Punishing and preventing torture: lessons learned 50 years after the coup in Chile
Within the "Latin American Critical Thought Notebooks" Collection, CLACSO presents "Sanctioning and Preventing Torture: Lessons 50 Years After the Coup," an investigation by Sebastián Cabezas Chamorro, Germán Díaz Urrutia, and María Cecilia Jaramillo Michel
Punishing and preventing torture: lessons learned 50 years after the coup
The following text arises from the interest of the CLACSO Working Group Vigilantism, collective violence, and security governanceThis involves reflecting on the continuity of practices between state and non-state actors in the dynamics of social control associated with vigilantism. Specifically, it concerns practices related to collective actions that involve the use of physical force, or the threat of its use, against people or objects in order to prevent, retaliate against, or punish behaviors considered harmful, or to contain dangerous situations.
This objective gives rise to the need to connect with, or at least understand, the work of civil society and state actors who reflect on and intervene in the repressive violence perpetrated by state agents. This is why we intend to contact the organizations created by the states of the region, in compliance with the commitments made upon signing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 2002.
The Working Group's coordinating team's visit to Chile in August 2023 provided an opportune moment to translate that interest into action. It was during this visit that we requested the Executive Secretary of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture—an autonomous body created by the State of Chile in accordance with the commitments mentioned in the previous paragraph—to present a book authored by our working group. We also met with the Committee's president and specialists in the area of police work within the organization. In these meetings, we discussed the increasing complexity of the field of Human Rights studies in contemporary Latin America, particularly the heterogeneity of the relationships between different actors and how these relationships can lead to repressive violence. We shared reflections on how these issues are essential for understanding human rights violations in the current context.
These conversations take place in a very particular context: the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile. This context permeates our meeting and leads us to consider how this recent past persists in our present. This is especially true regarding repressive violence, the meanings that fuel this violence, and its current manifestations. We thank the Chilean Committee for the Prevention of Torture for transforming its reflections on this matter into a written document and making them available to us all precisely now, 50 years after the coup in Chile.
25 September 2023
CLACSO Working Group
Vigilantism, collective violence, and security governance
Sebastian Cabezas Chamorro*
Germán Díaz Urrutia**
María Cecilia Jaramillo Michel***
Introduction
During the month of June, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was commemorated worldwide. In Chile in 2023, this commemoration takes on a special force and meaning, as it marks 50 years since the military coup, which was followed by 17 years of a brutal dictatorship that systematically and massively disappeared, murdered, tortured, and exiled thousands of people.
Regarding the crimes committed by state agents in the recent past—both under dictatorship and democracy—we note with concern that old and new generations, In various spheres of society, attempts have been made to weaken or outright destroy the socio-cultural ties that link present experience with that of previous generations, through the relativization or denial of the state violence that spread throughout Chile and the rest of the region. In this regard, the Spanish philosopher Reyes Mate observes that Especially the new generations believe in a kind of permanent present with no organic relationship whatsoever with the past of the time in which they live (…) concluding that When we take the step of forgetting death, we perpetrate a hermeneutical crime that adds to the physical crime. (Reyes Mate 2009, p. 27).
Chile in the 21st century presents us with a gigantic debt that the State maintains with the victims of the past and present, which has a legal and moral projection.
In the legal and institutional sphere, the agencies of the criminal justice system, and their operators, have not been able to provide an adequate response to the thousands of cases of political imprisonment, torture, and institutional violence during this period. Regarding the lack of due diligence Regarding the management of investigations and the lack of proportionality in the sanctions applied to those responsible, the numbers speak for themselves. Of the nearly 40.000 victims of political imprisonment and torture under the dictatorship, and of the cases brought to court, only 16 have resulted in convictions (UDP Transitional Justice Observatory, 2022). Furthermore, according to data from the National Prosecutor's Office, of the 10.936 reports of human rights violations committed during the 2019 social uprising, only 130 cases have been formally charged, with 206 people indicted and 16 convictions. This performance in investigations is not very different in the cases that occur daily in different parts of the country.
Failure to comply with these international obligations has an even greater consequence, whose far-reaching effects impact not only the victims and their families, but also society as a whole, through a harmful message of permission to all public officials, especially those in charge of enforcing the law such as those in charge of places of deprivation of liberty, custody or care, but also undermines the public's trust in institutions and, therefore, in the entire democratic system.
