Concerns about human rights in Chile include discrimination against indigenous populations; societal violence and discrimination against women, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people; child labor; and harsh prison conditions and treatment. Additional human rights concerns in the country include use of excessive force and abuse by security forces, isolated reports of government corruption, and antisemitism. Authorities generally maintain effective control over the security forces. However, security forces occasionally commit human rights abuses. The government generally takes steps to prosecute officials who commit abuses. Nevertheless, many human rights organizations contend that security officials accused of committing abuses have impunity.Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 (10 April 2014). Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, United States Department of State. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Human rights violations by the military and security forces in Chile were widespread during the rule of General Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990). Estimates of the number killed and "disappeared" during the Pinochet regime range as high as 17,000.Johnson, Sandy A. (2011). Challenges in Health and Development: From Global to Community Perspectives. Springer. . pp. 85.
History
Background
Early efforts for human rights in Latin America grew out of the Catholic Church. Major social breakdowns in Latin America had increased the number of human rights violations. The feelings of many Latin Americans had changed, with a concern for human rights growing out of their Catholic faith. According to Oxfam, the "vast majority" of citizen advocates first acquired experience in taking control of their lives through Christian communities in the 1960s and 1970s. Advocates of human rights criticize governments and attempt to raise public awareness of government repression, torture, and denial of habeas corpus. These efforts were spurred on by the Medellin Conference of Catholic bishops in 1968, itself a response to Vatican II. The bishops urged the church to "favor the efforts of the people to create and develop their own grassroots organizations for the redress and consolidation of their rights."
Human rights organizations in Latin America were unknown or existed only on paper before the 1960s. In Chile, the tiny Committee for the Defense of Human Rights led by labor leader Clotario Blest existed in 1972, a year before the coup but was inactive. Movements to defend human rights in Latin America lagged behind the military takeovers, with the exception of Chile, where activities in response to the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat began almost immediately.
1973 coup d'etat
On 11 September 1973 a military junta toppled President Salvador Allende in a coup d'état and installed General Augusto Pinochet as head of the new regime. This was a dictatorial, authoritarian regime which trampled on human rights with the use of torture, disappearances, illegal and secret arrest, and extrajudicial killings. Thousands were being detained, and hundreds killed by the regime. It was in this context, that the first organized opposition to the Pinochet regime appeared.
1970s NGOs
Opposition to the military dictatorship began within days of the coup, and the first organization appeared within a month. As was the case elsewhere, this began in Chile with the Catholic Church.
The first organized opposition to the regime came from the churches. The Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile was founded by five Christian churches and the Jewish community in Chile on 9 October 1973 and led by Archbishop Raul Silva Henriquez with a stated goal of "helping Chileans, who, as a result of recent political events, are in dire economic or personal straits," and also to provide "legal, economic, technical, and spiritual" assistance. The Committee for Peace carried out its human rights activity in the face of harassment and intimidation by the government, and was a risky proposition for those involved. In the two years of its operation, it provided support for 17,000 people persecuted by the government, as well as people detained for political reasons without trial. It also played a support role for those who lost their job for political reasons, and provided medical care. The committee was shut down under direct pressure from Pinochet in November 1975, but it contained the seeds for the founding of other organizations.
The Association of Families of the Detained-Disappeared (AFDD) is a Chilean human rights group that coalesced in Santiago in 1974 and was launched formally by Clotario Blest in 1975. It grew out of a group of members, mostly women, of the Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile. The main focus of the AFDD was to maintain awareness of the desaparecidos () in the public eye, and to pressure the government to release information about them. After the reestablishment of democracy in Chile and the 1989 election of President Patricio Aylwin, the goals and pressure brought to bear by the AFDD on the new, democratic government played an influential role in the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1990.
Respect for the integrity of the person
Arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life
There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings during 2013. The external mechanism to investigate abuses by Carabineros is the military justice system, while the regular criminal justice system investigates accusations of abuse by investigative police (PDI) officers.
On January 3, authorities arrested six of eight former army officers indicted for the 1973 torture and subsequent execution of singer Victor Jara in the Estadio Chile in Santiago. On March 28, the Santiago Appellate Court approved bail for four of the eight. On October 11, the judge indicted and arrested a ninth former army officer. The case remained pending at year's end.
In June 2012 the Santiago Appellate Court ruled that Judge Mario Carroza should investigate the killing of U.S. citizen Ronnie Moffit in a Washington, D.C. car bombing in 1976. The case was pending at year's end.
According to the Diego Portales University (UDP) Law School's 2013 annual report on human rights, as of July the Supreme Court had ruled in 153 criminal cases of dictatorship-era human rights violations and confirmed 140 convictions, while 1,350 cases against more than 800 perpetrators remained under investigation or pending in the courts.
On March 25, a military prosecutor indicted former Carabinero sergeant Miguel Millacura for using unnecessary force and Lieutenant Claudia Iglesias for complicity in covering up Carabinero involvement in the 2011 killing of 16-year-old Manuel Gutierrez. Millacura was free on bail, and Iglesias reportedly continued on active duty. The status of the case in the military justice system against Millacura was unknown at year's end. Cases involving alleged unlawful conduct by Carabineros, including human rights abuses against civilians, were generally tried in the military court system, as were allegations where the accused is a member of the armed forces.
Disappearance There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
In August 2012 Judge Jorge Zepeda indicted eight former Carabineros and army patrol members for aggravated kidnapping in the 1985 disappearance case of U.S. citizen Boris Weisfeiler. The case remained pending at year's end; those charged remained free on bail.
Torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment Although the constitution prohibits such practices, credible nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) received multiple reports of excessive force, abuse, and degrading treatment by Carabineros, PDI members, and prison guards, few of which resulted in convictions.
On June 13, 2013 Carabineros entered the downtown central campus of the University of Chile, allegedly without authorization and in a violent manner, in search of connections to several violent activities that took place the day before during an authorized student protest. According to the local press, police seriously injured two female students resisting the unauthorized entrance. The head of the police unit involved was transferred to another unit after an internal investigation revealed a violation of protocol regarding the use of force. No further disciplinary action was taken.
On December 30, 2013 PDI officer Flavio Torres was charged in a Santiago court for unlawful coercion and computer crimes for his alleged role in the beating during the interrogation of a minor following a student protest in May. Torres was accused of participating in a group of approximately 10 officers who struck the minor's neck and face, photographed him in his underwear, and forced him to reveal his Facebook log-in credentials. The prosecutor said she was unable to determine the identities of others alleged to have been involved due to the invocation by the PDI of a provision of the country's National Intelligence Law. The judge, who remanded Torres into custody during the case's investigative phase, called the alleged crimes “among the most serious” contemplated by Chile's laws because they involved a state agent. The case was pending at year's end.
The National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) and media outlets reported on the alleged inappropriate use of force by prison guards in breaking up a protest at a prison in Valdivia in January 2013, resulting in injuries to 21 inmates. The Court of Appeals of Valdivia subsequently made a special order of protection on behalf of the inmates. The Court of Appeals of Antofagasta ruled that prison guards violated the constitutional rights of 10 inmates and breached the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment during a violent encounter in July when the guards beat and shot pellets at prisoners, resulting in injuries.
Prison and detention center conditions Prison conditions were harsh. Human rights organizations reported that violence, including torture, occurred and that prison officials were aware of the problem and worked to address it. Violence among inmates was also common.
Physical Conditions: Prisons were overcrowded. The government reported that at the end of September 2013, 45,510 prisoners were in prisons designed to hold 41,034 inmates. Prisoners included 3,540 women (held in separate sections of the same facilities as men or in separate facilities). At the end of August, 3,054 minors were in prisons or detention centers (held separately from the adult population). Many prisons were antiquated and offered substandard sanitary conditions, inadequate food, and insufficient medical services. Inadequate heating in some prisons remained a serious problem, and inadequate lighting and ventilation also affected inmates at some prisons. The government reported that access to potable water was limited in several prisons.
Officials reported 186 prisoner deaths during 2013. Violence among inmates accounted for 67 deaths, while three inmates died while attempting to escape prison. On August 13, a fire broke out in a prison in Quillota, located near the coastal city of Valparaiso, after two rival gangs started a fight. Although the fire was contained, approximately 24 inmates were injured in the incident, five due to stab wounds that occurred during the intergang violence.
Prisoners with HIV/AIDS and mental and physical disabilities reportedly failed to receive adequate medical attention in some prisons. Adequate accommodations for those prisoners with physical disabilities were made.