Argentina

Argentina is a country on the southern cone of South America, which obtained its independence from Spain in 1816. Argentina is a federal republic with an established constitution, an elected two chamber Congress and an elected president acting as head of state.

A majority Catholic nation (62.9%), the non-religiously affiliated account for approximately 18.9% of the population as of 2019.

Constitution and government Education and children’s rights Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals Freedom of expression advocacy of humanist values
There is systematic religious privilege
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general
There is an established church or state religion
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of belief
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
State-funding of religious institutions or salaries, or discriminatory tax exemptions
There is state funding of at least some religious schools
Religious schools have powers to discriminate in admissions or employment
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
Discriminatory prominence is given to religious bodies, traditions or leaders
Religious groups control some public or social services
Official symbolic deference to religion
Some concerns about political or media freedoms, not specific to the non-religious
Constitution and government
There is systematic religious privilege
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general
There is an established church or state religion
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of belief
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
State-funding of religious institutions or salaries, or discriminatory tax exemptions
Official symbolic deference to religion
Education and children’s rights
There is state funding of at least some religious schools
Religious schools have powers to discriminate in admissions or employment
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals
Discriminatory prominence is given to religious bodies, traditions or leaders
Religious groups control some public or social services
Freedom of expression advocacy of humanist values
Some concerns about political or media freedoms, not specific to the non-religious
Use of Conscientious Objection clauses resulting in the denial of lawful services to women and LGBTI+ people
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in all or most state-funded schools with no secular or humanist alternative
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: Kazakhstan

The state is secular, with separation of religious and political authorities, not discriminating against any religion or belief
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report
No fundamental restrictions on freedom of expression or advocacy of humanist values
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

No condition holds in this strand
No condition holds in this strand

Countries: Andorra

No condition holds in this strand
Religious courts or tribunals rule directly on some family or ‘moral’ matters; it is legally an opt-in system, but the possibility of social coercion is very clear
No condition holds in this strand

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

Localised or infrequent but recurring and widespread social marginalisation or prejudice against the non-religious

This condition is unusual in that it is applied in cases where there is some social discrimination, but it is not pervasive or nationwide. This condition is applied when there is sufficient background evidence to warrant the assertion that discrimination is not anomalous but widespread, and this condition may be applied for example even where if there is no legislative discrimination or where the non-religious may have legal recourse against such discrimination. However, societal discrimination (i.e. discrimination by peers, as opposed to state or legal discrimination) is not easily measured, and for this reason the Report does not currently have similar more severe boundary conditions to capture higher levels of social discrimination per se. In principle these may be introduced in future. However, we consider that countries with actual higher levels of social discrimination against the non-religious will generally already meet other higher level (more severe) boundary conditions under this thematic strand.

Countries: Botswana, Greece, Serbia, United States of America

The dominant influence of religion in public life undermines the right to equality and/or non-discrimination

Applied when the influence of religion on public life undermines others’ rights, such as SRHR, women’s rights, LGBTI+ rights.

May be applied when the influence is overt (i.e. when religious laws are applied to undermine others’ rights) or covert (i.e. where religious pressure groups exert influence to affect policy)

Countries: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Croatia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eswatini, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Liberia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Oman, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Zambia

The non-religious are persecuted socially or there are prohibitive social taboos against atheism, humanism or secularism
Complete tyranny precludes all freedoms of expression and thought, religion or belief

Applied when overriding acts of oppression by the State are extreme, to the extent that the question of freedom of thought and expression is almost redundant, because all human rights and freedoms are quashed by authorities.