Therefore, one of the first measures for preventing torture and guaranteeing non-repetition must be conducting thorough investigations in accordance with the principles of due diligence and imposing appropriate sanctions on those responsible for such acts. The communicative effect of the judgment is fundamental not only to initiate adequate reparations for the victims, but also to rebuild trust in institutions and restore the broken order.
Furthermore, there is a moral dimension to these events that must be addressed. This implies a serious social commitment to articulating an irrefutable narrative condemning these grave violations and to civic education aimed at keeping the painful consequences of oppression and torture alive in the collective consciousness. However, denialist voices currently circulate that deny or downplay these events, exposing survivors and victims to a process of revictimization, often with the complicity of the State and political groups.
Thus, in Chile it has been impossible to construct a historical narrative of condemnation that allows us to honor the memory and move towards a "never again", recognizing the lessons learned and generating an unrestricted commitment to democracy and its mechanisms for resolving political and social conflict.
It is important to highlight how this legal and moral incapacity to prosecute and condemn institutional violence enables it, to paraphrase the Spanish poet and philosopher Jorge Ruiz de Santayana, "those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it."
The perception and value of human rights in Chile 50 years later
The interruption of democracy on September 11, 1973, brought about the immediate cessation of a series of guarantees and rights, such as the right to freedom of movement, assembly, demonstration, and expression, among others. This led to the arbitrary arrest, disappearance, execution, and/or exile of thousands of people—activists and supporters of the Popular Unity government—and to a significant percentage of the population remaining silent and compliant. The latent fear of being denounced and arrested, in addition to the repression and persecution of all attempts at social and political organization (including the extermination of certain leadership and political figures), crystallized a fracture at the social level, and in some cases, within families, which for many years prevented open discussion of the consequences of the institutional breakdown and the abuses and violations committed during the dictatorship.
The feelings of fear, silence, and immobility of the majority, in turn, facilitated the installation of a nascent neoliberal economic model, which in its orthodox version intensified the privatization and deregulation of markets and resources, as well as facilitating economic concentration, urban segregation, individual achievement as the only normative horizon, and the establishment of a subsidiary state conception, crystallized in the 80 constitution. These practices, later consolidated during the democratic transition process, deepened the breakdown of the social fabric and the reduction of collective gains, eroding the construction of future visions and a common narrative about the still-open wounds.
These grievances have manifested in the emergence of various citizen movements and demands, primarily associated with a claim for Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCR) and the situation of discrimination and inequality faced by certain population groups, such as women and gender and sexual diversity; highlighting the gaps between livelihoods and the cost of living, especially in particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people with physical disabilities, those living in extreme poverty, etc.; and expressing discontent with territorial disparities in a highly centralized governance model.
These discontents found their most widespread and massive expression in the social uprising of October 2019, a time of social and political upheaval in a country that was saying "enough" and demanding a review of its social contract. Unfortunately, many of these peaceful and legitimate mobilizations were accompanied by episodes of violence, destruction, and intransigence, manifested in mass looting, vandalism of public property, intimidation, and other acts of incivility. This led to polarization in the public sphere and the declaration of a state of constitutional exception, which again restricted fundamental freedoms, favoring and, at times, even endorsing the excessive use of force to control public order. Thus, at the end of the social uprising, the public prosecutor's office had received more than 10.000 cases of human rights violations, including homicides, and hundreds of cases of torture, unlawful coercion, eye trauma, and repeated episodes of sexual violence.
This brief overview is essential to understanding the social and political context in which the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the civic-military coup is framed, as well as the progress and setbacks in the recognition and appreciation of Human Rights in Chile.
Specifically, it is clear that Chileans' assessment of the progress made in respecting their human rights is insufficient. Looking at the results of the 2022 National Human Rights Survey, for example, 34,5% of participants rated respect for human rights in Chile below 4.[1]55,4% rate it with a score of 4 or 5, and only the remaining 10,0% give scores between 6 or 7 (INDH, 2022).
The same study concludes that “The perception that participants have of the guarantee and protection of human rights is negative. Participants believe that Chile is a country that does not guarantee the vast majority of rights. More than 80% of those surveyed strongly disagree or disagree that in Chile everyone is guaranteed a decent pension, fair wages, decent housing, and access to healthcare. This is followed by more than 70% who strongly disagree or disagree regarding access to quality education and living in a pollution-free environment. (INDH, 2022).
