The Human Rights Actions Network
http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/actions/
ACTION REQUEST
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONCERN
Case ARG 220801.ESCRC
Economic Crisis in Argentina
Structural Challenge to the Enjoyment of All Human Rights
The International Secretariat of the World Organization Against
Torture (OMCT) joins its member organizations - Las Abuelas de
la Plaza de Mayo, El Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales
(CELS) and El Servício de Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ)- in
expressing concern about the possible impact that the current
economic crisis, and the measures foreseen by the government to
handle it, might have on the enjoyment of all human rights
throughout the country.
As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed on August 22nd
2001 to lend Argentina an extra 8 billion dollars to address the
financial crisis, raising IMF loans to the country to 22 billion
dollars, OMCT would like to remind the Argentine government of
its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. Indeed, the Argentine government, as
a State party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, continues to be bound by its legal obligations
under this instrument when negotiating with the IMF. In other
words, the Argentine authorities are bound under the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to ensure that
the decisions taken in Washington with the IMF will not have a
negative impact on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural
rights in the country.
In this regard OMCT would like to recall that in its 1999
concluding observations on Argentina, the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended that the
government "when negotiating with international financial
institutions, take into account its Covenant obligations to respect,
protect and fulfil all of the rights enshrined in the Covenant".
Brief Description of the Current Situation
The granting of loans from International Financial Institutions
(IFIs), and in particular the IMF, is dependent on the
implementation of a drastic 'zero deficit plan'. The 'zero deficit'
plan, approved by the Argentine Senate, calls for radical cuts in
public sector salaries, spending costs including social spending and
tax increases. Among other measures, the "zero deficit plan"
includes the reduction for a renewable three-month period of civil
servants' salaries by 13 percent. Pensioner earning more than
USD 300 (30 percent of pensioners) will also see their pensions
diminish by 13 percent with a minimum pension of USD 300
guaranteed. Unemployment benefits will also be cut by 13 percent
with a guaranteed minimum USD 150 benefit. This affects
120,000 unemployed people. Finally, family benefits of 1,530,000
private sector workers earning less than 1,500 pesos will also be
cut by 13 percent. This reduction represents a cut of 20 million
pesos per month and will affect benefits for the disabled, children
education and childbirth.
A group of eight Argentine NGOs - including las Abuelas de
Plaza de Mayo, El Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS),
and El Servício de Paz y Justicia (SERPAJ), all members of
OMCT network- have denounced to parliament the 'zero deficit
plan' as unconstitutional and as compromising economic and
social rights.
Moreover, in 1999, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights recommended that Argentina be aware that social
security provisions should guarantee workers an adequate
minimum which cannot be reduced or suspended, especially in
times of economic crisis.
While OMCT does not take a stance on the merits of economic
restructuring as such, and the necessity of such reforms in
Argentina, we believe that the current measures envisaged by the
government might deepen the existing disparities and inequalities
prevalent in Argentine society and therefore seriously prevent the
enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights such as the right
to work, the right to education, the right to health, the right to
social security, the right to food and the right to adequate housing.
In this regard, OMCT recalls that the Maastricht Guidelines
underline that the adoption of any deliberately retrogressive
measure constitutes a violation of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Maastricht Guidelines
also stress that the reduction or diversion of specific public
expenditure, when resulting in the non-enjoyment of economic,
social and cultural rights, and not accompanied by adequate
measures to ensure minimum subsistence for everyone, also
constitute a violation of the Covenant.
Social unrest accompanying the crisis and the response of the
Argentine authorities already has and is likely to lead to further
violations of civil and political rights. In this regard, the current
crisis poses an important challenge to the enjoyment of all human
rights throughout the country. On June 17th the police, lifting a
piquete in the northeastern province of Salta, killed two
individuals and injured thirty persons. The province of Salta is one
of the poorest with 60 percent of the population living below the
poverty line and 17 percent living in total destitution.