Countries: North Korea

Expression of core Humanist principles on democracy, freedom and human rights is brutally repressed
Expression of non-religious views is severely persecuted, or is rendered almost impossible by severe social stigma, or is highly likely to be met with hatred or violence
There is significant social marginalisation of the non-religious or stigma associated with expressing atheism, humanism or secularism
Religious or ideological indoctrination is utterly pervasive in schools
There is a nominal state church with few privileges or progress is being made toward disestablishment

Countries: Bulgaria, Norway, Peru, Rwanda

The non-religious are barred from some government offices (including posts reserved for particular religions or sects)
‘Apostasy’ is outlawed and punishable with a prison sentence

Countries: Bahrain, Comoros, Jordan, Kuwait

‘Apostasy’ or conversion from a specific religion is outlawed and punishable by death
Some religious courts rule in civil or family matters on a coercive or discriminatory basis
Religious authorities have supreme authority over the state

Countries: Iran

State legislation is partly derived from religious law or by religious authorities
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general

This condition is applied where there are miscellaneous indicators that organs of the state offer various forms of support for a religion, or to religion in general over non-religious worldviews, suggesting a preference for those beliefs, or that the organs of that religion are privileged.

Countries: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Tunisia, Turkey, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

There is a pattern of impunity or collusion in violence by non-state actors against the nonreligious
State-funded schools provide religious education which may be nominally comprehensive but is substantively biased or borderline confessional
Religious or ideological instruction in a significant number of schools is of a coercive fundamentalist or extremist variety

This condition highlights countries where schools subject children to fundamentalist religious instruction with no real opportunity to question fundamentalist tenets, or where lessons routinely encourage hatred (for example religious or ethnic hatred). The wording “significant number of schools” is not given a rigid quantification (sometimes the worst-offending schools are unregistered, illegal, or otherwise uncounted); however the condition is not applied in cases where only a small number of schools meet the description and may be anomalous, as opposed to being indicative of a widespread problem.

Countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

State legislation is largely or entirely derived from religious law or by religious authorities
Anomalous discrimination by local or provincial authorities, or overseas territories
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
‘Blasphemy’ or criticism of religion is outlawed and punishable by death
Government figures or state agencies openly marginalize, harass, or incite hatred or violence against the non-religious
Government authorities push a socially conservative, religiously or ideologically inspired agenda, without regard to the rights of those with progressive views
It is illegal to advocate secularism or church-state separation, or such advocacy is suppressed
Prohibitive interreligious social control (including interreligious marriage bans)
Quasi-divine veneration of a ruling elite is enforced, or a single-party regime holds uncontested power, subject to severe punishment
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of belief
It is illegal to register an explicitly Humanist, atheist, secularist or other non-religious NGO or other human rights organization, or such groups are persecuted by authorities
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
The non-religious are barred from holding government office
Some concerns about children's right to specifically religious freedom

This condition may apply if specifically religious education, religious materials, or specific religious denominations are so tightly controlled that children are in fact over-protected from exposure to religion and are likely unable to explore or construct their own worldview in accordance with their evolving capacities. This condition helps us to classify states (perhaps with secular constitutions) which have criminalized specifically religious beliefs or practices. This condition is not applied if the restricted beliefs or practices are found to be outlawed due to their being of an extremist variety. While this condition does not directly reflect discrimination against non-religious persons or non-religious ideas, it does represent an overall threat to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief; such restrictions could spill over to affect non-religious beliefs later; and they pose a risk of backlash against over-zealous secular authorities or even against non-religious individuals by association.

Countries: China, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guyana, Italy, Kazakhstan, Laos, Madagascar, Mexico, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe

It is illegal or unrecognised to identify as an atheist or as non-religious
It is made difficult to register or operate an explicitly Humanist, atheist, secularist or other non-religious NGO or other human rights organization
Legend
 
Systemic Discrimination
Mostly Satisfactory
More information about rating table

Constitution and government

The national legal framework of Argentina guarantees equality and freedom of conscience. Specifically, Articles 14 and 20 of Argentina’s Constitution[ref]https://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/BDL/2001/0039.pdf (in Spanish)[/ref] guarantee both its citizens and foreigners, respectively, freedom of conscience, among other rights.

