Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/mac/TEXT/HUMANrts/CHILE.TXU

Text File | 1996-01-04 | 18KB | 358 lines

TITLE:  CHILE HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1994



Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change their Government

Chile is a constitutional democracy, and citizens have the
right to change their government through periodic elections.
There is universal suffrage for citizens 18 years of age or
over, and more than 95 percent of those eligible are registered
to vote.  Voting is compulsory for those who register.
National elections for President and Congress were held on
December 11, 1993, the second since the return to democracy.
President Frei won the largest majority in modern Chilean
history, capturing 58 percent of the vote in a six-candidate
race.  The Senate includes 18 members elected in 1993 and 20
elected in 1989.  Under the 1980 Constitution, various national
institutions, including the President, the Supreme Court, and
the Armed Forces-dominated National Security Council, appointed
an additional nine Senators to 8-year terms prior to the
transition to democracy.  (One of the appointed Senate
positions was vacant at year's end.)  While the governing
coalition has a majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the
opposition has a working majority in the Senate due to the
eight appointed Senators.

The former military government wrote the 1980 Constitution and
amended it slightly in 1989 after losing a referendum for
President Pinochet to stay in office.  It provides for a strong
presidency and a legislative branch with limited powers.  The
President has the authority to limit spending and to set time
limits for Congress to consider bills.  In addition, the
Constitution includes provisions designed to protect the
interests of the military and the minority political
opposition, currently the right.  These provisions, according
to their defenders (and even some critics) assured stability in
the political process during the transition.  The center-left
coalition that has governed Chile since 1990 accepts the
legitimacy of the 1980 Constitution, but has sought to amend
elements characterized as "authoritarian enclaves" left over
from the previous regime.  These include limitations on the
President's right to remove chiefs of the armed forces, an
electoral system that gives the political opposition a
disproportionate representation in Congress, and the existence
of nonelected "institutional senators."

Women have had the right to vote in municipal elections since
1934 and in national elections since 1949, and they are active
in Chilean political life at the grass roots level.  Women make
up a majority of the registered voters and of those who
actually cast ballots, but there are few women in leadership
positions.  There are 9 women among the 120 deputies, 3 women
among the 46 Senators, and 3 female cabinet ministers.

Chile's indigenous people have the legal right to participate
freely in the political process, although relatively few are
politically active.  While their participation has increased
since the 1990 democratic transition, of the nearly one million
self-described indigenous people in Chile, there is only one
representative of Indian descent in the Congress.  Indigenous
leaders participated in drafting 1993 legislation giving them
greater influence over decisions affecting their interests.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

The Social Aid Foundation of the Christian Churches hired many
of the lawyers and assumed the bulk of the caseload of the
Catholic Church's former Vicariate of Solidarity.  The Chilean
Human Rights Commission is affiliated with the International
League of Human Rights and continues to gather evidence of
police abuses.  The Defense Committee of the Peoples' Rights
(CODEPU) provides legal counsel to those accused of politically
related crimes and to victims of human rights abuses.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) say that the Government
has cooperated with their efforts to investigate accusations of
continued human rights violations in Chile.  Many international
NGO's also continued to follow closely human rights issues in
Chile.

The National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation issued a
report in 1991 that was a catalytic event in allowing Chilean
society to come to terms with human rights abuses under the
military government.  The successor to the Commission, the
National Corporation for Compensation and Reconciliation
continues to investigate cases, and the Congress recently
extended its mandate through the end of 1995 to allow it to
complete investigations of the last of 3,200 individual cases
of human rights abuses on which it has information.  The
corporation also provides more than one million dollars per
month in compensation to more than 5,000 family members of
human rights victims.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

The Constitution guarantees equality before the law, but it
does not specifically ban discrimination based on race, sex,
religion, or social status.

There are no laws preventing gays or lesbians from exercising
freedom of speech or other rights.  However, when the National
Health Service advertisements on AIDS awareness suggested
homosexual behavior was one of the situations that put people
at risk, two local television stations refused to run the
advertisements.

     Women

Legal distinctions between the sexes still exist, despite a
decision in 1989 to ratify the U.N. Convention to Eliminate All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and give human rights
treaties precedence over local laws.  A law that classified
adultery as a criminal offense for women and a civil offense
for men was changed in 1994.  The law permits legal separation,
but not divorce, so those who wish to remarry need to seek
annulments.  Since annulments imply that the marriage legally
never existed, former wives are left with little legal recourse
for financial support.  A law was recently enacted that creates
conjugal property as an option in a marriage but some women
actually saw this as a step backward since the law on separate
property (which still exists), gives women the right to half
their husbands' assets but gives husbands no rights to theirs.

