A/HRC/35/41/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. At the invitation of the Government, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance visited Argentina from 16 to 23 May 2016. During the visit, the Special Rapporteur held meetings in Buenos Aires, the Province of Buenos Aires, Salta and Formosa. He met with officials, both at the federal and provincial levels, including the Minister for Justice and Human Rights, the Governors of the provinces of Formosa and Salta and the Vice President of the National Supreme Court. He also met with United Nations agencies, civil, indigenous and migrants’ communities, Afro-Argentines, representatives of the Jewish community and victims of discriminatory practices. 2. The Special Rapporteur was also granted access to the penitentiary facility of Ezeiza, where he met with prison authorities and detainees. 3. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Government for its cooperation in the preparation and conduct of the visit. He also addresses his sincere gratitude to the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator, civil society organizations and communities that travelled from remote parts of the provinces to meet with him. 4. The Special Rapporteur notes with appreciation that Argentina has a legal and institutional framework to address issues of discrimination but is alarmed that, in spite of the many recommendations issued by various human rights mechanisms, the situation remains dire for historically marginalized groups. He hopes that, by adopting his conclusions and recommendations, the Government can effectively address the prolonged severe situation of certain population groups, especially indigenous peoples. II. General background 5. Prior to Colonization in the sixteenth century, the population of Argentina had been composed of indigenous peoples. Buenos Aires was founded in 1580, by the overflow from the neighbouring Spanish colonies. Argentina has always been the country in South America with the broadest migration history and remains the country with the greatest number of immigrants in the region. Historically, immigrants arrived from Europe and from neighbouring Latin American countries, mainly Chile, Paraguay, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Uruguay and Peru. A significant number of African slaves were also brought to Argentina. In 1810, black people represented one third of the population of Buenos Aires.1 These historical facts are important in understanding the current fabric of the Argentine society but also the history of inclusion and exclusion in the country. 6. Indeed, the history of discrimination and xenophobia in Argentina can be traced back to the country’s beginnings. The Argentine identity has been built on the negation or the subordination of minority groups. In the process of the construction of the State, there has been a tendency to homogenize by failing to recognize certain groups, such as indigenous peoples or Afrodescendants, which translated into the suppression of the expression of their cultures and languages and ultimately their invisibility in society. Indigenous peoples and people of African descent were framed as being in a stage of very primitive “evolution”, a perception in line with the racist ideology of that time. They were viewed as outsiders to the country’s aspiration to build a “model European civilized society”. 7. Nation-building in Argentina was based on a Eurocentric vision that glorified the idea of the educated, white European immigrant, as contained in the 1853 Constitution. The cultural, social and economic contributions of historic migration waves is undeniable, and the idea that Argentina is the “Europe of Latin America” became deeply ingrained in the country’s ideal and persists today. 1 See Government of Buenos Aires, Bicentenario: 1810-2010: Memorias de un país (Buenos Aires, 2010), https://cen7.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/bicentenario.pdf. 3