Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina

The statement details the impact of the extractive-export mining model in Argentina, highlighting the systematic suppression of community resistance through police violence and the criminalization of protest. It asserts that mega-mining projects violate constitutional rights to water and a healthy environment, while citing specific instances of arrests and raids in provinces such as Catamarca, La Rioja, and Tucumán.

• Since the 2004 National Mining Plan, Argentina has seen an unprecedented increase in large-scale mining, with over 600 companies currently operating, primarily in the Andes mountains, facilitated by regulatory reforms and tax incentives introduced since the 1990s.
• Community opposition to mining has been met with state repression, including police violence, arrests, and the use of legal frameworks like the December 22, 2011 Terrorism Act to criminalize protest.
• The document records multiple specific incidents of state violence and arrests in 2012, including the arrest of 18 people in Santa Maria on January 27, the destruction of a camp in Belén on February 8, and violent interventions in Tinogasta on February 10 and May 12.
• Open-pit mining projects are identified as threats to the fundamental right to water for Andean communities in semi-desert areas and a violation of the constitutional right to a healthy environment under National art. 41 of the constitution.

APA

Salvatico, N., & Martinez, D. (2012). Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/mining-and-human-rights-violations-in-argentina/

Chicago

Salvatico, Natalia, and Diego Martinez. Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina. Friends of the Earth International, 2012. https://www.foei.org/mining-and-human-rights-violations-in-argentina/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Salvatico |first1=Natalia |last2=Martinez |first2=Diego |title=Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=11 September 2012 |url=https://www.foei.org/mining-and-human-rights-violations-in-argentina/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{salvatico2012mining, author = {Salvatico, Natalia and Martinez, Diego}, title = {{Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2012}, month = sep, url = {https://www.foei.org/mining-and-human-rights-violations-in-argentina/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }