A recent visit by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, Ben Emmerson, has subjected the government led by President Sebastián Piñera to fresh criticism over the long-running dispute with the indigenous Mapuche community over land claims. Following a 14-day visit to the country, Emmerson criticised the Chilean State for its handling of the Mapuche issue and urged authorities to “refrain from applying anti-terrorism legislation” to Mapuche protests. Emmerson’s strong words echo other recent international criticism, serving to highlight President Piñera’s failure to make good on promises like the constitutional recognition of indigenous peoples, which he pledged early this year [RBS-13-01].
In his strongly worded statement, issued on 30 July, Emmerson called on “the Government to place the Mapuche question as one of the top priorities of the national political dialogue”. The focus of Emmerson’s criticisms was the use of the anti-terrorism legislation which, among other things, establishes higher penalties for crimes deemed to be terrorist acts and allows those accused of such crimes to be held without bail before facing trial.
He said that the law had “been used in a manner that discriminates against the Mapuche….it has been applied in a confused and arbitrary fashion that has resulted in real injustice, has undermined the right to a fair trial, and has been perceived as stigmatising and de-legitimising the Mapuche land claims and protests”. Emerson also attributed the “extremely volatile” situation in the Biobío and Araucanía regions, which he visited, to “the misuse of the counter-terrorism legislation” in the context of what he described as “an inexcusably slow process of ancestral land repatriation”.
Emmerson will use the information gathered during his visit to prepare a report about counter-terrorism and human rights in Chile, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in 2014. His criticism echoes that by Amnesty International (AI) in its latest (22 May) annual report. Specifically, AI noted “renewed allegations of excessive use of force and arbitrary arrests during police operations against Mapuche Indigenous communities. Unfair trials of community members were reported. Clashes with the security forces resulted in the killing of a police officer in April”.
These concerns were also raised in the US State Department’s latest annual report on human rights, released on 19 April, which noted that both the 2012 annual report on human rights by the Santiago-based Diego Portales University (UDP) law school and the National Institute For Human Rights (INDH)’s 2012 annual report “criticised the use of the anti-terrorism law in the context of intercultural conflict”.
- Gov’t setback over Hinzpeter Law
On 9 August, Chile’s lower chamber approved in general the government’s new public security bill – the so-called Hinzpeter Law. Proposed by Defence Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter in his previous role as interior minister (2010-2012), the bill was approved by 56 votes in favour, 54 against and one abstention. The government slammed the approved version as “unrecognisable” from the draft text. Its most contentious aspects - which would give the Carabineros greater powers during public demonstrations and increase sanctions for protesters – were rejected. The bill has now gone to the senate to be voted upon.
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