Argentina Enabling Environment Snapshot

Period covered: October 2025 to January 2026

Argentine civil society has a distinguished history of participation in democratic development, particularly in the defence of human rights and fundamental civil liberties following the last civil-military dictatorship of 1976–1983. This history of active participation represents a recent record of an enabling environment that has come under strain since the La Libertad Avanza government took office in December 2023.

Since then, the enabling environment for civil society in Argentina has deteriorated significantly: even during the election campaign, a narrative was promoted to discredit multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and its 2030 Agenda, as well as political parties, trade unions, social movements and civil society organisations (CSOs). Once in power, this was consolidated by the lack of institutional mechanisms for dialogue with social organisations, undermining their meaningful participation in public affairs. At the same time, the restrictive bias deepened through security policies that expanded the monitoring of demonstrators and the registration of organisations, raising concerns about possible violations of fundamental rights. Furthermore, the implementation of structural reforms stemming from DNU 70/2023 and the ‘Framework Law’—including emergency measures, state restructuring, labour changes and the RIGI—has contributed to a more tense social climate, characterised by increased conflict, protests and a greater presence of security forces in public spaces, creating a scenario of heightened risk and hostility for civil society organisations.

This trend is also reflected at the international level, as in the government’s withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council. This decision is aimed at undermining representation within the United Nations system and, in particular, at reversing human rights policies, notably those concerning historical reparations and justice for crimes against humanity. It also has repercussions for the rights of migrants, refugees and displaced persons, and weakens the power of human rights organisations in Argentina to promote a civic culture centred on human rights and the development of state policies on Memory, Truth and Justice. 

Having reached the halfway point of its term with sufficient public support to enable structural socio-economic changes (the culmination of which was victory in the mid-term legislative elections in October 2025), the ruling party is maintaining its course with a policy characterised by the restriction of freedoms and the curtailment of rights. This is underpinned by the explicit support of the US Government, which remains (in its rhetoric and – so far – through some minor practical interventions) the guarantor of this stability.

In any case, the results of the current administration’s policies have a general impact on civil society, but particularly affect the most vulnerable sectors by reducing their purchasing power, social benefits and opportunities for advancement. Furthermore, with the aforementioned support, a phase is beginning in which the government will attempt to implement more far-reaching structural reforms that require legislative backing (i.e., no longer via emergency decrees), which – given the current composition of parliament – is more achievable.

At the time of writing, for example, a parliamentary debate is scheduled on the government’s proposed labour reform, which involves extending the working day, reducing severance pay and curtailing the right to strike, amongst other measures. Likewise, an amendment to the Glaciers Act is being pushed to promote new mining and oil extraction regimes in periglacial zones; this has sparked protests in several cities and responses of unusual violence that could foreshadow a scenario of sustained conflict in the near future.

In summary, the context presents a combination of factors that seriously undermine the enabling environment for civil society in Argentina: a lack of dialogue, restrictions on freedom of expression and protest, repression, the concentration of power, and the weakening of rights-based public policies.