2.These advances have been possible thanks to the political will and conviction of President Cristina Fernández, who has continued along the path taken in 2003 by then President Nestor Kirchner, who chose to make respect for human rights the key focus of his administration, thereby introducing a growth model based on inclusion and equality.

3.Through comprehensive reforms of the civil, commercial and criminal codes, the Government is currently working to broaden and deepen this national endeavour, which places Argentina at the vanguard in terms of achieving more extensive rights.

4.The aim of the reforms is to modernize areas currently governed by legislation developed in the nineteenth century and to update family law in accordance with the international human rights treaties to which Argentina is a party.

B.Violence against women (paragraph 24 of the concluding observations)

5.With regard to legislative advances in the field of gender, a number of laws, initiatives and policies that have been the corollary of women’s long fight for a more egalitarian and inclusive society may be mentioned.

6.Undoubtedly the most important advance was the adoption of Act No. 26485 on comprehensive protection as a means of preventing, punishing and eradicating violence against women within the scope of their interpersonal relations.

7.Also important was the repeal of article 132 of the Criminal Code, which maintained the concept of victim-initiated pardon, whereby a female victim of rape could, by marrying her attacker, absolve him from punishment for his crime. This concept was clearly an anachronism in Argentine law that reflected an unacceptable and patriarchal notion of the role of women in society, especially since the offence in question was rape, which is the crudest form of sexual violence and a clear manifestation of an unequal power relationship for which there are no excuses. Through this reform, Argentina complied with the recommendations of both the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belem do Para) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

8.Another advance which has generated a very constructive debate and an increased awareness of femicide (the killing of women because they are women) was the unanimous approval of an amendment to article 80 of the Criminal Code, which defines and describes the circumstances that aggravate the offence of homicide. Following this amendment, the maximum penalty of life imprisonment may be served against any man who kills a woman in an act of gender-based violence. The text of the amended article establishes as an offence the killing of a woman “by a man” in an act of “gender-based violence” and includes as grounds for such killings “pleasure, cupidity, racial hatred, religious hatred, hatred based on gender or sexual orientation, gender identity or its expression” where the intent is to “cause suffering to a woman which whom the man has a relationship or has in the past had a relationship”. Sentences of ordinary or rigorous life imprisonment are also established for any man who kills “an ascendant, descendant, spouse, former spouse or the woman with whom he has a relationship or has in the past had a relationship, whether or not the relationship involved living together”. Lastly, the law establishes that “when exceptional mitigating circumstances apply, the judge may hand down a sentence of ordinary or rigorous imprisonment of between eight (8) and twenty (20) years” but clarifies that “this exception shall not be applicable to any man who has previously committed acts of violence against the female victim”.

9.The National Women’s Council is working to implement a set of specific programmes and actions to ensure that Act No. 26485 is applied consistently in all provinces.

Free legal advice and assistance

10. The Public Defence Service provides free legal assistance to victims of gender-based violence under a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Social Development and the National Women’s Council. The pilot project for the provision of free legal advice and assistance to victims of gender-based violence developed under the auspices of the Gender Affairs Commission of the Chief Public Defender’s Office was launched on 15 October 2012. The aim of this pilot project is to provide legal advice and, where necessary, legal assistance to victims of gender-based violence in cases that fall under the jurisdiction of either the national judicial authorities or the federal judicial authorities of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

National Action Plan for the Provision of Assistance and Prevention and Elimination of Violence against Women

11.The focus and objective of the National Action Plan is to ensure coordination between the work to combat violence and discrimination against women that is carried out by various public sector bodies and facilities spread across the length and breadth of the country. With this objective in mind, within the framework of the National Women’s Council’s work, lines of actions for the National Action Plan were duly established with the relevant ministries and secretariats in order to foster the development of appropriate support and assistance for female victims of violence. Included in the consultations were the National Health Ministry, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Social Development, Justice Ministry, National Security Ministry and Ministry of Human Development, among others. Lines of action have also been developed in conjunction with the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and the Family and the Media Secretariat.

12.The formulation of the National Action Plan benefited from contributions made at meetings, workshops and seminars organized by the National Women’s Council, in which 38,072 persons participated.

13.The National Action Plan is currently being validated by the ministries, government bodies and NGOs involved, in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Nationwide coordination and scope of the campaign against violence towards women

14.The National Women’s Council is running a series of workshops to introduce the gender equality approach in the different governmental and non-governmental organizations. This approach encourages organizations to commit to building relations of gender equality in both the public and private spheres.

