BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Anti-Semitism was the main reason for discrimination complaints received by the Buenos Aires City Prosecutor’s Office last year.
Attacks against the Jewish community made up 24 percent of the 215 complaints in 2017, up from 22 percent of the 210 cases the previous year. The attacks violated city and national laws.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation was the second highest number of complaints with 20 percent, followed by discrimination based on physical and mental characteristics at 19 percent and xenophobia at 16 percent.
Nearly 13 percent of the complaints related to discrimination were based on social networks and instant messaging services.
In the past two years, the city prosecutor’s office has had a specialized team that seeks to provide a rapid and effective response in cases of discriminatory acts.
Only 2 percent of those accused of anti-Semitism discrimination were sentenced by a court, 8 percent of the cases are in court and 13 percent are being investigated. Some 70 percent were archived and closed, most of them for lack of evidence.
Last month, a report by the research body of the Jewish political umbrella, DAIA, showed that nearly 90 percent of the 404 complaints filed with the institution in 2017 dealt with incidents that occurred online, on social networks or on news websites.
Both reports registered a slight increase in anti-Semitic incidents. Argentina has had a national anti-discrimination law since 1998.
Buenos Aires city has some 160,000 Jewish inhabitants according to a 2016 report by demographics expert Sergio Della Pergola, making it the 16th largest Jewish populated city in the world.
