Publications

Les femmes incarcérées en Argentine

29 mai 2013

Cette étude révèle que 55,75% des femmes incarcérées en Argentine avait été accusées ou reconnues coupables d'infractions relatives à la drogue.Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

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In many countries around the world, including Argentina, the number of women who aredeprived of their liberty has risen over time and has increased disproportionately in com parison to male prisoners. In Argentina, the number of female prisoners within the federal system increased 193%, while the male population rose 111% from 1990 to 2012. Nonetheless, little research has been done to understand why there has been such a dramatic increase in women’s incarceration. At the same time, international and domestic laws governing prisons and prison policies and practices have traditionally been designed for men. In 2010, however, the United Nations adopted the first international standards relating specifically to women prisoners – the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Female Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (Bangkok Rules).

The Bangkok Rules specifically call for research to be conducted on (among other things) the causes of women’s imprisonment, the characteristics of women in prison, and the impact on children. This Report focuses particularly on the causes and conditions of women’s imprisonment, and consequences for children of incarcerated mothers in Argentina. This study found that 55.75% of the women surveyed through our General Prison PopulationSurvey had been accused or convicted of drug crimes. The global “war on drugs”serves to explain, in part, the significant (and disproportionate) increase in rates of femaleimprisonment within Argentina’s SPF, as well as in other South American countries moregenerally. As part of the “war on drugs,” the United States pressured Latin Americancountries to increasingly prosecute and target drug crimes. 9 Argentina also adopted stricterdrug laws but, like other countries in South America, Argentina’s enforcement of anti-drug-trafficking laws has not successfully addressed the higher levels of organized drugtrafficking. Rather, enforcement disproportionately targets lower-level crimes, in whichwomen are usually the main participants.

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