15.The workshops are structured according to the issues raised and the goals proposed. The intended beneficiaries are men and women working in civil society and governmental organizations. In accordance with the issues raised and the intended beneficiaries, workshops covering the following areas have been organized to date: women’s rights; sexual and reproductive health; humanized childbirth; new forms of masculinity; training for trainers; strategic planning days; the gender perspective; gender-based violence; the gender perspective in public policies for government representatives; the formulation of institutional capacity-building programmes; the social economy and local development of women; establishing municipal women’s offices; raising awareness of discrimination in the communication media; and citizenship and communication with a gender perspective, among others.

16.The workshops are run on a continuing basis in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Defence, the National Health Ministry, the Security Ministry and the Secretariat for Human Rights, among others. The workshops held in different parts of the country are also attended by local government bodies and civil society organizations working in the field of human rights.

Institutional capacity-building programme for regional and municipal women’s offices and civil society organizations

17.The National Women’s Council’s goal is to build social awareness of the importance of gender equality in strengthening democracy by championing gender-orientated public policies that help to eliminate the various forms of discrimination against women and promote social conditions that guarantee them effective enjoyment of their rights. In pursuit of this goal, by Resolution No. 6 of 14 July 2009 the Council, which is subordinate to the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies, established the institutional capacity-building programme for regional and municipal women’s offices and civil society organizations.

18.The aim of this capacity-building programme is to contribute to the development of public policies that promote equality between men and women in all spheres of society. Proposals should fall under one of the following strategic lines of actions pursued by the National Women’s Council:

(a)Women and work;

(b)Gender-based violence;

(c)Human rights and women’s citizenship;

(d)Strategic communication and outreach for the advancement of women’s rights.

Campaigns against violence towards women

“260 men against machismo” campaign

19.Since the violence of various types and forms that is suffered by women is a problem attributable to gender asymmetries, stereotypes and roles, preventing and eliminating this violence requires a switch of cultural paradigm to one that guarantees equity and equality for all persons irrespective of their sex. The “260 men against machismo” campaign that has been run in 2011 and 2012 with the backing and support of the National Institute of Men against Machismo was spurred by the premise that men must be actively engaged in the fight for equal rights for both sexes. The figure of 260 alludes to the number of women killed as a result of gender-based violence in 2010.

20.The campaign entails the signature of a document in which 259 men, led by one of the country’s leading cultural and political figures, undertake to reassess their own macho behaviour. As a result of their undertaking, more than 7,800 men have pledged to fight gender-based violence within the framework of the preventive campaign.

“Show abusers the red card” campaign

21.This campaign, which is the fruit of a collaboration between the Argentine Government, Fundación Españoles en el Mundo, Asociación Cultural Latina Urbana and Asociación Civil Enlaces Territoriales para la Equidad de Género and the journalist Liliana Hendel, is centred around radio and television spots and posters in which leading figures from different spheres of Argentine life commit themselves to fighting abuse. Government representatives and leading figures in the arts and society took part in the Argentine launch of the “Show abusers the red card” campaign, which aims to mobilize the whole of society into preventing and condemning gender-based violence. In 2012, more than 10,000 people have taken part in the campaign.

“Argentina for gender equality and against violence” campaign

22.This campaign involves very close cooperation between civil society, international organizations and governmental bodies. It takes an approach virtually without precedent in Argentina in which the relationship between State, civil society and the world of education is leveraged to raise awareness and address the problem at the grass-roots level. The campaign has three independent but closely interrelated core components – three radio and three television spots, a website and a competition for radio and television shorts, short stories, literary texts and posters.

Statistics and compilation of information on violence

23.In 2012 the National Women’s Council signed an agreement with the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) in which the two bodies undertook to design a set of mutually-agreed indicators that would provide a measure of the phenomenon of violence against women and, in parallel, to establish a unified register of cases of violence against women. To achieve the objectives set, both partners agreed to provide technical, human and infrastructure resources. INDEC also agreed to liaise with the provincial authorities regarding the transfer of information available in their local registers to the centralized system.

24.The creation of this national system of information on cases of violence against women will also feed the development of public policies that are more effective in preventing and eliminating the problem.

25.In its four years of operation, the Domestic Violence Office established by the Supreme Court in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires has assisted more than 50,000 people, logging 30,000 cases and answering 20,000 requests for information. The cities of Santiago del Estero and Tucumán have since joined the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires in this initiative and opened their own Domestic Violence Offices. The Supreme Court has now succeeded in getting all 23 provinces to sign an agreement to keep statistical records.

