Event Summary
On 1 September 2025, the Argentine government announced that it will not present its candidacy for membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council, breaking with a tradition of more than four decades of active participation in this multilateral body.
Various human rights organizations and unions described the decision as a historic setback and a weakening of the State’s policy on Memory, Truth and Justice. While Argentina will continue to be bound by the international human rights treaties it has ratified, its absence from the Council implies a loss of influence in key debates and votes and adds to other signs of multilateral retraction, such as the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization.
The measure is framed in a context of official discourses critical of the international human rights system and multilateralism in general. In his speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2024, President Javier Milei accused the UN of imposing an “ideological agenda” on its members and promoting systematic violations of freedom during the 2020 global quarantines, going so far as to suggest that these should be considered crimes against humanity. He also questioned the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the inclusion of countries such as Cuba and Venezuela in the Human Rights Council, framing these bodies within what he called an “ideological agenda.”
These statements reinforce a climate of intolerance and delegitimization of international human rights organizations, with direct implications for Argentine civil society. Social organizations have requested hearings with the UN Human Rights Council and the IACHR regarding the attacks received in terms of labor rights, the operation of community kitchens and the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples (Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization – ILO). However, the Argentine government’s decision not to appear at the Council reduces the spaces for advocacy and international cooperation for civil society organizations (CSOs). Added to this is the obstruction or reduction of technical and financial assistance projects of agencies of the United Nations system since the arrival to power of the administration of La Libertad Avanza in December 2023.
This diplomatic setback constitutes a deterioration of the environment. While this is a foreign policy decision, the combination of withdrawal from multilateral spaces, anti-UN hate speech, and reduced CSO access to international technical and financial cooperation has worrying spillover effects on Principle 5 of the EU SEE methodology: public culture and discourse on civil society. In particular, it weakens international cooperation and erodes the ability of Argentine CSOs to influence multilateral forums and defend an enabling environment for civil society.