major public hospital in Luanda where cases
were first diagnosed. The UN CESCR
recommended that Angola increase
resources to the health sector, particularly to
improve infrastructure and expand health
care facilities especially in rural areas.
HOUSING RIGHTS – FORCED EVICTION
In its 2016 review of Angola, the UN CESCR
expressed concern at the persistence of
forced evictions, including from informal
settlements and during development
projects, without the necessary procedural
guarantees or the provision of alternative
housing or adequate compensation to the
affected individuals and groups.
Communities were resettled in makeshift
homes without adequate access to basic
services such as water, electricity, sanitation,
health care and education.
On 6 August, a military officer shot dead
14-year-old Rufino Antônio, who was
standing in front of his home in an attempt to
prevent its demolition. The military police had
been deployed there that day to deal with a
demonstration against the demolition of
houses in Zango II, Viana Municipality in
Luanda, in the context of a development
project. Those suspected of the killing had
not been brought to justice by the end of the
year.
1. Urgent Action: Angolan activist convicted after unfair trial: Manuel
Chivonde Nito Alves (AFR 12/3464/2016)
2. Urgent Action: Further information: Angolan activist released a week
early: Francisco Mapanda (AFR 12/5205/2016)
3. Urgent Action: Angola: Four youth activists detained without charge
(AFR 12/4631/2016)
4. Amnesty International, OMUNGA and Organização Humanitária
Internacional (OHI) urge Angolan authorities to respect the rights to
freedom of expression and peaceful assembly (AFR 12/4590/2016)
ARGENTINA
Argentine Republic
Head of state and government: Mauricio Macri
Women and girls faced obstacles in
accessing legal abortions; the
68
criminalization of sexual and reproductive
rights intensified. Discrimination against
Indigenous Peoples continued.
BACKGROUND
The National Congress passed the Law on
Access to Public Information (Law 27.275).
The National Council of Women presented
the National Action Plan for the Prevention,
Assistance and Eradication of Violence
against Women.
In June and October, mass protests took
place under the slogan “Not One Less” over
pervasive violence against women, femicide
and the lack of public policies to address the
situation.
Argentina was subject to the scrutiny of
the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN
Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW
Committee), and the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In April, a woman from the Tucumán
province was found guilty of “murder” and
sentenced to eight years in prison after
suffering a miscarriage in a hospital,
according to her clinical record. She was
reported to the police by hospital staff for
purportedly inducing an abortion and held in
pre-trial detention for over two years. She was
first charged with undergoing an illegal
abortion and then with aggravated murder for
the premeditated killing of a close relative (a
crime that carries prison sentences of up to
25 years). In August, the UN Human Rights
Committee expressed concern regarding this
case, recommending that the government
consider decriminalizing abortion and calling
for her prompt release. The Committee
further called on Argentina to liberalize its
laws on abortion, to ensure that all women
and girls have access to reproductive health
services, and “that women are not obliged, as
a consequence of legal obstacles, the
exercise of conscientious objection of health
workers or the lack of medical protocols, to
resort to clandestine abortions that put their
lives and health at risk”. The Tucumán
Amnesty International Report 2016/17
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