Amnesty International (AI) denounced this Wednesday in its latest annual report the excessive use of police force in Chile, the approval of the Naín-Retamal Law, which increases police protection, and the delay in the reform of the militarized Carabioneros body. From Chile
“There was no progress towards a comprehensive reform of the Carabineros (militarized body), although the government presented several bills that regulated the use of force to safeguard public order and security,” AI explained in the report.
During the wave of mass protests in the country at the end of 2019, which put the government of the then president, the conservative Sebastián Piñera, in check and became the most serious crisis since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990 ), the Carabineros force was harshly accused of the excessive harshness of the repression and “generalized violations” of human rights.
“According to the National Prosecutor’s Office of Chile, until December only charges had been filed in 127 of the 10,142 cases of complaints related to human rights violations committed in that period,” AI denounced the continued impunity for rights violations in the outbreak. social.
Continued violation of human rights
The document, which reviews the situation of Human Rights throughout the planet and includes sections for the 156 countries, was launched by the NGO, highlighting “sexual and gender violence” in the Chile chapter.
“Women in Chile continued to be affected by gender-based violence,” denounced AI, which highlighted the pending approval of a bill to “move towards the adoption of a comprehensive approach to address violence against women.”
Furthermore, within the context of women’s rights, AI denounced: “Chile did not move forward in adopting the legal framework necessary to completely decriminalize abortion and guarantee equal access without barriers to safe abortion services.”
Likewise, AI highlighted the continued violation of the rights of LGBTI people, women, indigenous peoples and migrants and refugees.
“They did not respect or protect the rights of migrants and refugees, which included denying them the right to request asylum,” the report described about the Latin American country, where military troops were deployed on the borders with Bolivia and Peru to “prevent entry.” of people seeking safety, which mainly affected Venezuelans.”
Chile’s position on mining projects was defined by AI as “incoherent”, since the Government on the one hand rejected one project due to its environmental impact, but approved another, despite the opposition of environmental organizations.
In this context, according to AI, at the end of the year, “a law on the protection of human rights defenders had not been approved,” although the Government wants to draft a protection protocol.
