Civil Society, Headlines, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

RIGHTS-CHILE: Amnesty Report Highlights Impunity

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, May 28 2008 (IPS) - The Amnesty International Report 2008 on the state of the world’s human rights, released Wednesday, expresses disappointment in Chile’s delay in seeking truth, justice and reparations for the victims of crimes committed during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

The chapter on Chile “focuses on violence against women, indigenous people and other minorities, in the shape of femicide (murders of women), discrimination and police brutality,” the executive director of Amnesty International Chile, Sergio Laurenti, told IPS.

“The report details the causes, including the lax legislation that fails to prevent these situations,” he said at the end of a press conference.

One of the enduring problems in Chile is “the sad and regrettable delay in the search for truth, justice and reparations” for the thousands of people who were murdered, tortured and “disappeared” by the Pinochet dictatorship, Laurenti said.

The Amnesty report was launched two days after the historic prosecution of 98 former members of the security forces and civilians for “aggravated kidnapping” in the context of Operation Colombo in 1975, a scheme by the military regime to cover up the murder of 119 leftwing activists and guerrillas who were “disappeared.”

According to Laurenti, there are several reasons for the delays of the trials. One of the main factors is “the lack of cooperation of the institutions involved” in the abuses, in particular the armed forces and police.

“There has obviously been a closing of the ranks, an institutional concern on the part of the armed forces to protect its members,” said Laurenti.

He acknowledged, however, that “in recent years, particularly as better educated officers who are committed to democracy have reached high ranks, there has been more openness.”

Another obstacle is “the lack of resources in the judicial branch” to carry out investigations of this scope, and “ignorance of international human rights law among the judiciary.”

In addition, an amnesty law decreed by Pinochet in 1978 blocks prosecutions against the perpetrators of certain crimes committed between the Sept. 11, 1973 coup d’etat that overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende and Mar. 10, 1978.

Although in practice judges are now disregarding the amnesty, “there is a real risk that it could open a route for impunity,” said Laurenti.

“I think that perseverance on the part of the justice system is the only thing that will restore Chile’s dignity on this issue. The search for truth, justice and reparations is essential for the country’s future,” he said.

The chapter on Chile in the lengthy Amnesty report also refers to strikes and demonstrations held in 2007 by students and subcontracted workers at the state mining company CODELCO, which were repeated this year, deploring the violent clashes between police and protesters.

“While we recognise that Chile’s ‘carabineros’ police are among the best trained and most efficient forces in the region,” their militarised status is a drawback to police work, Laurenti said at the news briefing.

“Unfortunately, in Chile repression has taken on a darker tone,” he said, calling for “reasonable control measures at demonstrations.”

Although it was not included in the Amnesty report, Laurenti regards Chile’s membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council, for a period of three years starting Jun. 20, as an “advance.”

In a May 21 vote at U.N. headquarters in New York, Chile garnered 176 votes, leading the Latin American countries – Argentina and Brazil were also elected to the Council – and taking fifth place worldwide.

“This gives Chile an opportunity to make a concrete contribution towards world peace and security,” Laurenti said.

But he pointed out that “a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council is not of itself recognition that a government has a good track record in human rights, as some would have us believe. Chile was the country with the most votes in the region, but that is no achievement” in and of itself, he said.

For example, “Chile is unacceptably behind in its ratification of international human rights instruments,” he said.

The first of these is International Labour Organisation Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, which President Michelle Bachelet has still not ratified, in spite of congressional approval with an “interpretative declaration” limiting the scope of Article 35, which defends the wider rights of indigenous peoples under other international or national treaties, customs or agreements.

The second is the Treaty of Rome, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC).