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Argentina - OPCAT Situation

Updated 23.05.2013

Argentina was the first State in Latin America to ratify the OPCAT in 2004. Argentina was required to create an NPM by June 2007, one year after the entry into force of the OPCAT. The national legislation establishing a national system of prevention was only approved in November 2012 and came into force in January 2013.

The NPM legislation is the result of transparent and participatory national discussions and is based on a proposal made by a network of human rights organisations. Some amendments were brought to the initial draft bill by the Senate in November 2012.

OPCAT implementation has already started at the provincial level: five provinces (Chaco, Mendoza, Río Negro, Salta, and Tucumán) have adopted laws to create local preventive mechanisms, while others (Santa Fe, Neuquén and Buenos Aires provinces) are in the process of debating such laws. In June 2012, the members of the Chaco local preventive mechanism were sworn in, giving birth to the first local mechanism to prevent torture in Argentina.

The SPT visited Argentina in 2012 and the report was sent to the authorities in December of the same year. It has not been made public yet.

The SPT member Emilio Ginés Santidrian is the SPT Focal Point for Argentina.

Opcat status
OPCAT Ratification November 15, 2004
UNCAT Ratification September 24, 1986
SPT Member Enrique Andrés Font (2013 - 2016)
NPM Designated

National System to Prevent Torture, comprising:

  • National Committee for the Prevention of Torture (composed of 9 members, including the Ombudsman for Federal Prisons (Procurador Penitenciario de la Nación));
  • a Federal Council of Local Preventive Mechanisms;
  • and local preventive mechanisms (to be designated) in each of the 24 provinces
NPM Type

Multiple institutions

NPM Legal Framework

National System to Prevent Torture legislation (November 28, 2012) - available in Spanish only

LPM Type

New Institutions

LPM Legal framework

Chaco: Law No. 6483 (February 2010)

Mendoza: Law No. 8279 (May 2011) 

Rio Negro: Law No. 4621 (2008)

Salta: Law No. 7733 (September 2012) 

Tucuman: Law No. 8523 (September 2012)

Information
Population 42 192 494
Area (sq km) 2 780 400
Number of prisons 228
Prison population 59 227
Federal Structure Argentina is divided into 24 jurisdictions (23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires)
Quick links

SPT: Visit (Press release - April 2012) and report was sent to the authorities (December 2012) but has not been made public yet

UPR: Report of the Working Group (December 2012) and Argentina's response (only available in Spanish)

CAT: Concluding Observations (November 2004)