Demonstrations in different provinces claiming overdue salary
payments were also violently repressed by the police, killing five
persons and injuring twenty-five.
The Centre for Legal and Social Studies CELS has denounced the
increasing level of institutional violence in Argentina in the Inter-
American Human Rights Commission for the perceived attempt
by its government to criminalize street protests and to use judges
to repress demonstrations, ignoring the right of protest expressed
in the Constitution. CELS argues that violations of human rights
are condoned by an executive power, which encourages police
brutality. The Centre recorded a 100 percent increase in 1999 of
the number of persons killed by the police in the Buenos Aires
metropolitan area; moreover, the total number of civilians killed by
the police has remained at this level throughout the year 2000.
Background Information to the Current Crisis
While Argentina experienced its longest period of stagnation
during the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s, the situation
has significantly deteriorated in the last three years.
Stabilisation programmes have been applied since 1989 under the
impetus of international financial institutions. Since 1991 a
structural reform plan has been implemented. It basically consists
in the liberalization of the economy (deregulation, suspension of
export-promotion regimes and of regional preferences, labour
market flexibility), the reform of State institutions and policies, the
privatization of public enterprises and the reduction of the number
and size of State agencies.
The World Bank authorised loans to the Argentine government
including a clause that guaranteed that specific social programmes
would not be affected by structural adjustment policies. However,
in 1999 the Centre for Legal and Social Studies CELS complained
to the Inspection Board of the World Bank that the pro-Huerta
programme suffered drastic budgetary cuts, which jeopardize its
existence. The programme is destined to help people whose basic
needs are not met by giving them seeds and information on raising
subsistence crops. CELS regarded this as a violation of the right
to food. In this regard, the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights noted in its 1999 concluding observations on
Argentina that "adjustment to a more rational economic order has
been difficult for Argentine society" and that while "the
government has succeeded in stabilizing the value of the currency
the implementation of the structural adjustment programme has
hampered the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, in
particular by the disadvantaged groups in society". According to
World Bank figures, 29 percent of Argentineans against only 22
percent ten years ago and 43 percent of children live in poverty.
Amongst those poor, a third do not have access to running water,
half of them lack adequate sanitation and 7 percent of them
cannot cover their basic needs.
While the current crisis has produced record high unemployment
figures of 17.5 percent, the period between 1995 and 2000
showed unemployment figures steadily above 13 percent.
Moreover, underemployment figures are fixed between 40 and 50
percent of the workforce. In some provinces, mostly in the
northeast, un- and under-employment figures have reached 60
percent, prompting a situation of high unemployment.
High unemployment, lack of opportunities, development of
temporary employment, reduced labour benefits,
underemployment, the segmentation of the labour market, the
expansion of the services sector and of the informal economy as
well as the drastic decrease of employment in the public sector,
are all trends which have created extremely precarious labour
conditions and left workers unprotected. Between 1980 and 2000,
there were 8,694 labour walkouts, averaging 414 per year, but
they have diminished steadily. However, trade unions are
reluctant to press demands for fear of losing their own jobs.
Nevertheless, President de la Rúa faced a record seven general
strikes in his first 19 months in office. About 50 percent of strikes
occurred in the public sector, a measure of the conflicts raised by
restructuring.
Since 1997, a wave of social protests and demands has been
steadily growing throughout Argentina. Roadblocks have become
the leading form of protest. Between 1997 and 2000, there were
957 piquetes or cortes de rua (roadblocks), mainly in the
provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Rio Negro, Neuquen and
Buenos Aires. In the first half of 2001 there has been a three-fold
increase in roadblocks against the same period last year (from 142
to 447 roadblocks). Former employees of State enterprises, of
public administrations and temporary or informal workers, who do
not have access to labour benefits or to social security initiated
these roadblocks. They were demanding proper social aid for
unemployed and the rejection of the 'zero deficit' adjustment plan.