This insufficient assessment of the State's capacity to guarantee and fulfill human rights may be marked by multiple experiences of discrimination that continue to exist daily in Chile; 4 out of 10 people surveyed reported having suffered discrimination in some public service in the last twelve months.
These acts of discrimination influence the assessment and perception of the role of democracy as a political system capable of guaranteeing: 1) Participation in decision-making, 2) Respect for basic norms, and 3) Equality of rights. Indeed, a recent study by Alberto Hurtado University and the consulting firm Criteria[2]This shows how in Chile there continues to be a high regard for democracy as an abstract concept, despite a pressing need to deepen it. A significant percentage (21%) indicates that, in some circumstances, an authoritarian government may be preferable to a democratic one. Another 6% believe that people like themselves are indifferent between a democratic and an authoritarian regime. If efforts are not made to reduce these authoritarian perceptions, there is a risk of setbacks in various areas of democratic practice, since a lower level of commitment to political democracy is directly related to a less democratic orientation in daily life.
Finally, it is relevant to analyze the perception of personal safety under different situations of deprivation of liberty or custody by the State, where it is possible to verify that a significant number of people do not perceive these places as safe. Moreover, 50% of them expressed “disagreement” or “strong disagreement” regarding their safety from torture in all the situations mentioned in the survey, with particular emphasis on those associated with specially protected groups such as children and adolescents in state custody (76,2%), elderly people in nursing homes (69,9%), people in psychiatric hospitals (64,9%), and being detained in a prison administered by the Gendarmerie (64,5%) (INDH, 2022).
These latest figures tell us about the enormous challenges that still exist in terms of sanctioning and preventing torture in places in charge of the care, control and custody of persons deprived of liberty by the State.
Progress and setbacks in the prevention and punishment of torture: The Committee for the Prevention of Torture and its integration into the human rights institutional framework
In the twilight of the dictatorial tyranny in the late 80s, with the purpose of projecting a positive image to the international community and also as part of the transition to democracy at the gates, Chile began a whole process of ratifying the most important international human rights law treaties, which translated in concrete terms into the voluntary assumption of a series of international obligations that would allow for a more effective defense and protection of fundamental rights.
In this sense, since the restoration of democracy in 1990, the adoption of these international commitments, coupled with the tragic experience of the dictatorship, compelled Chile to raise its human rights standards. This translated primarily into the need to build specialized human rights institutions, which, together with a combination of key substantive and procedural legal reforms, have been essential for the protection and promotion of human rights.[3]Their main objective would be to guarantee the rights of all people. This process was driven primarily by both civil society and the political actors who developed the main national policies within the framework of transitional justice.
The first commission to contribute to clarifying the truth about the serious, massive and systematic crimes committed by agents of the State of the civic-military dictatorship was the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (CNVR, known as the “Rettig Commission”).[4]), which concluded its work on February 08, 1991 with the delivery of a Final Report[5]The Commission's mandate was "to establish as complete a picture as possible of the serious events in question (committed between 1973 and 1989), their background, and circumstances" and "to gather information that would allow the identification of the victims and establish their fate or whereabouts." The report documented 2025 cases of fatalities resulting from human rights violations committed by state agents; 90 fatalities at the hands of violent opposition groups; and 164 cases involving political violence that could not be attributed to any specific group.[6]Specifically regarding the acts of torture, commission member and prominent academic José Zalaquett noted that “It was not possible to conduct an individual count of torture cases; we had to refer to it as a general phenomenon, rather than on a case-by-case basis. As we explained in the report, it is estimated that half of the people who were imprisoned for at least twenty-four hours were tortured or ill-treated, which translates into approximately one hundred thousand potential claims. These were crimes committed fifteen or sixteen years earlier, and in most cases, no trace remained. An individual count, particularly with regard to compensation, would have been impossible to manage.”[7]Despite the significant progress this milestone represented in the subsequent development of transitional justice policies, the State still had a duty to fulfill its obligations to continue certifying victims of the dictatorship, investigate and punish those responsible for the crimes committed, rehabilitate the victims, and offer guarantees of non-repetition.
Subsequently, Law No. 19.123[8] It created the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation to coordinate, implement, and promote the recommendations proposed by the Rettig Commission. It was also tasked with reviewing cases of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions that the Rettig Commission could not consider due to a lack of background information or because the cases were not submitted to the Commission.