A series of constitutional reforms over the last century have systematically sought to disentangle religion (particularly Catholicism) from the state. Most recently, in 1994, an obligation of the president and vice-president to be Roman Apostolic Catholics was removed. However,there continues to exist an invocation to God within the preamble and reference to God in Article 19, which states, “The private actions of men that in no way offend order and public morals, or harm a third party, are reserved to God only, and exempt from the authority of the magistrates. No inhabitant of the Nation will be forced to do what the law does not command, nor deprived of what it does not prohibit.” Today, such references may be understood to represent a writing style typical of the time that the Constitution was enacted.

Article 75, paragraph 22, incorporates into national legislation all the international human rights declarations and conventions that guarantee equality and freedom of conscience and beliefs ratified by Argentina. These treaties include but are not limited to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and the American Convention on Human Rights.

Preferential treatment of the Catholic Church

Despite the above, Article 2 of the Constitution states that “the federal government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.” Law 21,745 requires all religious organisations other than the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church to register with the authorities in order to register publicly.[ref]http://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/65000-69999/65159/norma.htm; https://www.argentina.gob.ar/normativa/nacional/resoluci%C3%B3n-2092-2005-110363/texto[/ref] Once registered, they receive tax-exempt status.[ref] argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/church-state-argentina-long-road-secularism/[/ref]

Since the last civic-military-ecclesiastical dictatorship (1976-1983), through decrees and laws that are still in force, the government guarantees that the Argentine Episcopal Conference receives annual funds for salaries and pensions of bishops, archbishops, and auxiliaries; salaries for border priests; travel expenses for the entire curia inside and outside the country; and scholarships for seminarians. It is also a common practice for provincial and municipal governments to allocate funds to restore Catholic churches, assign properties free of charge and for an indefinite time to the church, and even donate properties.

Argentina has a chaplaincy system for the Armed Forces creating the Military Vicariate or Military Bishopric established in 1957 between the state and the Holy See. The Military Bishopric seeks to provide spiritual assistance to the military, and, since its establishment, hundreds of priests have served as chaplains, collecting official state salaries. In 2019, former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) increased the salary of the military bishops to be equivalent to an undersecretary of state.[ref]https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/206717/20190502[/ref]

More recently, President Alberto Fernández, (2019-2023) invited Pope Francis to intervene in the negotiations with Wall Street bondholders to restructure the 60,000 million dollars of Argentina’s external debt.[ref]https://www.infobae.com/politica/2020/08/08/alberto-fernandez-hablo-con-el-papa-francisco-y-agradecio-su-apoyo-en-la-negociacion-con-los-bonistas-de-wall-street/?outputType=amp-type[/ref]

Belief Demographics

According to the 2019 National Survey on Beliefs and Religious Attitudes conducted by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas – CONICET)[ref]http://www.ceil-conicet.gov.ar/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ii25-2encuestacreencias.pdf[/ref], 18.9% of Argentinians identify as not religiously affiliated, which positions nonreligious people as the second-largest group in the country only below Catholics. Within this number, 3.2% identify as agnostics, 6% as atheists, and 9.7% as non-religious.

The survey shows that between 2008 and 2019, the number of Catholics in the country has decreased from 76.5% to 62.9% although it remains as the majority group in the country. Correspondingly, non-religious affiliated people jumped to 18.9% of the population compared with 11.3% in 2008 followed by the number of Evangelicals, which increased to 15.3% compared with 9.0% in 2008.

Education and children’s rights

The right to education is understood broadly to include the right to teach and learn, as well as the right to freedom of conscience of teachers, parents, guardians, boys and girls. It is protected under several legal sources, including international treaties, the national Constitution, and each of the 22 provincial Constitutions that address education differently. 

According to Fernando Lozada, Co-director and speaker of the International Association of Free Thought of Argentina, in provinces, such as Chaco, Entre Río, Neuquén, Río Negro, Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, South Atlantic Islands, and Mendoza public education is explicitly secular. At the same time, in Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Formosa, Jujuy, La Rioja, Misiones, San Luis, Santa Cruz,  Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, there is no legal authorization to teach religious education in public schools and the right to freedom of conscience of the student and their parents is constitutionally promoted. Finally, other provinces, such as Catamarca, Chubut, Córdoba, La Pampa, and San Juan allow optional religious education. 