26.With support from the United Nations, the Supreme Court has signed an agreement with the provincial high courts that aims to ensure that all statistical records are similar and allow for analysis by patterns, symptoms and ages.

27.Through the National Observatory on Violence, the National Women’s Council, under an agreement with the National University of Quilmes, has also organized a survey of media violence in commercials broadcast on free-to-air channels. The survey was conducted between January and October 2011. Essentially, it entailed applying an index of gender-based violence in television commercials, constructed using a set of indicators that aim to capture symbolic violence against women in commercials broadcast at different times of the day by national television channels 7 (the State television channel), 2, 9, 11 and 13. The survey results can be consulted on the website of the National Women’s Council.

28.The Observatory on Discrimination in Radio and Television, which is composed of the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services, the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism and the National Women’s Council, also has an important role in this area. The Observatory provides a forum through which professionals can exchange knowledge and experience in the area of discrimination with a view to discussing and analysing its prevalence in television and radio programmes, commercials and marketing campaigns.

29.The Observatory’s objectives are:

(a)To monitor and analyse the form and content of radio and television broadcasts that might include some type and/or form of discrimination;

(b)To circulate its conclusions concerning content analysed and create opportunities for dialogue with media managers and those responsible for content production;

(c)To encourage community involvement in the development of alternative means of addressing discrimination in radio and television programmes;

(d)To provide advice on anti-discrimination laws and guidelines to those involved in the development of radio and television programmes and commercials;

(e)To raise awareness in universities and centres of education specialized in media and advertising of the potential effects of discriminatory speech, with a view to ensuring that such speech is not replicated;

(f)To deal with claims and complaints submitted to the Observatory with a view to determining, after the corresponding analysis, whether the programme or commercial at their origin does in fact contain discriminatory speech.

30.On the issue of trafficking in human beings, the work to gather and analyse crime data on trafficking offences should be mentioned. In recognition of the importance of this crime data, not only for gaining an in-depth understanding of trends and changes in trafficking in human beings but also for obtaining useful inputs for the development of qualified diagnoses that should facilitate strategic decision-making, the Security Ministry coordinated the work carried out by the specialist units of the security and police forces, with a view to improving their data gathering systems.

31.The exercise resulted in the construction of a set of indicators for trafficking offences and the development of a single, unified system for compiling, in a systematic and harmonized manner, all information resulting from operations carried out and any other trafficking-related activities in which the specialist units might be involved. The end product was the integrated crime information system for trafficking offences known as “SisTrata”.

32.More than 700 victims of trafficking have been rescued so far in 2012, taking the total number of victims rescued since the adoption of Act No. 26364 in April 2008 to 3,465, according to information from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. In 2012, more than 300 raids were conducted in different parts of the country in which 278 people who were being exploited for labour were rescued and a further 434 persons who were being exploited sexually were freed. The statistics indicate that 627 of these people were adults and the remaining 85 were minors, and that 344 were Argentine nationals and 368 were foreign nationals.

C.Health (paragraph 38 of the concluding observations)

Legal abortion: guidelines and Supreme Court judgement

33.In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that any woman may terminate a pregnancy resulting from rape without needing to seek prior judicial authorization. The judgement also establishes that the doctor who performs the procedure may not be punished.

34.Article 86, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Argentine Criminal Code stipulates that abortion is not punishable in two situations: when carried out in order to avoid endangering the mother’s life or health and when the pregnancy results from “rape or indecent assault of a women with a mental disability”.

35.The second paragraph had given rise to a landmark judicial debate, in which two interpretations are posited: a first more restrictive interpretation by which it is understood that abortion is permitted only in cases of rape of a woman with a mental disability, and a second interpretation by which it is understood that any abused women may terminate her pregnancy. Ultimately, the Supreme Court settled on the broader interpretation of the article.

36.The Supreme Court made express reference to the fact that the United Nations Human Rights Committee holds that abortion should be permitted in cases where the pregnancy is a result of rape, and that it also drew attention to the restrictive interpretation of non-punishable abortion.

37.With regard to medical practice, the judges ruled that doctors should not be required to seek judicial authorization before carrying out this type of procedure. They establish that, in order for a termination to proceed, the woman must complete an affidavit attesting to the fact that she was raped so that the medical professionals attending her are able to perform the procedure without bearing criminal liability.

38.The Supreme Court also urges the authorities to introduce hospital guidelines for non-punishable abortion and calls on judges to “refrain from making access to terminations subject to court approval and to leave such procedures exclusively down to the decision of the patient and her doctor”.

