Argentina

Executive Summary

Note: This report was updated 4/26/17; see Appendix F: Errata for more information.

Argentina is a federal constitutional republic. In November 2015 Mauricio Macri won election to the presidency in the second round of multiparty elections that the media and various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) described as generally free and fair. The 2015 first round also included legislative elections for one-half of the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of the Senate.

Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces.

The principal human rights problems included multiple reports of official corruption, torture by federal and provincial police, and gender-based violence.

Other human rights problems included use of excessive force by police, harsh prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged pretrial detention, judicial inefficiency, child abuse, anti-Semitism, discrimination against and infringements on the rights of indigenous people, sex trafficking, forced labor, and child labor.

Judicial authorities indicted and prosecuted a number of current and former government officials who committed abuses during the year, including a number of investigations against high-level officials of the former government.