As delivered by Jesse Bernstein
Delegation of the United States of America
28th Session
Geneva, November 6, 2017
The United States warmly welcomes the Argentine delegation.
We commend the National Women’s Council for developing the first National Action Plan to reduce femicides and violence against women, but observe problems in protection of women and data collection.
We applaud the National Mechanism for Prevention of Torture, but note it has been implemented in only five of 23 provinces and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. We remain troubled by reports of ongoing torture in prisons and detention centers, as well as poor conditions, violence and overcrowding.
We commend Argentina’s efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, and its ratification of the 2014 Protocol to ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labor. Nonetheless, some children continue to perform dangerous tasks in agriculture and in the worst forms of child labor, including commercial sex exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking. Employers continue to subject men, women, and children to human trafficking with the purpose of forced labor.
The United States, therefore, recommends the following:
- Ensure government entities budget more resources to implement the National Action Plan to reduce violence against women, increase support and legal protection for victims, and improve national data collection.
- Improve treatment of prisoners by encouraging provinces to implement the National Mechanism to Prevent Torture, increasing training for police and prison officials, and addressing overcrowding.
- Ensure child labor law enforcement and investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenses and publish key labor and law enforcement data on child labor.
(end statement)