State Report (2010)
23. Persons with disabilities have the same rights as other citizens of the same age. However, they are sometimes at a disadvantage when trying to exercise their rights; this makes it necessary to adopt special measures to provide them with equivalent opportunities.
24. With the aim of guaranteeing equivalent opportunities, legal measures have been adopted as a policy tool for including persons with disabilities in the community, promoting, protecting and ensuring the enjoyment of their rights and changing attitudes and social behaviour.
25. As a result of the progressive development of national, provincial and municipal legislation, three types of legislation have been passed to address the rights, services and benefits of persons with disabilities, as follows: (a) Comprehensive legislation which includes laws that deal with general and specific situations, in different areas, for all persons with disabilities (National Act No. 22431 and provincial acts similar to the national act); (b) Legislation geared towards specific sectors of the population with disabilities (Act No. 25682 on Use of the green walking stick for persons with low vision); (c) General legislation that includes specific provisions for persons with disabilities (the National Employment Act No. 24013, which applies to all workers in the country, includes regulations for workers with disabilities).
26. This third type of legislation is based on the premise that legislation aimed at facilitating the exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities should be an integral part of the general legislation designed to protect the rights of all citizens.
27. The National Constitution states that treaties and concordats have a higher hierarchy than laws (art. 75, para. 22). The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities falls within this category.
28. As regards legislation, the following laws are currently in force: (a) Act No. 23592 on Discriminatory acts; (b) Act No. 24515 creating the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism; (c) Decree No. 1086/2005, adopting the report entitled “Hacia un Plan Nacional contra la Discriminación — La Discriminación en Argentina. Diagnóstico y Propuestas”; (d) Act No. 25280 adopting the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities.
29. The following articles of the National Constitution are relevant: (a) Article 15: Abolition of slavery; (b) Article 16: Equality before the law; (c) Article 20: Rights of foreigners; (d) Article 25: Immigration policy; (e) Article 33: Implicit rights and guarantees; (f) Article 37: Political rights; (g) Article 43: Proceedings relating to amparo, habeas corpus and habeas data; (h) Article 75: (i) Paragraph 17 (Powers of Congress): Identity and rights of indigenous peoples. (ii) Paragraph 19 (Powers of Congress): Human and economic development. Social justice. Harmonious growth. Bases and organization of education. Protection of cultural heritage. (iii) Paragraph 22 (Powers of Congress): Adoption of treaties and international human rights instruments. Constitutional hierarchy. (iv) Paragraph 23 (Powers of Congress): Positive measures to guarantee the exercise of human rights. (i) Article 86: The Ombudsman.
1. National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism
30. In compliance with article 5 of the Convention, the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism was created by Act No. 25515 as a decentralized body. The Institute was placed under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights by Presidential decree No. 184/2005.
31. The document entitled “Hacia un Plan Nacional contra la Discriminación — La discriminación en Argentina. Diagnóstico y propuestas” describes the Government’s policy for combating discrimination, xenophobia and racism. The policy was adopted by decree No. 1086/05, which also charges the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism with implementing the policy.
32. The Institute works on behalf of everyone whose rights have been affected as a result of discrimination based on ethnicity or nationality, political views or religious beliefs, gender or sexual identity, disability or illness, age or physical appearance. Its activities are aimed at ensuring that those persons enjoy the same rights and guarantees as society as a whole and receive equal treatment.
33. The Institute has set up a Complaint Centre which receives and reviews complaints from and provides assistance and advice to individuals or groups who consider themselves victims of discriminatory practices.
34. As an institution that deals with complaints regarding social issues, the Institute is responsible for developing an organizational structure for implementing and managing national public policies. Its projects are an essential tool for implementing these public policies, given that all social programmes and projects are part and parcel of public social policies and thus, they embody a specific model for action and development.
35. The Office for Coordination of Social Policy Programmes and Projects is responsible for coordinating, assisting, monitoring and evaluating the content and activities of each project, ensuring that the thematic areas are interrelated. It works to ensure that the Institute’s resources and technical inputs are used in a rational and efficient manner. It also coordinates actions, content and proposals for individual projects, within the structure of the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism and other State agencies, social movements and civil society organizations, promoting actions that allow for maximum coordination and dissemination of anti-discrimination policies.
36. The National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism carried out the following activities, among others: (a) A civil society forum on the Children and Disabilities project: strategies to promote inclusion and protection of rights; (b) Project on mental health and discrimination; (c) Project on demands of the Argentine deaf community; (d) Project on jobs for persons with disabilities; (e) Juegoteca ambulante-TGD (mobile playground) for persons with general developmental disabilities; (f) Project on collection of data on disability and work.
37. The Institute has an office with the rank of directorate which provides assistance and advice to victims of discrimination. This office provides comprehensive advisory services free of charge to persons or groups who have suffered discrimination and to victims of xenophobia or racism. It reviews statements from individuals and complaints of discrimination and violations of the principle of equality and human rights abuse.
38. Among other duties, this directorate: (a) Works to promote rapid conflict resolution; (b) Drafts opinions and decisions; (c) Prepares technical reports.
Rapid conflict resolution
39. Interventions in this area are aimed at expediting efforts to end situations involving discrimination or vulnerability; accordingly, it advises on containment measures, provides guidance and arranges for good offices and referrals.
Opinions and decisions
40. When the Institute has concluded an investigation of an administrative case involving a complaint of discrimination, an opinion is drafted. This consists of a report based on the evidence considered during the investigation and the relevant legislation. In its report, the Institute states its conclusion as to whether or not there has been discriminatory behaviour or omission that violates Act No. 23592 on discriminatory acts.
