grass for cattle grazing, and burial sites; 19 families had been expelled from the land and forced into vagrancy with diminishing access to food and water. ARGENTINA Argentine Republic Head of state and government: Mauricio Macri Women and girls faced obstacles in accessing legal abortions. Indigenous Peoples continued to be criminalized and discriminated against. Migrants’ rights suffered significant setbacks. BACKGROUND Argentina’s human rights situation was reviewed under the UN UPR process and by the UN Committee against Torture. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), the UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity and the Rapporteur on Argentina for the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights visited Argentina during the year. In November, Congress approved the national law on gender parity. SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS Women and girls continued to encounter barriers to accessing legal abortion when the pregnancy posed a risk to their health, or when it resulted from rape. Full decriminalization of abortion was pending in parliament. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN According to civil society information, at least 254 femicides occurred between January and November. The National Women's Institute and the National Plan of Action for the Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of Violence against Women for 2017-2019 appeared to lack the necessary resources to be fully implemented. 76 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS The majority of Indigenous communities still lacked legal recognition of their land rights, despite the Constitution recognizing their right to ancestral lands and natural resources. In January, local police and members of the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA) – a militarized federal police – closed off all access points to the Indigenous land inhabited by the Mapuche community Pu Lof en Resistencia in Chubut province. The community reported attacks by the police, including beatings and intimidation of children.1 At least 10 community members and their supporters were arrested. In August the GNA conducted an illegal raid in the same community, during which Santiago Maldonado – a non-Indigenous supporter of the Mapuche community – disappeared. In October his body was found in a river in the territory. The judicial investigation into his death was ongoing at the end of the year. The Neuquén provincial government, oil unions and industry created an investment plan for the Vaca Muerta oilfield, located partly on the land of the Lof Campo Maripe Indigenous community, without the community’s participation. Authorities used legal proceedings to intimidate Indigenous Peoples, including accusations of sedition, resisting authority, theft, attempted assaults and killings. Agustín Santillán, an Indigenous leader of the Wichí people in Formosa province, spent 190 days in pre-trial detention from April to October with more than 28 criminal proceedings against him. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS Bypassing parliamentary debate, the government modified the 2004 Migration Act, limiting entry and residency rights and potentially hastening deportations. The Asylum Act had not yet been fully implemented, 11 years after its adoption, and the National Committee for Refugees had no specific budget. The reception system for asylum-seekers remained slow and insufficient and there was no integration plan Amnesty International Report 2017/18