News stories by Marcela Valente, page 11

While the trials against members of the military and police for human rights abuses committed during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship move ahead, the regime’s economic crimes have also begun to come to light.

Women victims of domestic violence in a city in Argentina will be given an electronic device with a panic button that will bring them immediate assistance from the police.

For over 90 years, a law in Argentina has allowed women who become pregnant as a result of rape to have an abortion. However, hospitals often refuse to carry out the procedure, instead referring the women to the justice system.

In Latin America, Argentina spends the most on healthcare. It has a vast infrastructure, highly qualified health professionals and the necessary material resources. But other countries in the region are achieving better and faster health outcomes with fewer resources.

Increasingly frequent and tragic railway accidents in Argentina, like this week’s crash, show that the rail system, run by private companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies from the state, constantly ignores warnings from inspectors and fines, observers say.

How has Argentina managed to maintain its image as one of the world's breadbaskets when a full three-fourths of its territory consists of drylands? This was one of the questions raised by the scientists who decided to create the National Observatory on Land Degradation and Desertification this year.

Lower water levels and increasing pressure from overfishing in the Paraná river are causing an unprecedented decline in fish stocks in the river that is regarded as the second most biodiverse in South America after the Amazon river.

A high profile trial for trafficking of women is giving the public a clearer picture of how sex trafficking rings operate in Argentina, with victims who are even forced, eventually, to become victimisers.

Mental health professionals in Argentina have accumulated such a wealth of experience in treating victims of state terrorism that they are now sharing it with colleagues across the country’s borders.

With a steady growth in production and exports, fair trade in Argentina is proving that socially and environmentally sustainable practices can be much more than a refuge from external crises.