«Il n‘y a pas un monde développé et un monde sous-développé, mais un seul monde mal développé»
The Mapuche community of the Lof Pillañ Mahuiza (Patagonia, Argentina) announces that, with the support of CETIM, an organization holding consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a complaint has been submitted to several UN human rights protection mechanisms.
The decision to bring the case to the multilateral human rights system comes amid a particularly complex domestic context for Indigenous peoples in Argentina, marked by systemic violence and repression of social movements, as well as institutional racism. This situation limits effective guarantees for the protection of human rights and further intensifies the criminalization of Indigenous communities.
The complaint denounces human rights violations committed against the Mapuche People in Argentina, particularly in the province of Chubut, in connection with mass raids carried out in 2025 and within a broader process of criminalization, stigmatization, and regression of rights.
The referral documents the use of force during simultaneous operations targeting Mapuche communities, the forced collection of DNA samples from certain Indigenous leaders, infringement of ceremonial spaces, violations on children’s rights, as well as the judicial and media criminalization of human rights defenders and traditional authorities, including the persecution of Mapuche ancestral medicine.
It also highlights the dismantling of Indigenous institutional frameworks and the expansion of extractive projects led by transnational corporations, all carried out without free, prior and informed consultation, in violation of the Constitution of the Argentine State, ILO Convention No. 169, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Through this referral, the Lof Pillañ Mahuiza and CETIM call upon UN mechanisms to urge the Argentinian authorities to comply with their human rights obligations and to put an end to the criminalization of Indigenous struggles.
The Mapuche community of Lof Pillañ Mahuiza and CETIM reaffirm their commitment to defending the territory, life, water, and Mapuche spirituality, and calls on UN mechanisms and bodies, as well as all civil society organizations and human rights activists, to remain vigilant in the face of the grave situation experienced by Indigenous peoples in Patagonia, Argentina.
Press Contacts
Evis Millan – Lof Pillañ Mahuiza
direccion.pluriversidad@proton.me / +54 9 2945 423609
Raffaele Morgantini – CETIM Representative to the United Nations
raffaele@cetim.ch / +41 79 660 65 14
