IACHR concludes complaint about pregnant women hiding in Formosa mountains to be false

“In its resolution, the IACHR recognizes that the factual framework that it had assessed for issuing provisional measures was not verified during the international process. In other words, that the very serious complaint filed by the indigenous leader Félix Díaz and Santiago Cantón did not demonstrate specific situations of pregnant women who did not have adequate medical care, who were hiding in the mountains out of fear. , threats or harassment against them, or even less that there were cases of babies separated from their mother at birth “, is recorded in a press release issued by the Human Rights Secretariat.

The Commission also questioned “the applicants’ lack of cooperation in providing precise information which would allow the women they were supposedly seeking to protect to be identified”, and positively appreciated “the effort made by the State to check if there was a person who was not receiving the corresponding medical care ”.

In its decision, the IACHR observes that “the (Argentinian) State has provided a document referring to the health care that the beneficiaries received during their pregnancy, if applicable”.

And she observes that the complainants have not provided “any documentary support which would indicate that, even after their pregnancy, the beneficiaries are at risk”. In this sense, the resolution maintains “no information has been provided which indicates, for example, that the state has refused them health care or that the health care they are currently receiving would not be appropriate or effective according to what the competent doctors prescribe. “

“Although the representation (the complainants) continued to claim that there are ‘fear’, ‘threats’, ‘persecution’, among others, the Commission does not note specific information concerning each of the seven women beneficiaries. which indicate, for example, a concrete or sustained threat against them, or the inaction of the State to provide them with medical care, or that medical care has been refused because of their current situation ”, indicates the text of the IACHR.

And it was noted that “the information available does not indicate that the state has refused to offer them any kind of protection in the event that such situations do eventually arise”.

“On the contrary, – insists the inter-American body – the information available indicates that pregnant women have given birth and there is no evidence that there was hostility or aggression during the birthing process or similar situations such as those reported. by representation. before the granting of protective measures “

The international complaint began on March 12, 2021, with a request for provisional measures signed by the indigenous leader Félix Díaz and the former secretary for Human Rights of the province of Buenos Aires during the administration of María Eugenia Vidal and former Executive Secretary of the IACHR, Santiago Cantón, on behalf of some 86 indigenous women in western Formosa, who “experienced a well-founded fear of various humiliations”.

However, in its resolution of April 16, the IACHR had already ruled out the existence of “a pattern of forced Caesarean sections, separation of mothers from their children and other similar allegations, thus discrediting the complaints related to the generalization. human rights. violations. in Formosa “.

The entity granted the protection measure to seven women, “without even allowing the State to offer any defense as to the veracity of the assertion and without knowing their names and their precise location before the pronouncement of the decision. “, Said sources from the Human Rights Secretariat

Through the resolution of July 11, the IACHR stressed that after evaluating the information provided by the state, it was also not verified “any specific threat or lack of medical care in the case of the seven indigenous women. on which the measure was granted “. , and that is why he decided to close the international process.

“After an exhaustive process which required several reports prepared by the authorities of Formosa and the Secretariat for Human Rights, among other national organizations, such as the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs, the IACHR yesterday published a resolution by which it decided to lift the precautionary measures it had issued on April 16, ”said official spokespersons.