A third instance was the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture (“Valech Commission” or “Valech Commission I”), created in 2003 by Decree 1.040 and whose sole mandate was “to determine, according to the background information presented, who are the persons who suffered deprivation of liberty and torture for political reasons, by acts of agents of the State or persons in its service, in the period between September 11, 1973 and March 10, 1990”[9] This regulation was complemented by Law No. 19.992, which “establishes a reparation pension and grants other benefits to the persons it indicates,” which grants an annual reparation pension, in addition to medical and educational benefits to the persons classified as victims by the Valech Commission, which reached a total of 27.255 people.
These commissions were the first manifestations of institutionalization in human rights - despite having specific purposes of classifying victims and offering reparations measures; however, since 1997 there has been the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, a public body in charge of the criminal prosecution of violations committed during the dictatorship[10]The Human Rights Program, a continuation of Law No. 19.123, is established in Article 1 as providing legal and social support to the families of victims of enforced disappearances and summary executions. With the enactment of Law No. 20.885, which created the Undersecretariat of Human Rights, the Human Rights Program was transferred to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, where it acquired its current name (formerly the “Human Rights Program”). This transfer brought institutional stability and provided the program with a more solid organizational structure for carrying out its functions. In addition to providing legal and social assistance to the families of victims, the program is tasked with fostering a culture of respect for human rights by promoting, disseminating, and supporting symbolic reparations initiatives of a cultural and educational nature.
While the commissions and bodies established since the restoration of democracy were key to mainstreaming human rights within the State, the establishment of specifically designed bodies with a concrete mandate within the State was still pending. In this regard, it is worth remembering that “the institutional framework for human rights—that is, the concrete forms that the State's organizational structure adopts to fulfill its function of promoting and protecting human rights, as enshrined in fundamental charters, international treaties, and other instruments—is of crucial importance in the consolidation of democracy.”[11].
Thus, in the 90s, several bills were introduced with the aim of creating the office of "Ombudsman" in Chile. However, these bills were not promoted by the State; it was organized civil society that consistently urged their creation. This reflected the difficulties that have existed in establishing new human rights institutions in Chile.
The turning point was undoubtedly the creation of the National Institute for Human Rights. In addition to establishing, for the first time, an autonomous human rights institution specializing in the promotion and protection of human rights, it was also a significant development.[12]This generated an interesting virtuous cycle in which various state institutions began to create their own human rights units, especially those linked to the administration of justice. By virtue of the establishment of the National Human Rights Institute (INDH), the role it began to play, and the exercise of its mandate, various public bodies were compelled to create human rights units within their organizations, both to respond to the requests they began to receive from the INDH and to mainstream the human rights approach into the performance of their functions. This could also be seen as an expression of the establishment of the INDH's regional offices, a process that allowed for more constant interaction with the various justice system actors, particularly through the power to file legal actions.
This brief summary also included the creation of the Children's Ombudsman, an autonomous human rights institution specializing in the promotion and protection of the rights of girls, boys and/or adolescents.
Regarding government institutions, Law No. 20.885 was published on January 5, 2016, amending Decree Law No. 3.346 of 1980, which contains the Organic Law of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. This legal instrument expands the scope of this State portfolio, which is renamed the “Ministry of Justice and Human Rights,” with the function of fostering and promoting human rights. It also creates two agencies: the Undersecretariat of Human Rights, as the body responsible for promoting and coordinating public policies and legislation on human rights within the Executive Branch.[13]and the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights, as an advisory body to the President of the Republic in determining the guidelines for the Government's intersectoral policy on human rights. The Undersecretary for Human Rights will act as the Committee's Executive Secretary. [14].
Law No. 20.885 also establishes the creation of the National Human Rights Plan, an instrument that will allow, for the first time, the establishment of a national policy on the matter. The Plan aims to generate an assessment of the State's outstanding international human rights obligations and to adopt public policies aimed at promoting and protecting these rights.
In this context, in 2008 Chile ratified the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture, and in 2009 the government of President Michelle Bachelet Jeria informed the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture that the National Institute for Human Rights (INDH) would be designated as the National Mechanism against Torture. After a profound silence of four years, in 2014 the first drafts of the bill that would create the Committee for the Prevention of Torture began to be written. Thus, after arduous pre-legislative work, the bill became Law No. 21.154 (published on April 25, 2019), which designated the National Institute for Human Rights as the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (MNPT); an institution that seeks to strengthen the system for the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty in Chile.
