Human Rights Setbacks Under Kast Administration Lead to CIDH Hearing in Washington

This session in Washington is part of the CIDH’s 196th session period, requested by human rights organizations that alerted the international body about an accelerated shift in handling sensitive human rights, gender, and memory issues following the installation of a new far-right government. They warned that the executive’s decisions threaten the continuity of public policies developed over decades to ensure truth, justice, equality, reparations, guarantees of non-repetition, and the prosecution of crimes against humanity.

The organizations stated that the measures and cuts implemented by Kast impact specialized units, budgets, and public mechanisms aimed at protecting vulnerable individuals, preventing violence, historical memory, and meeting international obligations assumed by the Chilean state.

In a document submitted to the CIDH’s executive secretary, Tania Reneaum Panszi, the organizations requested that the body seeks information from the Chilean state and analyzes the reported measures for their potential effects.

They identified four critical areas of concern:

Dismantling of Human Rights Units:

According to the organizations, since Kast’s arrival at La Moneda, the government has proceeded to eliminate or weaken specialized technical units, such as the Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Unit of the Ministry of National Assets, the National Migration Service, and the premature dismissal of heads associated with the Human Rights Program and the National Plan for the Search of victims of forced disappearance during the military dictatorship, impacting the state’s capacity to coordinate policies on memory, truth, and justice.

Budget Cuts to Structural Programs

They noted that a letter from the Ministry of Finance forecasts the reduction or discontinuation of essential programs such as the Human Rights Program (PDH), the National Plan for the Search of victims of forced disappearance, and the Comprehensive Health Repair and Support Program (PRAIS), along with 142 other social programs in areas like education, health, social protection, gender, and support for vulnerable groups. This indicates that it is not merely about specific adjustments but rather a large-scale budget reconfiguration with multisectoral effects, threatening the continuity of vital services for victims and violating the principle of non-regression of rights.

«Passive Pardons» for Crimes Against Humanity

In the text, they denounced a shift in criteria at the Ministry of Justice, which has instructed state lawyers not to oppose requests for parole benefits from those convicted of crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations committed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. They indicated that this deliberate omission of defense, termed as «passive pardons», facilitates impunity and contradicts the state’s international obligations.

Weakening of Historical Memory

The organizations alerted the CIDH that since March 11, there has been evidence of a regression in memory policies, threats to memory sites, and the halt of the expropriation process of the former Colonia Dignidad to convert it into a Site of Memory. They indicated that this decision, justified on economic grounds, postpones the «symbolic reparation and preservation of sites relevant for historical clarification and guarantees of non-repetition».

In light of this critical situation, the organizations have requested the CIDH to seek detailed information from the Chilean state regarding each of these points. The aim is for the Commission to assess whether these actions align with inter-American standards, as their combined impact represents a dangerous regression that undermines democratic institutions and fundamental rights in the country.

In a conversation with El Ciudadano’s Sentido Común program, attorney Paulina Zamorano, a member of the Justice and Memory Observers Network, stated that the CIDH hearing will address «four main points related to administrative policies that have been adopted and their impact on human rights in the state».

Human Rights Organizations Aim to «Stop the Institutional Dismantling of the State»

Attorney Paulina Zamorano, a member of the Justice and Memory Observers Network and participant in this Wednesday’s hearing, along with representatives from London 38 – Memory Space and the Association for Memory and the Rights of Colonia Dignidad and the National Public Employees Association (ANEF), stated that they will address «four main points related to administrative policies that have been adopted and their impact on human rights in the state».

In a conversation with Sentido Común program host Javier Pineda Olcay, she explained that with this presentation, civil society and human rights defense organizations in Chile aim for the Commission to be aware of the gathered evidence and evaluate its relationship with the state’s international obligations, with the goal of «stopping and halting the institutional dismantling of the state».

She warned that according to the organizations’ estimates, over 1,800 million pesos have been cut from the state, without an evaluation concerning the functioning of these programs.

Zamorano highlighted that this Wednesday, August 5, while the CIDH hearing takes place in Washington, there will be a series of national convocations.

«We will be holding a series of meetings with human rights organizations, keeping the public informed about the next steps and also working together on the recommendations that the Inter-American Commission will make to the Chilean state,» she stated.

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