In 2017, Argentina’s Supreme Court of Justice in the case Castillo, Carina Viviana and others C/ Province of Salta v. Ministry of Education of the Prov. of Salta ruled that the province of Salta’s provision of religious education within class hours in state schools was unconstitutional. Instead, it established that religious education can only be carried out outside of school hours.[ref]http://www.saij.gob.ar/corte-suprema-justicia-nacion-federalciudad-autonoma-buenos-aires-castillo-carina-viviana-otros-provincia-saltaministerio-educacion-prov-salta-amparo-fa17000058-2017-12-12/123456789-850-0007-1ots-eupmocsollaf[/ref]

Under Law 26,206 of 2006, education is a public asset, and an individual and social right guaranteed by the state. Article 6 “officially recognized religious confessions” among the institutions responsible for such service. Similarly, Article 63 points out that “the Catholic Church, the religious confessions registered in the National Registry of Worship hall have the right to provide these services; alongside societies, cooperatives, social organizations, unions, associations, foundations, and companies with legal status.”[ref]http://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/120000-124999/123542/texact.htm[/ref]

Law 26,150 of 2006 created the National Program for Comprehensive Sexual Education, which establishes that students have the right to receive comprehensive sexual education in state and private establishments at the national, provincial, and municipal levels.[ref]http://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/120000-124999/121222/norma.htm[/ref]

Family, community and society

Argentina has in place laws that secure some degree of equality among its people.

LGBTQ+ rights

In 2010, despite strong opposition from the Catholic and Evangelical Churches, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. The law grants same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities enjoyed by heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt children.[ref]https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/gay-marriage-around-the-world/#argentina[/ref]

Two years later in 2012, Congress enacted Law 26,743 known as the “Gender identity law.”  The law emphasizes the right to be treated according to one’s gender identity, as well as the right to modify one’s name, photo ID, and registered sex in official documents without additional paperwork.[ref]https://www.argentina.gob.ar/justicia/derechofacil/leysimple/identidad-de-genero[/ref]

Abortion rights

In recent years, the right to abortion has been subject to much public debate. Under current legislation, abortions are only permitted in cases of rape or when a mother’s life is in danger. However, pro-choice advocates have sought to amend the legislation.[ref]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/world/americas/argentina-abortion-laws-south-america.html[/ref] Upon the opening of parliament, President Fernández announced a move to legalize abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.[ref]https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2020/03/01/5e5c0e68fdddffec508b46b2.html; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/world/americas/abortion-argentina.html[/ref]

Freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values

Freedom of speech is generally protected in Argentina, under Articles 14 and 32 of the national Constitution, however there are some important caveats.[ref]https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/publications/argentina-current-trends-in-freedom-of-expression-jurisprudence/[/ref] However, vaguely-worded provisions in the criminal code, including ‘sedition’, make possible and have been used to prosecute human rights activists and those conducting protests, and may serve to stifle free expression.[ref]https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/argentina[/ref] The criminal code also criminalizes defamation.

Of concern to freedom of expression groups is the concentration of the media, controlled by two conglomerates.[ref] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18707517; https://freedomhouse.org/country/argentina/freedom-world/2020[/ref] However, media outlets face no official censorship.

Journalists face sporadic harassment, however, those covering discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals report frequent threats on social media.[ref]https://freedomhouse.org/country/argentina/freedom-world/2020[/ref]

Highlighted cases

In 2019, an 11-year-old girl from San Miguel de Tucumán, was reportedly prevented from having an abortion by medical personnel. The minor was allegedly raped by her grandmother’s boyfriend, and although she had stated her wish to have an abortion, medical personnel forced her to have a C-section.[ref]https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/americas/11-year-old-girl-c-section-argentina/index.html[/ref]