Argentina: Milei protocol against protests denounced before the United Nations and IACHR

Trade union centers, social movements and human rights organizations of Argentina They reported on Tuesday to United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) the new security protocol against street protests designed by the far-right government Javier Milei.

The so-called ““Protocol for maintaining public order in the event of road closures”presented by the Ministry of Security two days after announcing a plan for strong economic adjustments, enables federal forces to evict or disperse protesters who impede the transit of people or means of transportation, partially or totally, on national routes and other roads under federal jurisdiction.

At its most controversial point, it establishes that agents may intervene without a court order “since it is a flagrant crime repressed by article 194 of the Penal Code.”

The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the main trade union center in the country, the Grandmothers and Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, various political and social organizations, among the 1,700 signatories, promoted a joint action before the United Nations and the IACHR to intercede before the Argentine State and annul the protocol.

“Most of the provisions of the Ministry of Security establish guidelines for police and state action that are incompatible with the rights to free assembly and association, freedom of expression and social protest, recognized both in local regulations and in the Constitution. National and in international human rights treaties and standards”, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the complainants.

In a letter sent to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and to the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, and another addressed to the president of the IACHR, Margarette May Macaulay, they asked them to “express publicly and before the Argentine State your concern about this protocol, which also affects the rights to life, personal integrity and security of those who exercise the right to protest.”

The new security plan against street protests was announced the same week in which the Milei government announced an orthodox adjustment plan to reduce the fiscal deficit that, among other points, includes the devaluation of the Argentine peso more than fifty%the dismissal of public employees, the reduction of transport and energy subsidies and the suspension of public works, which will have a strong social impact.

As a complement to the protocol for protests, the government warned that social assistance will be withdrawn from those who interrupt traffic routes during the demonstrations.

The Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, clarified that the right to demonstrate is guaranteed as long as it does not involve blocking streets.

In recent years, coinciding with the deterioration of social indicators due to rampant inflation, protests were commonplace, especially in downtown Buenos Aires. Beyond the call, the preferred method is the blocking of streets that generate vehicular chaos and the anger of the capital’s residents.

A 65% of Argentines agree with prohibiting picketing, according to a survey by the Observatory of Applied Social Psychology of the University of Buenos Aires carried out on December 11 and 12, which covers more than 4,200 people surveyed and has a margin of error of 1.5%.

Street control will be put to the test this Wednesday when unemployed organizations mobilize from Congress to the historic Plaza de Mayo against Milei’s adjustment plan and coinciding with a new anniversary of the 2001 social outbreak that left dozens dead. due to police repression.