UN Human Rights reports on Chile: "torture, ill-treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence by the police"

[Serpens007]

UN Human Rights Office report on Chile crisis describes multiple police violations and calls for reforms​

GENEVA (13 December 2019) – The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a report on Chile published on Friday, says that during the recent mass protests and state of emergency the police and army failed to adhere to international human rights norms and standards relating to management of assemblies and the use of force.

The 30-page report was produced by a UN Human Rights Office team which spent the first three weeks of November researching the situation across seven regions of Chile. It details extensive allegations – including specific examples -- of torture, ill-treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence by the police against people held in detention, many of whom appear to have been detained arbitrarily. In all, according to official figures, more than 28,000 people were detained between 18 October and 6 December, although the great majority have been released.

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The team carried out 235 interviews with victims of alleged human rights violations – including injured and detained protestors and their family members -- and conducted 60 interviews with police officers, including some of those injured during the protests.

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The report says that information gathered from a variety of sources indicates "the police has regularly failed to distinguish between people demonstrating peacefully and violent protesters."

During its mission, the team documented 113 specific cases of torture and ill-treatment, and 24 cases of sexual violence against women, men and adolescent girls and boys, perpetrated by members of the police and army. It notes that the National Human Rights Institution has filed criminal complaints relating to hundreds more such cases.

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The report cites the Ministry of Justice figure of 4,903 people injured up to 10 December, including 2,792 police officers, but notes other sources suggest higher numbers of injured. It states that there had been "unnecessary and disproportionate use of less-lethal weapons, in particular anti-riot shotguns, during peaceful demonstrations and/or outside the context of violent confrontations between demonstrators and security forces. This has resulted in a high number of people being injured, including passers-by and people who were not committing violent acts but just protesting peacefully."

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"The alarmingly high number of persons with injuries to their eyes or faces (approximately 350) provides a strong basis to believe that 'less-lethal weapons' have been used improperly and indiscriminately, against international principles on minimizing the risk of injury," the report says. It notes that while eye injuries mainly resulted from shotgun pellets, some cases were "due to the use of chemical irritants, in particular tear gas and, in some instances, from impacts from tear gas canisters."

The report states that the authorities "had information regarding the extent of the injuries as early as 22 October. However, those responsible failed to adopt effective, prompt and timely measures to end the use of less-lethal weapons, especially anti-riot shotguns using pellets.

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More on the link, and far more in the report itself

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25423&LangID=E

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CL/Report_Chile_2019_EN.pdf

This adds to three other reports from:

Amnesty International:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/n...politica-deliberada-para-danar-manifestantes/

Human Rights Watch

https://www.dw.com/en/chile-protests-serious-human-rights-violations-by-police-says-hrw/a-51434777

IACHR

http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2019/317.asp

Government rejected Amnesty International report (it indicates them using repression to provoke people to stop protesting), took the other two reports "with deep concern", and now relativizes the UN Report

"In some cases, the Report affirms the existence of human rights violations before the ongoing investigations are concluded, within the framework of the rule of law and the democratic institutionality of the country. In that sense, the Government reiterates the importance of validating the sources of information, since a large number of false news widely disseminated have been corroborated despite being discarded by the Public Ministry or the Courts of Justice ", indicates the Executive's response.

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https://www.latercera.com/politica/...formacion-casos-violaciones-los-dd-hh/937570/

Sadly, yesterday the Impeachment process against President Piñera was rejected by congress when they approved the defense (which prevents the accusation document to be heard by the congress, even after two weeks of investigation by a comitee that approved it). The defense claimed that "The President's omission in taking action to prevent Human Rights violations is not considered by the Constitution as an impeachment reason". The rejection was approved with opposition votes from deputies who were found in the bathroom with government's Interior Ministry.

 

[Untzillatx]

Awful

Failing to prevent human rights violations by agents of the state is not an impeachable offence, I don't know what it would be.

I was pretty ambivalent regarding Piñera before all this (admittedly I did not know much about Chilean politics, and I still kinda don't) but this is just terrible.

 

[Serpens007]

Awful

Failing to prevent human rights violations by agents of the state is not an impeachable offence, I don't know what it would be.

I was pretty ambivalent regarding Piñera before all this (admittedly I did not know much about Chilean politics, and I still kinda don't) but this is just terrible.

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It's absurd. During the Comitee hearings, some Constitutional Lawyers said that we can't expect having signatures to condemn this cases, because it would mean that events like the Holodomor or the Holocaust would be out of Stalin's or Hitler's guilt. Political lobby was more important this time.

It's a dangerous precedent. You can allow whatever shit and play fool and get away with it. I hope that with these reports in the future international courts take action. There are criminal inquiries filled against Piñera in Chile, many actually, but we won't know about them for a while due to judicial secrecy

 

[Serpens007]

UN answers Government claims:

Imma Guerras-Delgado, The woman in charge of the UN mission that visited Chile between October 30 and November 22 , responded in conversation with TVN ensuring that the work they did was fully verified, dismissing the criticism of the Executive.

"We listen to information coming from the authorities, we meet with civil society and, above all, we meet with the victims. That is, the cases come from victims with whom we have met , and we have seen their situation, with which I attest that the cases presented with cases that we have verified, unless the government is referring to another type of information, "he said to the aforementioned media.

"There have been 26 deaths that are under investigation . There are four that, at this time, it can be affirmed that there has been an authored by the State (...) are official numbers provided by the Prosecutor's Office, "he added.

He also explained that "there are many mechanisms" to verify the existence of human rights violations, indicating that the criticisms of the safe Government pointed to the judicial sphere.

"But there are other mechanisms. The office has a mandate to determine violations. And it may not be a judicial mechanism. For example, the mission we did, "he explained.

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https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias...e-sobre-ddhh-tras-criticas-del-gobierno.shtml

And now the Chilean Foreign Relations Ministry has this stupidity to say:

Foreign Minister Ribera said that, in perspective, "none of the reports of international organizations suggest that there have been serious and systematic violations. That is why we have to review the reports, see the conclusions, how to improve internal procedures . "

Regarding the Government's position regarding the report, when they indicated that it was necessary to wait for the ongoing Justice investigations before drawing conclusions, Ribera said that the text "has assertions that are not typical of the High Commissioner, but are formulated expressions by third parties, expressed in terms such as 'there would be, could, it is indicated that'. It doesn't take over that this is necessarily true . "

Finally, the minister criticized that the report of the UN Human Rights Office made recommendations regarding the constitutional process .

"We are talking about an office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. There are looks, perspectives that they raise, in an area that is outside the commission, "he said.

"Once and for all we cannot be worried about more reports or less reports, we already have four reports. And, therefore, what interests the country is to return to normal with respect to fundamental rights, "he concluded.

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"none of the reports of international organizations suggest that there have been serious and systematic violations"

"none of the reports of international organizations suggest that there have been serious and systematic violations"

"none of the reports of international organizations suggest that there have been serious and systematic violations"


This isn't serious ERA, I'm sorry for posting so much of it.