Inter-American Court found the State of Chile guilty of debt owed to teachers

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held the State of Chile responsible for violations of various human rights to the detriment of 846 teachers from the municipalities of Chañaral, Chanco, Pelluhue, Parral, Vallenar and Cauquenes.The case originated in the context of the dictatorship when the administration of public schools passed to the municipalities, this meant that teachers would be subject to the Labour Code and would be governed by the rules applicable to the private sector. Within this framework, article 40 of Decree-Law No. 3,551 created a special non-taxable allowance for personnel under the Ministry of Education as of 1 January 1981, which was not received by teachers who were transferred from the State to the municipalities. The Inter-American Court considered that judicial rulings issued after 1990, which recognized the payment of the special allowance to 846 teachers, were “irregular and ineffective.” It was also established that people over 60 years of age were affected and that a fifth of them died waiting for 25 years for the execution of the rulings, “the State ignored its reinforced duty to guarantee due diligence in the access to justice of the elderly and the speed in the processes in which this population in a situation of vulnerability participates”. The Court ordered various measures of reparation to the State, including that it must pay directly to the affected persons or their successors in title the sums still owed in three annual tracts beginning the first within one year of notification of the judgment. 

Original source in Spanish