To fulfill its mandate, the INDH acts exclusively through the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), composed of seven experts chosen by Senior Public Management, and a support team made up of professionals and administrative staff.
The mission of this Committee is to implement the provisions of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the international instruments on the matter ratified by Chile, the Political Constitution of the Republic, and other current regulations.
It should be emphasized that the CPT's work includes a preventative role; that is, its work is geared towards anticipating acts of torture, as well as detecting and modifying the factors that contribute to the generation and perpetuation of this type of crime. To achieve these goals, it has been shown that one of the main instruments—though not the only one—is the periodic, unscheduled visits to places of detention.
Currently, the CPT is in charge of the permanent monitoring of Police Units, Penitentiary Centers, psychiatric hospitals, Long Stay Establishments for Older Adults (ELEAM) and Residences for children and adolescents under the custody of the State, among others.
However, despite institutional advances in this area since the restoration of democracy, torture is far from disappearing, as demonstrated by the various findings observed in the preventive visits that the CPT has carried out since its creation, in more than 120 centers throughout the national territory.
Just to mention a few of the risk factors detected, there is concern about the neglect of elderly people institutionalized in Long-Term Care Facilities; the lack of respect for the autonomy of people with mental health diagnoses; the exposure of children to sexual exploitation networks; the deficient access to health care for people deprived of their liberty in penitentiary centers; the lack of specialization of the jail guards of both police forces, among other important risk factors.
And from these worrying and challenging findings, two central forces emerge: The power of the prevention and the transformative power of dialogue.
In Chile, the CPT is the only public body focused exclusively on the prevention of torture and other ill-treatment. The Committee does not have the authority to bring legal actions, as its work is concentrated on creating conditions and actions that prevent human rights violations by identifying risk factors and implementing protective measures or safeguards that guarantee respectful and dignified treatment in every detention center.
And to achieve that mission, the second force emerges, the power of dialogue, as a tool for transformation and a key factor in building alliances that allow for the substantial changes required, so that in these places and in society, there is a culture of respect and good treatment.
In summary, regarding torture and other ill-treatment, there are two facts that are both sad and easy to verify: The first indicates that despite the efforts made by the international community and by Chile, these serious crimes continue to exist, and the second shows that, once the violation of rights has occurred, States throughout the world - including of course the countries in our region - have failed spectacularly to investigate and proportionately punish the perpetrators.
Although, in this continuous Given the impunity surrounding this issue, states cannot lower their guard or spare any effort to achieve justice for the victims of institutional violence. National and international strategies to prevent torture emerge as an innovative proposal, which, through the deployment of a non-punitive imagination, are attempting to build a culture of dignified treatment for all persons deprived of liberty.
Final reflections and future challenges
As described in the article, although progress has been made in this area over the past 50 years, particularly regarding the institutional framework for defending and promoting human rights, there are still a number of outstanding issues to prevent and punish institutional violence, especially torture.
The experience of the social unrest in the country demonstrates that police and military abuses persist even though these institutions have incorporated human rights training into their curricula and designed protocols for the proportional use of force and the use of lethal and less-lethal weapons. However, the evidence shows that these efforts are still insufficient.
It is therefore urgent to continue advancing reform processes within these institutions, which, among other measures, should implement the proper mainstreaming of practices that respect and guarantee the rights of all individuals in the application of the law and in the tasks assigned to them as law enforcement and security forces. Likewise, it is crucial to strengthen the external and internal bodies responsible for overseeing the correct implementation of protocols in these areas to ensure effective accountability and, consequently, the deepening of democracy within these institutions.
Furthermore, it is necessary to reduce the impunity that has persisted since the crimes committed during the civic-military dictatorship and those committed since October 2019 in the context of the social uprising, as well as all cases of institutional violence reported over the past 50 years. To achieve this, it is essential to pursue those responsible and identify institutional responsibilities so that sanctions can be imposed that not only punish but also serve as a deterrent, setting a precedent that helps to discourage such practices.
In addition, promoting compensatory measures for victims of these types of crimes committed by law enforcement agents is a duty of the State that is required to advance the longed-for reconciliation and construction of social peace.
