By Alejandra Garcia on June 4, 2026
protest against femicide in Buenos Aires marking the 11th anniversary of the first #NiUnaMenos
In Argentina, the femicides of Agostina Vega, Dulce, and Noelia, along with the rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ people, expose the lack of public policies and gender perspective within the branches of government. In response to these setbacks, human rights defenders are taking to the Buenos Aires streets.
Eleven years ago, all of Argentina rose up to say “enough” to gender-based violence after the femicide of Chiara Paez, a teenage girl murdered by her boyfriend, who was also a teenager. It was a different country then. Argentine society had been making significant progress in human rights, debating and approving equal marriage legislation, enacting the Gender Identity Law, and promoting Comprehensive Sexual Education legislation. Unlike today, the country was not experiencing the current levels of hunger, debt, and unemployment.
More than a decade later, with a government that denies the existence of femicides, encourages hate speech, and advances proposals that critics say protect pedophiles, news of the femicide of Agostina, Dulce, and Noelia, and the intense media coverage surrounding it generated both grief and outrage. “The treatment with which the judiciary and news medias have being treating this sensitive issue, expose the brutal side of deeply entrenched sexism within positions of power,” reported Tiempo Argentino journal.
The elimination of the Ministry of Women and Diversity by president Javier Milei, and the exclusion of every gender-related policy, including those created before Kirchner-era governments, has, according to the Tiempo Argentino, produced consequences.
One of those consequences is the killing of Agostina, but also the neglect in investigating the disappearance of Dulce, a 17-year-old girl from Misiones who was found dead 15 days later, and the killing of Noelia Reynoso, who was killed last weekend in Temperley during what it was describes as a “controversial operation”.
They Are Not Just Numbers, They Are Lives
On the 11th anniversary of the first #NiUnaMenos demonstration, the Observatory of Femicides in Argentina “Adriana Marisel Zambrano,” informed that between June 3, 2015, and May 27, 2026, there were 3,424 fatalities related to gender-based violence.
According to the report, this includes 3,073 femicides and related killings of women and girls; 78 transfemicides; 4 killings of lesbians motivated by gender or sexual orientation; 269 related femicides involving adult men and boys.
The observatory notes that femicides occur in different contexts. Many cases take place in intimate and everyday settings, demonstrating how violence can be linked to close relationships and environments often perceived as “safe”. According to the report, 978 killings occurred in the victim’s home; 798 occurred in shared residences; and 45 occurred in the victim’s workplace.
Today, Argentinians take to the streets to make visible a problem that affects not only direct victims but also families, friends, communities, and children that are left behind. Between June 3, 2015, and May 27, 2026, 3,840 children lost a parent as a consequence of these crimes.
The demonstration marking the 11th anniversary of #NiUnaMenos will be repeated in at least 30 locations. The call is collective, and the message is clear and forceful: in Argentina, there is no room to go backwards when it comes to lives free from violence.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English