SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE According to figures collected by NGOs, 308 gender-based killings were recorded in 2023, 62% of them in domestic settings. The latest official data showed that the number of hate crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation had increased to 129 in 2022. At the end of the year, limited results had emerged from the ongoing investigation into the disappearance and possible femicide of 28-year-old Cecilia Strzyzowski in the city of Resistencia in Chaco province.1 Sofía Inés Fernández, a 40-year-old transgender woman, was found dead in a police station cell in the town of Derqui, where she had been detained having been accused of robbery. The accused police officers claimed that she died by suicide, but the preliminary autopsy revealed asphyxia as the cause of death. By the end of the year no one was charged over her death. In October, Congress approved a bill incorporating violence in digital environments into the definition of violence against women. The law provided for precautionary protection measures, including the power of judges to order digital platforms to remove violent content. By the end of the year, the cases of two journalists, who had filed complaints with the courts after experiencing online harassment and violence, remained pending. Between 2020 and 2021, 3,219 cases of child sexual abuse were registered, of which 74.2% of victims had been abused by someone in their close environment. SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Significant obstacles persisted in accessing abortion services, despite a 2020 law legalizing abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. According to the National Ministry of Health, from approval of the law up to October 2023, the public health sector had registered 245,015 abortions. No official data was available on the number of abortions in the private sector, in a context in which 57% of the population use private healthcare. According to official data released in 2023, at least 1,394 children aged under 15 gave The State of the World’s Human Rights birth in 2021. Despite a decrease in pregnancies among children and adolescents aged between 10 and 19 between 2016 and 2021, more than 46,236 people in this age group gave birth during 2021. EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE In May, the CERD Committee highlighted the persistence of racial profiling in the abusive use of force by security forces, particularly against Indigenous Peoples, migrants, refugees and marginalized groups. There were no significant advances in the investigation into the 2020 torture and death of Mauro Coronel in police detention in the province of Santiago del Estero. No one was charged over his death.2 In August, one of six police officers accused of killing 16-year-old Joaquín Paredes was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Cruz del Eje in the province of Córdoba. Joaquín and his friends had been celebrating a birthday in the street during Covid-19 isolation measures, when police shot them. RIGHT TO PRIVACY TikTok, which had more than 16.5 million users in the country in 2023, failed to guarantee children’s rights to privacy and health. The social media platform’s extraction of personal data was not deactivated and geo-localization was used despite a lack of authorization by the user. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND ASSEMBLY Protests in the face of a reform to the constitution of Jujuy province adopted on 15 June were reportedly met with excessive and unlawful use of force.3 Joel Paredes suffered the loss of his right eye as a result of a rubber bullet fired by the Jujuy police. The reform restricted the right to protest and Indigenous Peoples’ exercise of consultation, participation and territorial ownership. Dozens of protesters were arbitrarily detained and criminalized, including Alberto Nallar, a human rights lawyer, charged with sedition and other offences. Sedition is a charge used unlawfully to criminalize dissent. 81