41. Among others, the following reports on cases of discrimination based on disability have been issued: (a) Discrimination against a blind person cashing a check at a bank; (b) Discrimination based on hearing disability against a client of a bank; (c) Refusal to allow entry to a pensioners’ centre owing to disability of the person’s daughter; (d) Refusal to issue a free pass on public transport to a girl with a disability; (e) Refusal to admit a person with a physical disability to a dance hall; (f) Discriminatory insults towards a woman with mental disability.
Technical reports
42. Technical reports are issued in response to specific requests for an opinion made by an individual, a judicial bodies or another public or private entity. In such cases, the Institute intervenes solely as a consultative body issuing an opinion based on the information provided by the person making the request and the applicable legislation.
43. The Institute has issued the following technical reports on discrimination based on disability: (a) 006/09 — Refusal to build a ramp in the building where the person lives; (b) 029/09 — Discriminatory news report on the capacities of persons with disabilities.
44. The organizational structure of the first and second operational levels of the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights was approved by decree No. 1755/2008 (published in Boletín Oficial on 28 October 2008). Accordingly, the Human Rights Secretariat of the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights includes the following: the Under Secretariat for Protection of Human Rights, the Under-Secretariat for Promotion of Human Rights, the National Memory Archive, the National Commission on the Right to an Identity, the Federal Human Rights Council and the National Human Rights Plan (decree No. 696/2010). Its decentralized agency is the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism.
45. Within the Under-Secretariat for Promotion of Human Rights, the National Directorate of Services to Vulnerable Groups is responsible for drawing up and proposing policies for providing services to vulnerable groups and protecting their human rights in areas relating to bioethics and genetics, and supervising, implementing and coordinating specific actions.
46. The National Directorate has the following duties, among others: (a) To plan and coordinate actions aimed at protecting the human rights of vulnerable groups, including, when appropriate, temporary affirmative action measures; (b) To ensure that national and international norms guaranteeing human rights and fundamental freedoms are effectively applied, bearing in mind the situation of vulnerable groups, including indigents, children and adolescents, migrants, persons with disabilities and older persons; (c) To participate in planning, implementing and monitoring human rights policies relating to political, civil, economic, social, cultural and collective rights, with a view to adopting immediate protection measures and optimizing the allocation of resources for this purpose; (d) To receive complaints on human rights violations, establish a mechanism for urgent action and follow-up, and propose suitable protection measures to deal with the issue in question; (e) To coordinate activities designed to encourage citizens to participate in the enforcement of economic, social, cultural and collective rights, particularly among vulnerable groups; (f) To assist the Under-Secretary for Protection of Human Rights in the development of programmes for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and similar programmes for persons affected by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable groups, based on the principle of non-discrimination.
47. The aforementioned activities are carried out in coordination with the different areas of the Secretariat and the Ministry, bearing in mind the competencies of each agency in regard to the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. The Secretariat’s programmes are based on the principle that the issue of disability must be dealt with from a human rights perspective and that its action is needed because of the existence of specific violations of the human rights of persons with disabilities, including different types of discrimination.
48. The National Human Rights Programme was created by decree No. 696/2010 of 14 May 2010. The Programme carries out three priority lines of action based on article 5, Equality and non-discrimination, providing guarantees for access to rights and social inclusion, it being understood that human rights are universal and interdependent, and are part of a harmonious system which guarantees and protects the person’s life as dignified, free and autonomous.
49. The General Directorate for Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship is responsible for identifying, developing and proposing plans, programmes, projects and objectives pertaining to foreign policy in the area of human rights and to present Argentine human rights policy in relevant international agencies, bodies and special committees.
50. The General Directorate also considers participates in the study of ways to bring existing legislation in line with international commitments in the area of human rights and in the signing and conclusion of treaties.
51. This body represents the Argentine Republic at the sessions of all human rights agencies of the United Nations and the Organization of American States.
52. In March 2010, at the suggestion of the Argentine expert serving on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the General Directorate of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Advisory Commission on the Integration of Persons with Disabilities issued a nationwide call for applications, with the participation of civil society organizations.
2. Office of the Ombudsperson
53. The Office of the Ombudsperson was created by Act No. 24284, of 1 December 1993.
54. The Office of the Ombudsperson does not receive instructions from any area of Government. Its mandate is to protect the rights and interests of individuals and of the community from acts, actions or omissions of the national public administration.
55. Its duties include initiating, ex officio or upon request, investigations aimed at clarifying acts of the public administration that might constitute violations of such rights and interests, including the general or collective interests.
56. Another measure designed to guarantee non-discrimination is Act No. 26522 on Audio-visual Communication Services. In article 70, this law provides that broadcasters must avoid content that promotes or encourages discriminatory treatment based — among other things — on disability, or which diminishes human dignity or encourages behaviour that is harmful to the environment or to the health of persons and the integrity of children or adolescents.
57. In 2009, the Discrimination in Radio and Television Observatory issued a report warning about the problem of discrimination based on gender, on disabilities and on physical appearance in the television program Showmatch. Bailando por un sueño/Patinando por un sueño.
58. The Regulatory Authority is working to eradicate stereotypes and prejudice in the media; to this end, it has published a set of guidelines entitled “Pautas de Estilo Periodístico sobre Discapacidad” (see annex). This guidebook is being distributed in universities, NGOs and other settings to raise awareness and provide information on the proper use of language. The Regulatory Authority also provides information on new communication technologies and the feasibility of using them.
59. The Federal Audio-visual Communications Services Authority, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses and other public agencies are working together to raise awareness and sensitize the public so as to ensure that the data on persons with disabilities in the national census of 2010 is as accurate as possible.