Campaigns to raise awareness of women’s rights

39.The National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme has a comprehensive communications and outreach strategy for promoting sexual and reproductive rights. The objectives of the strategy are as follows:

(a)To raise awareness of sexual and reproductive rights among the population in general;

(b)To produce outreach and professional development materials on sexual and reproductive health issues that make the key points of current content on the issues available to the actors involved;

(c)To enhance the strategy for distributing National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme pamphlets and publications among health workers and other population groups;

(d)To raise awareness of the sexual and reproductive health needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

40. A set of 32 communications materials developed in implementation of this strategy were published and/or printed in 2012 – 4 postcards; 3 posters; 2 decals; 3 CDs; 2 video clips; 4 booklets; a book; a magazine; 4 radio spots; and 6 leaflets. Of the 32 materials, 14 were produced under the Promoting Rights and Accessibility publications programme, 12 fell under the Institutional programme, 3 formed part of the Community Engagement programme and 2 came under the Professional Development programme.

41.Six new materials also entered into production in the course of 2011 and this process is continuing in 2012. Nationwide, a total of 5,477,692 items were distributed in 2011 through more than 500 deliveries.

42.Also in 2011, the National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme carried out 45 promotional activities designed to raise awareness of rights and increase accessibility in different areas and with different civil society actors.

43.With regard to the removal of barriers that prevent indigenous and migrant women from accessing sexual and reproductive health services, the following activities were carried out in 2011:

(a)Radio shorts entitled “Checks during pregnancy”, “Accessing methods of contraception”, “Take a smear test” and “Teenagers and sexual health” were produced and broadcast in Spanish, Guarani, Wichi and Qom;

(b)130,000 leaflets on sexual and reproductive rights and health were distributed in migrant communities (70,000 among health teams and 60,000 among the general population);

(c)Radio spots aimed at Bolivian women were produced and broadcast;

(d)Workshops on the promotion of health rights and access to health were organized for the migrant population (Refugee Support Committee (CAREF) and Catholics for the Right to Decide (CDD)) and a training programme on human rights, migration and health.

44.In addition a working meeting was organized in the city of La Quiaca to plan and implement actions aimed at removing the barriers that prevent Bolivian women and teenagers from accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Sixty-three members of the health teams working in the San Roque and Pablo Soria hospitals in San Salvador and in the Dr. Uro hospital in La Quiaca took part. The meeting was also attended by representatives of municipal and provincial health-care institutions, the Secretariat for Human Rights, the Migration Directorate, the Public Defender’s Office, the Argentine Consulate in Villazon and civil society organizations including the Pastoral Service for Migrants, the National Consortium for Reproductive and Sexual Rights and the Andes Foundation.

45.The National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme is taking various actions in relation to women deprived of their liberty.

46.Under the Master Agreement for Assistance and Cooperation signed between the Justice Ministry and National Health Ministry in 2008 and supplementary agreements for the implementation of specific programmes addressing HIV/AIDS, STDs, mother and child health, eye health and sexual health and responsible procreation signed in 2011, activities promoting sexual and reproductive health are being organized on an ongoing basis. In 2011 three workshops were organized for female detainees in Prison Unit No. 3 in Ezeiza, in the province of Buenos Aires, which were attended by a total of 51 women.

47.Awareness-raising and training initiatives are run for prison staff. For example, in 2011 two training courses were organized within the Federal Prison Service in association with the National Programme for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer. A total of 100 staff working in the Federal prison system attended.

Distribution of contraceptives in custodial facilities of the Federal Prison Service

48.The Protocol for the Comprehensive Care of Victims of Rape was introduced in 2011 to support implementation of the principles established in Act No. 26485. The guidelines contained in the Protocol were drawn up by the Expert Committee of the National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme, which is composed of representatives of the Argentine Medical Association on Contraception, the Assistance Programme for Victims of Sexual Violence of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the Argentine Society for Child and Adolescent Gynaecology and the Victims against Violence Programme.

Teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality

49.The National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme has launched various initiatives aimed at reducing maternal mortality. These initiatives fall under the umbrella of the Plan to Reduce Maternal and Infant Mortality among Women and Teenage Girls being implemented by the Office of the Under-Secretary for Community Health.

50.The general objectives of the Plan are to improve maternal and child health and the health of teenage girls and women, and to achieve, as a consequence, a reduction in maternal and infant mortality (neonatal and post-neonatal) and an increase in the survival rate of children, teenagers, mothers and women in general. Another aim is to prevent unplanned pregnancies and the development of cervical cancer, which will result in an improvement in women’s general state of health.

