Even if the current text of the new Constitution is approved on September 4, Chile will maintain the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) for almost 4 years (Transitory Article 53, draft of the Constitution of May 2022), before its functions pass to the Ombudsman’s Office, whose director would be appointed by the Legislative Power. Thus, during almost an electoral period, respect for and guarantee of human rights in Chile will depend to a considerable extent on the current NHRIs, so it is extremely important that it resolves some aspects of its internal organization that, in the past, have prevented it from carrying out its functions fully.
It is especially since the social outbreak that these difficulties became more visible, although they go back to the moments before the creation of the institution, as has been demonstrated in successive chapters of the Annual Report on Human Rights in Chile, published for 20 years by the Human Rights Center of the UDP.
In the future, the statements and decisions of the director of the INDH and the debates in his council – which is partially renewed as of July 4 – should be governed again by the mandate that Law 20,405 entrusted to this independent body. They should promote and protect human rights as defined by the international treaties that Chile has ratified and are in force, and that do not know “right” or “left” visions of these rights.
When the INDH then delivers its next Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights to the President – for the first time, to Gabriel Boric – its challenge will be to analyze both the response of the Public Ministry, the Carabineros, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice to the human rights violations committed during the social outbreak. as the fulfillment of the human rights of all the inhabitants of La Araucanía. It must evaluate both the State’s duty to protect itself from the growing violence, as well as the protection of children and adolescents in public and private schools, in Better Childhood institutions, and in families. It should review how the guarantee of women’s rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights, and the civil, labor, and social rights of people of diversity is achieved. At the same time, it must continue to assess respect for the human rights of migrants and persons deprived of their liberty.
While the right to life and integrity of individuals requires special attention, in particular because of the irreversibility of many violations of these rights, social rights, including the right to social security, are also part of the Institute’s mandate under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The prohibition of discrimination in the guarantee of social rights is one of the greatest challenges that, as a country, we face.
Human rights do not belong to one or the other. Nor is their respect restricted to a demand only on the State: companies must also respect them, just as any actor who exercises power over other people, such as, for example, churches, must do. In recent years, the vision that the INDH has transmitted of human rights has not corresponded to what international law establishes. It is hoped that this can change, so that the legacy that the INDH will eventually make to the Ombudsman’s Office is a work that honors its mandate to promote the human rights recognized in Chile.
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The content expressed in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
