There were widespread protests during the year over education and environmental and
other government policies. The number of criminal complaints for grave human rights
violations committed during military rule (1973-1990) continued to rise but less than
a third of those convicted were serving prison sentences. The inappropriate use of
anti-terrorism legislation against Indigenous Peoples persisted.
Tens of thousands of students, teachers, trade unionists and others took part in demonstrations,
demanding fundamental changes to the public education system. Although largely peaceful,
some demonstrations ended in confrontations with police.
In June, following widespread opposition and protests, an appeals court issued an
order suspending the controversial HidroAysén hydroelectric dam project in Patagonia.
However, in October, the court lifted the suspension order. The Supreme Court rejected
two further appeals against the project.
The remains of former President Salvador Allende were exhumed in May as part of a
new judicial investigation into his death. In July international forensic experts
confirmed that his death during the 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet
was not the result of third parties.
A proposed law on anti-discrimination and one recognizing same-sex civil partnerships
were before Congress at the end of the year.
In September, the government bowed to demands to suspend a nationwide consultation
process with Indigenous Peoples and agreed to consider repealing Decree 124, which
regulates consultation with Indigenous Peoples. The move followed widespread criticism
that Decree 124 fails to comply with ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal
Peoples which sets out the right of Indigenous Peoples to participate in decision-making
processes that affect them.
There were continuing concerns about the inappropriate use of anti-terrorism legislation
in cases involving Mapuche activists, including minors. In August, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights filed a case with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
concerning the selective application of the anti-terrorism law against Mapuche Indigenous
people in a way that was unjustified and discriminatory.
Five Mapuche minors continued to face prosecution under the anti-terrorism law at
the end of the year, despite amendments to the law in June excluding under-18s.
In June, the Supreme Court partially upheld an appeal in the case of four Mapuche
activists convicted in March of common crimes by a civilian court in Cañete. The Cañete
court had rejected the terrorism charges against them brought by the Public Ministry.
However, the proceedings had been conducted under anti-terrorism legislation which
permits the use of anonymous witnesses. The Supreme Court reduced their sentences
but failed to order a new trial, allowing the convictions, based on the testimony
of an anonymous witness, to stand. The four men staged an 87-day hunger strike in
protest at the use of anti-terrorism legislation and at violations of due process.
The strike ended with the formation of an independent Commission on the Rights of
the Mapuche.
In February, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures
for the Indigenous Peoples of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The Commission called on the
government to guarantee that actions taken by its officials during protests and evictions
did not jeopardize the lives or physical integrity of Indigenous people. This followed
violent clashes in December 2010. Criminal proceedings were initiated against some
clan members and investigations into the actions of the police were continuing at
the end of the year.
In August, the Valech II Commission issued a report confirming five additional cases
of enforced disappearance, 25 political killings and 9,795 cases of torture. The commission
had been established in 2010 to assess cases of enforced disappearance, political
killings, political imprisonment and torture that had not been presented to the Rettig
and Valech Commissions. By the end of the year, the total number of people officially
recognized as disappeared or killed between 1973 and 1990 stood at 3,216 and survivors
of political imprisonment and/or torture at 38,254.
The number of cases of human rights violations under investigation by the courts rose
to its highest level yet following the submission in January by a court prosecutor
of 726 new criminal complaints and more than 1,000 complaints filed over the years
by relatives of those executed on political grounds.
According to the Interior Ministry Human Rights Programme, as of May there were 1,446
ongoing investigations. Between 2000 and the end of May 2011, 773 former members of
the security forces had been charged or sentenced for human rights violations and
245 had had final sentences confirmed. However, only 66 were in prison, the rest having
benefited from non-custodial sentences or sentences that were later reduced or commuted.
There were several reports of torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings
and threats of sexual violence, against students arbitrarily detained by police during
student demonstrations.
In August, 16-year-old Manuel Gutiérrez Reinoso died after being shot by a police
officer during student demonstrations in the capital Santiago. Five police officers
were subsequently dismissed and a police general resigned. In November, the military
appeals court ordered the release on bail of the policeman accused of the shooting.
There were renewed reports of excessive use of force during police operations against
Mapuche communities.
Abortion remained a criminal offence in all circumstances. In September the Senate
Health Commission agreed to debate proposals to decriminalize abortion in certain
cases, but President Piñera said he would veto any bill that came before him.
