Source: Amnesty International –
Two years after the constitutional debate and waves of social protests that gripped the province of Jujuy, there have been almost no concrete steps toward accountability for the repression and criminalization that characterized the state response to the massive grassroots mobilization in Jujuy in 2023, as Amnesty International describes in the report Silence is not an option: repression and impunity in Jujuy.
“Sadly, the two-year anniversary of the constitutional reform process has been marked by impunity, reflecting the state’s strategy of silencing those who dare to stand up for their rights. In all these months, the Province of Jujuy has given no answers about the tactics it used with the clear aim of violating the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in the province. These methods included excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, or investigations to criminalize protesters”, said Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.
Sadly, the two-year anniversary of the constitutional reform process has been marked by impunity, reflecting the state’s strategy of silencing those who dare to stand up for their rights. In all these months, the Province of Jujuy has given no answers about the tactics it used with the clear aim of violating the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in the province. These methods included excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, or investigations to criminalize protesters
Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International
In the span of less than a month in May and June 2023, the province debated and approved a constitutional reform that set back human rights, especially for Indigenous peoples. This process unfolded hastily, behind closed doors, in the Jujuy Legislature, leading thousands of people to take to the streets to reject the proposed text and decry the lack of participation and consultation. Amnesty International’s report exposes how the State of Jujuy not only persistently turned its back on legitimate demands for participation, but also perpetrated violence and sowed fear and intimidation among those who spoke out.
“The Amnesty International report also reveals how Indigenous peoples were completely excluded from the reform debate, against a backdrop of land dispossessions and structural discrimination in the province with the highest proportion of Indigenous people in the country. They were marginalized first through the approval of the new constitution without their free, prior and informed consent – a requirement under international human rights law – and then through the banning and violent dispersal of road blockades, which disproportionately restricted their legitimate exercise of the right to protest”, said Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina.
The Amnesty International report also reveals how Indigenous peoples were completely excluded from the reform debate, against a backdrop of land dispossessions and structural discrimination in the province with the highest proportion of Indigenous people in the country. They were marginalized first through the approval of the new constitution without their free, prior and informed consent – a requirement under international human rights law – and then through the banning and violent dispersal of road blockades, which disproportionately restricted their legitimate exercise of the right to protest
Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina
In researching the report, the organization interviewed 111 people, 90% of whom are Indigenous and at least 91 of whom participated directly in the protests. The delegation also met with authorities and submitted multiple requests for access to public information to entities in the province. Additionally, the organization’s digital verification team compiled over 50 video and photographic records to analyse the events and police officers’ use of force.