President Javier Milei’s government will supposedly withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council because the body has not condemned Hamas as a “terrorist” organisation.
Buenos Aires is anticipating its departure by opting not to seek re-election for its current mandate — an indirect way of accelerating its retreat. This move would reflect a policy of alignment with Washington, which is similarly choosing not to seek re-election for its mandate in 2026, when its term also ends.
The term “terrorist” or “terrorism” is not used within the UN Human Rights Council's system for the protection and promotion of human rights, as there is no internationally agreed definition for the term. A global conference should be held in order to define the crime and establish a binding international convention. The European Union attempted such an initiative among its 27 member states, but later abandoned the project.
“Terrorism” is also not included among the crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was founded in 1998. The ICC recognises genocide, crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forced population transfers, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty, torture, enforced disappearance), war crimes and the crime of aggression, which was added in 2017 through the “Kampala Amendment.” Similarly, “terrorism” is not addressed by the International Court of Justice, the UN’s judicial body, which deals with disputes between states unrelated to the specific conflict concerning Israel and Hamas.
The issue of “terrorism” has also led to disagreements in international journalism, creating a row over how to classify ‘Hamas’. The BBC initially refrained from labelling it a terrorist group “for reasons of impartiality.” The New York Times was criticised for relying on Hamas sources without thorough fact-checking. El País in Madrid refers to it as an “organisation or movement” composed of ‘militants’ that act “as a political agent controlling and governing Gaza.” Spain’s EFE news agency describes it as an “Islamist group.”
For its part, the AFP news agency prohibits the use of the term terrorist for Hamas and other groups such as Al-Qaeda, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Islamic State, ETA and FARC.
The agency argues that its role is to determine whether the group in question “appears on the terrorist organisation lists of the European Union and the United States.” It cites authorities when they label individuals as “terrorists” and provides detailed descriptions, referring instead to “armed men planting bombs, taking hostages, carrying out suicide attacks, or hijacking planes” — terms that are deemed neutral and more precise.
Each country is free to enact legislation defining and punishing “terrorism,” as there is no universal definition for the crime. However, over time, the UN has produced “19 conventions and protocols” on “specific terrorist acts.” These include hostage-taking, attacks, the financing of terrorism, unlawful seizure of aircraft and protection of nuclear materials. These matters fall under the responsibility of a United Nations Special Rapporteur, who is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor counter-terrorism efforts.
The fifth part of Article 41 of Argentina’s Penal Code was incorporated through Law 27.739, enacted on March 14, 2024, strengthened existing legislation regarding the prevention and punishment of money-laundering, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Among other provisions, it establishes harsher penalties for crimes committed”‘with the aim of terrorising the population or coercing national public authorities, foreign governments, or international organisation officials into taking or refraining from certain actions,” doubling minimum and maximum sentences for such crimes.
Thus, Argentina’s national legislation incorporates the definitions of terrorist acts outlined in various international regulations and increases the penalties for crimes committed with the specified terrorist intent. For instance, if a crime carries a sentence of two months to two years in prison, the sentence would hence range from a minimum of four months to a maximum of four years. Due to internal debates over its wording, it was ultimately decided that the law “shall not apply to acts committed in the course of exercising human and/or social rights, or any constitutional rights.”
Criticisms surrounding Argentina’s eventual unforced disappearance from the UN Human Rights Council are based on the fact that Israel has received, indecent years, more condemnatory resolutions than Venezuela and Nicaragua. From 2018 onwards, Caracas faced 7 and Managua 5 as of 2019. In both cases, international accountability mechanisms were created to investigate serious human rights violations, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity.
The criticisms circulating that hint at the eventual unforced disappearance of Argentina from the UN Human Rights Council are based on the fact that Israel has received, in the immediate past, more condemnatory resolutions than Venezuela or Nicaragua. Since 2018, Caracas has faced seven and since 2019, Managua five. In both cases, international accountability mechanisms were created to investigate serious human rights violations, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity.
The number of resolutions passed regarding Israel exceeds those concerning Latin America. UN investigations into the Middle East date back to 1967, following the Six-Day War, when Israel annexed Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. At the time, the UN Human Rights Commission, which was later restructured into the Human Rights Council in 2006, was responsible for such matters. Since then, 99 percent of the resolutions adopted have addressed countries in the Global South. Among the most scrutinised are the dictatorships in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Libya, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Belarus and Russia, to name a few.
Regarding the Middle East, resolutions passed by the UN Rights Council are not “against” Israel but rather in favour of the human rights of the Palestinian people. In some cases, they also acknowledge violations committed by Hamas through missile attacks on Israel. When faced with human rights violations, the UN establishes protection mechanisms composed of independent experts, who are not UN employees and do not receive salaries — only travel allowances for their missions. They act according to their conscience, reside in their home countries, and travel to Geneva to present their reports publicly, which are then debated by the council in order to adopt measures that promote public freedoms and individual rights.
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