E/C.12/ARG/CO/3 The Committee underlines the importance of the availability of reliable and comprehensive data for the development of public policies and their implementation. It recommends that the State party take the necessary steps to make its official statistics comparable with data produced by relevant international institutions. It also recommends that the State party ensure that methodologies used and data gathered by INDEC in the course of its surveys are accessible to external users and adequately disseminated. 12. The Committee is concerned that the data provided for the Covenant rights was not presented on a comparative basis, disaggregated on an annual basis, as requested in the previous concluding observations of the Committee. The State party is requested to supply, in its next periodic report, disaggregated data for each of the Covenant rights, on an annual basis, taking into account the prohibited grounds of discrimination. 13. The Committee is concerned about instances in which security forces and agents, both public and private, resorted to reprisals and disproportionate use of force against persons participating in activities in defence of economic, social and cultural rights, in particular in the context of land disputes. The Committee urges the State party to protect social activists and human rights defenders against any form of intimidation, threat and, especially, disproportionate use of force perpetrated by security forces and agents, both public and private. It also calls on the State party to ensure that all allegations of reprisals and abuse are promptly and thoroughly investigated, and that the perpetrators are brought to justice. 14. The Committee reiterates its concern about continuing inequalities in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights between men and women, in particular in the area of employment (E/C.12/1/Add.38, para. 17) (arts. 3 and 10). The Committee urges the State party to strengthen legislative and other measures to effectively strive for the equal rights of men and women in practice, and to combat all forms of discrimination against women. In this regard, the Committee recalls its general comment No. 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation that the State party strengthen its efforts to promote gender equality in all spheres of life. With regard to employment, the Committee encourages the State party to consider legal options, capacity-building and services that would enable men and women to reconcile professional and family responsibilities. It also calls upon the State party to promote the employment of women in the formal sector of economy. 15. The Committee notes with concern the large number of workers in the informal economy in the State party and regrets that a significant percentage of them, including migrant workers, lack access to the social security system, in particular pension schemes. The Committee also expresses concern about discrimination with regard to conditions of work and minimum wages experienced in particular by outsourced (tercerizados) or temporary workers, and women in domestic work, the textile industry and the agricultural sector (arts. 6 and 7). The Committee urges the State party to continue its efforts to reduce the informal sector of the economy with a view to promoting employment in the formal sector and, in this way, ensure the full enjoyment of economic and social rights by all workers. It recommends that the State party extend the applicability of the minimum wage legislation to those sectors where it still does not apply. The Committee recommends that measures be taken to ensure the full legal protection of workers irrespective of 4