Addressing these challenges undoubtedly requires ongoing commitments from the State and society as a whole, but particularly from government authorities and institutions to ensure that torture is punished and prevented and that "never again" is made effective.
* Lawyer. Master's degree in Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies. Expert in the area of Police Function, Committee for the Prevention of Torture (Chile).
** Sociologist. Master in Psychology. Executive Secretary, Committee for the Prevention of Torture (Chile).
*** Sociologist. PhD candidate in Political and Social Sciences. Content analyst in the area of Police Function, Committee for the Prevention of Torture (Chile).
Referências bibliográficas
Criteria and Alberto Hurtado University (2023). Chile Says “Citizen imaginaries about democracy in Chile”.
National Institute of Human Rights, INDH (2022) National Survey of Human Rights.
Mera, Jorge (1995) “Chile: Truth and Justice under the Democratic Government”. In Naomi Roht-Arriaza ed. Impunity and Human Rights in International Law and Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 183-184.
Reyes Mate, Manuel (2008). The legacy of oblivion, Madrid: Errata Naturae.
Diego Portales University, UDP (2010) Annual Human Rights Report. Chapter: Human Rights Institutions in Chile
Zalaquett, José (1992) “Balancing Ethical Imperatives and Political Constraints: the Dilemma of New Democracies Confronting Past Human Rights Violations”, Hastings Law Journal 43: 1425, 1438.
[1] On a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being the highest score associated with excellent compliance and 1 with a very poor level of compliance.
[2] Criteria study in collaboration with Alberto University. 2023. Chile Says “Citizens’ perceptions of democracy in Chile”
[3] It is possible to highlight various laws such as: the Participation Law (No. 20.500, 2011); the law that established measures against discrimination (No. 20.609, 2012); the law that created the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) (No. 20.405, 2009); the law that determines Automatic Registration, Modifies the Electoral Service and Modernizes the Voting System (No. 20.568, 2012); as well as the creation of spaces for public debate and the establishment of mechanisms that allow greater access to justice and public information.
[4] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established by Decree No. 355, dated April 25, 1990.
[5] Final report available http://www.gob.cl/informe-rettig/
[6] See José Zalaquett, “Balancing Ethical Imperatives and Political Constraints: the Dilemma of New Democracies Confronting Past Human Rights Violations,” Hastings Law Journal 43 (1992): 1425; Jorge Mera, “Chile: Truth and Justice under the Democratic Government” in Roht-Arriaza, Impunity, 171.
[7] Transitional Justice: A Manual for Latin America. Part I: Concepts and Debates on Transitional Justice, p. 177. Available at https://biblioteca.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/r29758.pdf
[8] Text of the law available https://www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma=30490
[9] The list of people recognized as victims by the Valech Commission is available at http://pdh.minjusticia.gob.cl/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/CNPPTetapa-reconsideraci%C3%B3n.pdf.
[10] Supreme Decree 1.005, April 1997
[11] UDP Annual Human Rights Report 2010. Chapter on Human Rights Institutions in Chile, p. 450.
[12] Law 20.405, published in the Official Gazette on December 12, 2009, also created the Advisory Commission for the Qualification of Disappeared Detainees, Political Executions, and Victims of Political Imprisonment and Torture (known as the Valech II Commission). Among its functions was the responsibility of receiving new testimonies and background information on disappeared detainees, political executions, and victims of political imprisonment and torture—cases that had not been recognized by previous commissions. Its final report, from 2011, documented 30 new cases, six of which involved disappeared detainees. Furthermore, Law No. 20.405 extended reparations benefits to the families of the victims whose cases were classified as disappeared.
[13] Article 8 of Law 20.885 states that: “The functions of the Undersecretariat of Human Rights are to provide advice and direct collaboration to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights in the design and development of policies, plans and programs related to the promotion and protection of human rights. The Undersecretary of Human Rights is the head of the Undersecretariat of Human Rights and immediate collaborator of the Minister in matters within his competence and, in case of absence or incapacity of the Undersecretary of Justice, his legal substitute.”
[14] Article 10 of Law 20.885 states that the function of said Committee is to "advise the President of the Republic in determining the guidelines of the Government's intersectoral policy on human rights, constituting an instance of information, guidance, coordination and agreement for the ministries and services that comprise it."
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