April Bulletin: Security for Chile?

April was marked by discussion regarding security, but everything accelerated in the last week. This last week, the congressmen dedicated themselves to processing projects in this area in response to the murder of three police officers and a citizenry that demands progress along these lines.

This month it started with the recommendations made to the State of Chile by the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations Organization. This occurred after the review of Chile’s 7th report regarding the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Although the document addresses different topics, from La Neta we tell you about those related to impunity in human rights violations committed during the social outbreak and the dictatorship.

No more impunity and regulation of force: some of the recommendations of the Human Rights Committee for Chile

Along the same lines, Amnesty International presented its annual report on Human Rights. This report includes the organization’s reasons for concern in 155 countries.

We were at the launch of the report! For Chile, concerns also had to do with impunity in the social outbreak, pointing out that only 0.2% of cases have found justice. They also regretted the approval of the Naín-Retamal law.

We spoke with the executive director of Amnesty Chile, Rodrigo Bustos, about the widespread impunity in these cases and also the hate speeches and anti-rights proposals that are spread during electoral periods.

Amnesty International Chile: “There is a dark legacy of the previous government in matters of Human Rights”

Security fast track

Before continuing, we tell you that the Government and Congress agreed on April 22 to advance the last 7 bills that remained on the “fast-track” of the legislative agenda on security. These were:

Creation of the Ministry of Public Security
Strengthen and modernize the State Intelligence System
Access to Justice and Advocacy for Crime Victims
Creation of the Economic Intelligence Subsystem
Rules for the Use of Force
Preventive role of Municipalities in security matters
Criminal prosecution with emphasis on recidivism and crimes with greater social connotation

In this post you can read more about each of these projects

Urgent: Use of Force Rules

Of the projects that we tell you about, there is one that has caused a lot of talk in recent weeks. And especially at the end of April, after three Carabineros officials were murdered in Cañete on April 27. The congressmen agreed to suspend the district week and focus on legislative work on security, especially on Rules of Use of Force. Here we tell you how the discussion goes.

How is the discussion on security progressing this week?

Is military justice returning?

One of the problematic points in the discussion on Rules for the Use of Force were the opposition’s indications that military courts would once again have jurisdiction over crimes committed by Carabineros and the Armed Forces, even when civilians were involved. In La Neta we had already explained why this proposal goes against the law and international human rights treaties.

Proposal from deputies seeks to bring back Military Justice in cases where civilians are involved

RUF’s next steps

On May 2, the draft Rules for the Use of Force were sent to the Chamber, including different problematic points: The indication on military justice was approved, the prohibition of torture and the principle of proportionality of the use of force were rejected, the protocols for special protection groups were eliminated, the use of non-lethal weapons to attack the face was not prohibited.among other.

On the afternoon of this Friday, May 3, this project, and the one that creates the Ministry of Security, will be voted on in the Chamber of Deputies. The government has already announced a reservation of constitutionality regarding the modification of powers of the military justice.