With regard to the right to adequate housing, a tide of
homelessness has swept Latin America's most affluent capital
city. The number of destitute - i.e. people surviving with less than
USD 1.60 per day - in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area rose
from 324,81$0 in 1991 to 921,000 in 2000 in an area totaling 12
million inhabitants. Within the city boundaries the homeless
population has doubled between 1997 and 2000. Charities and aid
organizations put the figure far higher as government surveys do
not include persons residing in shanty towns or 'misery villages'.
Moreover, thousands of individuals also called 'afternoon
homeless', commute to the city from poor suburbs every day.
Most will spend a few nights on the streets of Buenos Aires in
order to look for an elusive employment, often staying in block-
long employment lines. Others will shift through refuse to collect
recyclable materials such as aluminum cans.
Action Requested
Please write to the Argentine authorities urging them to
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and
psychological integrity of the peoples involved in
demonstrations and guarantee an immediate investigation
into the circumstances of police brutality during
demonstrations, identify those responsible, bring them
before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply
the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by
law;
ii. take all necessary measures to guarantee that the
implementation of the measures foreseen to address the
crisis do not negatively impact on the enjoyment of
economic, social and cultural rights throughout the
country;
iii.take all necessary measures to ensure, as recommended
in 1999 by the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, that the social security system guarantees
workers an adequate minimum pension and that this
pension should not be unilaterally reduced or deferred in
times of economic constraints;
iv. take all necessary measures to ensure, as recommended
in 1999 by the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, that its obligations to respect, protect and
fulfil all economic, social and cultural are taken into
account when negotiating with international financial
institutions;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the
fundamental freedoms in accordance with national laws
and international human rights standards and in particular
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights.
Addresses
S.E. Doctor Fernando De la Rúa
Presidente de la República
Casa Rosada
Balcarce 50
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Fax(+ 54-11) 331 6376, (+ 54-11) 4344-3789, (++54 11) 4334-3700/3800
E-mail postmaster@presidencia.gob.ar
postmaster@presidencia.gob.ar Spyd@presidencia.gov.ar
Dr. Jorge Enrique de la Rúa
Ministro de Justicia y Derechos Humanos
Ministerio de Justicia
Sarmiento 329 5 piso
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Tel4328-6038/4328-6039 Int 2561/2561
Fax(+ 54-11) 4328-5395
Dr. Domingo F. Cavallo
Minister of the Economy
Ministerio de a Economia
Buenos Aires
Argentina
E-mail secpriv@mecon.gov.ar secpriv@mecon.gov.ar
Don Rafael Manuel Pascual
Presidente de Honorable Cámara de Diputados
Av. Rivadavia 1864
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Fax(+ 54-11) 4954-1085
E-mailrpascual@diputados.gov.ar
Subsecretaría de Derechos Humanos
Ministerio del Interior
Casa de Gobierno
Balcarce 50
Buenos Aires
Argentina
E-mailsdh@wamani.apc.org
Doctor Julio Salvador Nazareno
Presidente Corte Suprema de Justicia de Argentina
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Fax(+ 54 11) 437 11 540, (+ 54 11)43710721
Sr. Ministro del Interior
Casa de Gobierno
Balcarce 50
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Fax(+54-11) 331 7354, (+ 54-11) 3129328
E-mail postmaster@minte.gob.ar
Defensor del Pueblo de la Nacion
Dn. Eduardo Mondino
Montevideo 1244
C1018ACB
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Tel0810-333-2762
Fax(+ 54-11) 48 19 1581
E-mail defensor@defensor.gov.ar
defensor@defensor.gov.ar
Geneva, August 21st 2001
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this
appeal in your reply.
Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT)
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT)
8 rue du Vieux-Billard
Case postale 21
CH-1211 Geneve 8
Suisse/Switzerland
Tel. 0041 22 809 49 39
Fax 0041 22 809 49 29
E-mail omct@omct.org
http//www.omct.org
