Country: Argentina Source: Amnesty International Argentina: Two years after brutal repression in Jujuy, Amnesty International report exposes impunityTwo 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.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.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.The repression left hundreds of people injured, some severely and permanentlyIn its new report, Amnesty International found that the provincial police used force in an illegitimate, arbitrary and excessive manner with the clear aim of dispersing the protests. In particular, the organization documented the illegitimate use of tear gas and rubber bullets, including the firing of multiple kinetic impact projectiles, a tactic that should be prohibited entirely under human rights standards. Amnesty International also recorded the use of unregulated weapons, such as slingshots, stones, and whips.The repression left at least 170 people injured, at least ten of whom were hit in the face with a rubber bullet or tear gas canister. Three lost vision in one eye.Arbitrary arrests, criminalization and ill-treatmentThe repressive response to the demonstrations in the province of Jujuy was complemented by a strategy of criminalization. Amnesty International’s report reveals at least 99 arrests during demonstrations in Jujuy, including arbitrary arrests, especially during the protests on 17 June in Purmamarca and 20 June in San Salvador de Jujuy. It also found that the police used unlawful force in arresting people, including children and adolescents, and subjected protesters to beatings and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.At least 86 people were charged with crimes and are still under investigation for legally ambiguous offenses that are often used to criminalize protest, such as “resisting law enforcement”, “impeding traffic” and “sedition”. Amnesty International also found widespread use of the Provincial Misdemeanour Code to intimidate and excessively punish protesters. The organization documented at least 82 proceedings for offenses under this code, many of which were against people also accused in criminal proceedings, which could violate their right to not be tried twice for the same act.The case of Joel Paredes, who lost sight in one eye for supporting protests in JujuyJoel Paredes is one of the people that Amnesty International documented as having lost vision in one eye. Concerned for his children’s future, the 29-year-old ceramicist joined a protest in the Plaza de Humahuaca on the afternoon of 30 June 2023. Along with hundreds of peaceful demonstrators, he played the bass drum with his band while the Humahuaca Deliberative Council debated the reform in a nearby building.In the early morning, police arrived in the square and began firing rubber bullets indiscriminately into the crowd, hitting Joel in the right eye. The injury required surgery, but the medical staff could not save his eyesight, and now Joel is permanently blind in his right eye and suffers debilitating nerve pain that affects his daily life. No one has been held accountable for what happened to Joel.In 2024, Joel Paredes was one of ten cases highlighted in the global Write for Rights campaign, which Amnesty International launches every year in support of people who have been unfairly harassed, threatened or imprisoned.Amnesty International presents its findings in JujuyThe organization shared these findings with the authorities of the Province of Jujuy but received no response. On 28 and 29 May, a delegation from Amnesty International visited the province of Jujuy to present the new report; meet with authorities; demand justice, reparation and a guarantee of non-repetition for the victims of state violence; and deliver to Joel Paredes the thousands of letters he received from members and activists around the world, in solidarity for the human rights violations he suffered at the hands of the Jujuy police.“No one has been punished for the human rights violations committed during the repression, and the victims are still awaiting justice. Cases like Joel’s should never be forgotten because they remind the authorities of all the answers they still owe to Jujuy society, especially the province’s Indigenous peoples, who continue to fight to have their human rights recognized and safeguarded”, said Ana Piquer.More InformationArgentina: Joel Paredes: Write for Rights 2024 [case card], 5 September 2024, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr13/8129/2024/en/Argentina: Violent repression and criminalization in response to protests in Jujuy, 5 October 2023