Background

Argentina remained immersed in an economic and social crisis. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census, in June 31.6% of the population was living in poverty, and in September unemployment stood at 6.6%.

The government withdrew the country’s candidacy to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2026-2028 term.

Congress had failed to appoint a head of the National Ombudsperson’s Office since 2009. The Supreme Court was still comprised exclusively of men with two vacancies unfilled at the end of the year.

Sexual and reproductive rights

According to official data published in 2025, in 2023 five girls and adolescents aged under 20 gave birth in Argentina every hour.

In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights denounced the government’s dismantling of the National Plan for the Prevention of Unintended Pregnancies in Adolescents. Having successfully reduced adolescent pregnancy rates by 49% over the four preceding years, the plan’s budget was cut by 86% in real terms (accounting for inflation) in 2024 compared to 2023, and over 30% of available resources were not spent.

The purchase and distribution by the state of essential supplies to guarantee access to abortion had been interrupted since December 2023. In addition, distribution to provinces of contraceptives, including emergency hormonal contraceptives, and pregnancy tests had decreased by 81%. In 2025, Amnesty International received at least four times as many reports of barriers to abortion as in 2024, potentially reflecting an increase in barriers to access.

Sexual and gender-based violence

According to the National Ombudsperson’s Office, a femicide was recorded every 35 hours in the first half of the year. Despite the persistence of gender-based violence, 13 key programmes to combat such crimes were dismantled in May, including those providing immediate support to women in extreme cases of violence.

In March, the Brazilian justice system ratified the six-year prison sentence imposed on actor Juan Darthés for sexual violence against Argentinian actress Thelma Fardín when she was 16 years old. The court held that all sexual intercourse without consent constituted rape or abuse.

On 11 June, the Court of Criminal Cassation of the province of Buenos Aires upheld the conviction of Luis Alberto Ramos for “aggravated homicide motivated by hatred of gender identity” of transgender man Tehuel de la Torre. He was 21 years old when last seen on 11 March 2021.

In July, the criminal trial took place for the arson attack against four lesbian women in 2024, three of whom died. In her indictment, the prosecutor alleged prejudice against the sexual orientation and gender of the victims.

According to the National Observatory on LGBT Hate Crimes, such crimes increased by 70% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. In his speech to the World Economic Forum in January, President Javier Milei associated homosexuality with paedophilia.

Freedom of expression

In May, nine UN mandate holders warned of the deterioration of freedoms and civic space in Argentina since December 2023.

By the end of the year, President Milei had sued at least eight journalists for defamation and insults. Since the start of his tenure in 2023, more than 60 media professionals had faced harassment and violence by the president and other senior officials in the media and on social media.

In August, a prosecutor opened an investigation into the president and three public officials for, among others, threats and acts of public intimidation against journalist Julia Mengolini, who had suffered digital harassment with the use of images altered by AI.

Unlawful surveillance

Through Decree 383/2025 and without input from Congress, the Ministry of National Security empowered the federal police to monitor individuals on social media, access state databases, conduct searches and detain individuals for identification purposes for up to 10 hours, all without a warrant.

Executive Order (DNU) 941/2025, which was not debated in Congress, changed the intelligence system and concentrated more power in the State Intelligence Secretariat. It expanded its ability to access and cross-reference citizens’ personal data and operate without judicial oversight, and allowed intelligence agents to detain individuals without a warrant. This change increased the risk of unlawful surveillance and discretionary use of information, and endangered rights such as personal liberty, privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of association and peaceful assembly.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

Restrictions on and repression of peaceful protests, including through the unlawful use of force, continued to increase after the entry into force of Resolution 943/2023 of the Ministry of National Security. From December 2024 to November 2025, there were at least 1,341 cases of individuals allegedly injured by state agents, of whom 155 were older persons and 184 worked in the media. At least two had been hit by rubber bullets in the head and face.

On 12 March, photojournalist Pablo Grillo was seriously injured when he was hit on the head by a tear gas canister unlawfully fired by a National Gendarmerie officer. The incident happened during a march in support of pensioners. Jonathan Navarro lost his left eye when shot with a kinetic impact weapon by a Naval Prefecture officer during the same march.

Impunity

Congress approved a law incorporating trial in absentia into the Penal Code. The federal justice system authorized its application against 10 people accused of undertaking the 18 July 1994 attack on the community centre of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association.

Argentina still had not ratified The Ljubljana-Hague Convention, which it signed in 2023.

Economic, social and cultural rights

In September, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that austerity measures were mainly affecting older people and people with disabilities.

The minimum pension in 2025 failed to cover basic needs, with more than three million older people living in poverty. For the second time, the president vetoed laws aimed at increasing the purchasing power of pensions and allowing those without the necessary 30 years of contributions to access a pension. This move undermined the economic and social rights of the older population.

The budget allocated to universities in 2025 was 6% lower in real terms than 2024, with an accumulated 29% drop since 2023. In October, Congress rejected President Milei’s veto of the law approving increased funding for universities and an update of teachers’ salaries to partially restore purchasing power. However, the executive confirmed that it would not apply the law, thereby exacerbating the budget cuts imposed on universities.

Argentina’s fiscal policy continued to favour a regressive tax structure, with cuts in areas such as health, education and social security, and increased tax exemptions for large companies. The loss of tax revenue due to tax benefits that exempted some sectors from paying certain taxes represented about 4% of GDP.

The structural weight of public debt servicing remained constant even at a time of severe fiscal adjustments: in 2025, debt interest payments almost matched the national budget allocated to health, education and culture.

Right to a healthy environment

The government’s denial of climate change continued to generate concern. The Climate Action Tracker rated Argentina’s climate policies and objectives as “critically insufficient” and incompatible with limiting the increase in global average temperatures to 1.5°C, as established by the Paris Agreement.

Subsidies to fossil fuel companies were 93 times higher than the funding allocated to the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energies.