A/HRC/42/59/Add.2 23. By Law No. 26.852 (2013), 8 November was designated National Day of AfroArgentine Peoples and African Culture. The date was chosen to honour the memory of María Remedios del Valle, a woman of African descent who joined General Manuel Belgrano’s army, fought during the wars of independence and was given the rank of captain for her courage on the battlefield. The Law represents an effort to recognize and correct history so as to restore the symbolic and cultural legitimacy of the role played by people of African descent in establishing the national identity of Argentine society. Since 2016, work has been done to pay homage to the important role of the Afro-Argentine community in the independence process. On the occasion of the celebration of the Bicentennial of Independence in the province of Tucumán in 2016, recognition events were organized along with the Ministry of Defence, recognizing the figure of Maria Remedios del Valle and all people of African descent who contributed to the independence of Argentina. The Working Group welcomes the designation of 8 November as the National Day of AfroArgentine Peoples and African Culture. Similarly, by Law No. 4.355, 25 July was designated as the Day of the Afro Woman within the city of Buenos Aires; the Directorate General of Women, Ministry of Social Development of the city of Buenos Aires, is entrusted to develop different activities in the framework of the celebrations. The Working Group was also informed that the first national congress of people of African descent will be organized by the State in August 2019. The Working Group also welcomes ongoing civil society initiatives to promote the International Decade for People of African Descent in Argentina. 24. The Working Group welcomes the commitment to include the Afrodescendent variable in the general questionnaire of the national population, household and housing census, to be carried out in the year 2020, to gather disaggregated data about the population in the country through the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses with the participation of people of African descent. 25. During its visit, the Working Group observed several good practices which should be replicated: in the city of Buenos Aires, the work of the Directorate of Assistance to Persons Deprived of their Liberty under the local Ministry of Public Defenders; in Santiago del Estero, the work by the provincial government with communities on the recognition of Afrodescendent identity and history, and the inclusion of related content in the curricula of the different levels of education; in Chascomus, recognition of La Capilla de los Negros as an important historical site; and in Santa Fe, the mobile clinics run by the office of the provincial Ombudsperson to reach rural communities. There is also a migrant orientation centre designed as a space for meeting and attention, aimed at all the communities that make up the population plurality of the city of Buenos Aires. It seeks to draw together the activities of State organizations and civil society organizations, and promote actions that meet the needs and demands of migrants and refugees. 26. The Observatory of Human Rights in the federal Senate was created with the purpose of contributing to the development of legislation that guarantees the full recognition and effective protection of human rights in Argentina, in accordance with the Constitution and the international treaties to which the State has adhered. With that purpose, it promotes and articulates spaces for dialogue and cooperation between the national legislative power, public agencies, academic and technical institutions and civil society organizations, in order to strengthen respect for and the exercise of human rights. The Observatory also provides legislators with the conclusions and recommendations emanating from the country’s participation in the universal periodic review. IV. Manifestations of racial discrimination A. Invisibility, criminal justice and negative stereotypes 27. The Working Group was informed that the denial of the existence of AfroArgentines is linked to the country’s view of itself “as a country of Europeans”. The social model of Argentina built in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was Eurocentric and disregarded the input of people of African descent to Argentine culture and social structure. 8