51.The Plan is being implemented by the Office of the Under-Secretary for Community Health. It constitutes a comprehensive strategy for addressing the health of children, teenagers and women, and the factors that influence it nationwide, and provides a framework for the principal actions that the National Programme is carrying out in the provinces where the Plan is being implemented. In the provinces of Chaco, Formosa and Santiago del Estero, it has been under implementation since 2009. The provinces of Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Rioja, Misiones and four health regions of the province of Buenos Aires (regions V, VI, VI and XII) were added in 2010.

52.The Plan’s implementation in the provinces fosters continuity and follow-up of actions, on the basis of an institutional policy agreement with the provinces taking part at this stage.

53.Under the Plan to Reduce Maternal and Infant Mortality among Women and Teenage Girls, the National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme has undertaken to provide the provinces with sexual and reproductive health-care services and technical assistance and to follow-up on the actions taken in the provinces in which the agreement is being implemented, with a view to strengthening the management capacity of the provincial teams.

54.A strategy for reducing risk and injury in the area of sexual and reproductive health is also in place.

55.Training has been organized in conjunction with Fundación para la Salud del Adolescente del 2000 under an agreement concluded between International Planned Parenthood Foundation and the National Health Ministry. Four events were organized in 2010, which were attended by a total of 70 members of the health teams of Santiago del Estero, La Rioja and the greater Buenos Aires area (regions VI and XI).

56.A further four events were organized in 2012, which were attended by a total of 130 members of the health teams of the different service providers in the Province of Buenos Aires (regions VI, VI, VI and XI), the City of Buenos Aires and the Province of Santiago del Estero.

Comprehensive sex education

57.Activities carried out in conjunction with the National Comprehensive Sex Education Programme have included the following:

(a)Participation of the National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme in a working group on disability and sexuality established in 2011. This cross-sector working group brings together representatives of four State bodies (the Special Education and Comprehensive Sex Education Programmes of the National Education Ministry, the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, the Persons with Disabilities and Vulnerable Groups Unit of the National Labour Ministry and the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies) and one civil society organization (REDI, the Network for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). The working group’s main tasks are to:

(i)Review and adapt the content and accessibility of existing materials;

(ii)Submit documents on associated issues and maintain contact with experts;

(iii)Produce new material specific to the working group;

(iv)Attend events;

(b)Production, in conjunction with the Comprehensive Sex Education Programme of the National Education Ministry, of a booklet entitled “Comprehensive sex education: a guide for family discussion”. In the booklet, aspects of sex education are addressed from a sexual and reproductive rights perspective in a manner that facilitates discussion in the family environment. The booklet is distributed by the provincial ministries of education;

(c)Technical review of the audiovisual materials on sexual rights produced for the programme “Changes in the body” broadcast on the Encuentro television channel in March 2012;

(d)Distribution of a million copies of the booklet “Comprehensive sex education: a guide for family discussion” in primary health-care centres throughout the country, under the National Health Ministry’s “Remediar” Programme.

Use of the guide for legal abortion services

58.In 2010, the National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme updated the technical guide for comprehensive legal abortion services produced in 2007 and distributed the update in the provinces. This guide established that, under article 86, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code, any female victim of rape is entitled to undergo a legal abortion and that the woman’s affidavit constitutes sufficient legal grounds to authorize a non-punishable abortion.

59.The technical guide looks at the legal framework for non-punishable abortion, along with clinical, surgical and bioethical issues such as care, counselling and informed consent. It is designed for the use of health workers in general and the teams working in the field of sexual and reproductive health in particular. Its aim is to reduce the barriers that prevent access to abortion in cases where the Argentine Criminal Code permits termination of pregnancy and to standardize clinical and surgical procedures for the provision of legal abortion services within the health system.

60.The Programme submits legal documents for inclusion in the court files of cases of non-punishable abortion.

61.In association with the Post-Abortion Care Programme operated by the National Directorate of Mother and Child Health, outreach materials on post-abortion care have been developed for distribution among the general public.

62.Specific legal assistance is provided to the provincial programmes in relation to cases where the provisions of the Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Act are not respected and to the implementation of the law on surgical methods of contraception and the current law on comprehensive protection for women.

63.The Programme provides follow-up and legal assistance in response to reports of violations received through the 0800 hotline.

64.In 2012, the Supreme Court handed down a judgement in which it establishes similar parameters, so confirming the pertinence of the technical guide produced by the National Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation Programme.