The public is only beginning to become aware of the extent of
abuses such as wife beating.  The National Women's Service
(SERNAM), created in 1991 to combat discrimination against
women, found in a survey that 26.2 percent of women said they
had been subjected to some form of physical violence by their
husband or partner and another 33.5 percent reported some form
of psychological violence, but only 16 percent reported such
violence to the police.  SERNAM is now conducting courses on
the legal, medical, and psychological aspects of domestic
violence for Carabineros, who are usually the first public
officials to intervene in such incidents, and in January, the
Carabineros created a Family Affairs Unit.

The Congress recently enacted a law on intrafamily violence
that provides court-ordered counseling to those involved in
intrafamily violence.  In the first 5 months it was in effect,
nearly 1,000 cases were reported to the Carabineros family
affairs unit in Santiago.  In 57 of those cases, men claimed
they were abused by their spouses.  Carabineros also reported
that the family affairs unit received more than 2,400
complaints of rape or sexual abuse the first 11 months that it
was in operation.

Another SERNAM study of female heads of household found that on
average they earn 45 percent as much as male heads of
households.  Women with no schooling received a salary that was
82 percent of that of their male counterparts without
schooling, while women heads of household with university
training earned only 51.7 percent as much as their male
contemporaries.  SERNAM has a pilot program providing
occupational training and child care to attempt to alleviate
this form of discrimination.

     Children

The Congress enacted a law that segregates juvenile offenders
from adult prisoners.  Although juvenile offenders (i.e. those
under 18) had long received special treatment in the courts,
some of the prisoners had been incarcerated with adults.  The
National Minors Service (SENAME) conducted a survey that
indicated sexual abuse of minors occurred but that few cases
were reported.  The new law on intrafamily violence was
designed in part to deal with this type of problem.  A United
Nations Children's Fund study of 1,853 young people attempted
to estimate how many children work.  The study concluded that 7
percent of children between 6 and 17 years of age were in the
work force.  The majority of the working minors were males from
single parent families who work more than 40 hours per week and
did not attend school.  The Congress is considering a proposed
law to regulate, rather than ban, work by minors so that there
would be a better chance of their attending school.

     Indigenous People

The Mapuches from southern Chile comprise over 90 percent of
the indigenous population, but there are small Aimara,
Atacameno, Huilliche, Rapa Nui, and Kawaskhar populations in
other parts of Chile.  A committee composed of representatives
of indigenous groups participated in drafting the 1993 law that
recognized the ethnic diversity of the indigenous population
and gave them a voice in decisions affecting their lands,
cultures and traditions.  It provides for eventual bilingual
education in schools with indigenous populations, and replaced
a statute which emphasized assimilation of indigenous people.
However, out of the population which identifies itself as
indigenous (nearly one million, according to the 1992 census),
about half remain separated from the rest of society, largely
because of historical, cultural, educational, and geographical
factors, and in fact the ability of indigenous people to
participate in decisions affecting their lands, cultures,
traditions, and the allocation of natural resources is marginal
at best.

     National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Chile assimilated a major European (mainly German) migration in
the last century and a major Middle Eastern (mainly Arab)
migration in the early part of this century.  Smaller racial
and ethnic minority groups experience a degree of intolerance.
The wife of a prominent Korean resident filed suit after she
was banned from a local health club, and the Supreme Court
ruled in her favor, assessing the maximum fine.

     People with Disabilities

Congress passed a law in 1994 to promote the integration of
people with disabilities into society, and the National Fund
for the Handicapped (FONDIS) has a $1.5 million budget.  The
1992 Census found that 288,000 citizens said they had some form
of disability, but FONDIS estimates that the actual number is
closer to one million.  The disabled still suffer some forms of
legal discrimination, for example, blind people cannot become
teachers or tutors.  Although the law now requires that new
public buildings provide access for the disabled, the public
transportation system does not make provision for wheelchair
access, and even a new subway line under construction has
barriers to the disabled.  Reserved parking for the disabled is
becoming more common.

Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

Workers have a right to form unions without prior authorization
and to join existing unions, and about 11.5 percent of the work
force is organized.  A newly enacted law gives government
employees' associations the same rights as trade unions, and
the associations' leaders are on committees to draft the
implementing regulations.  Public employee associations
participate in labor centrals, but they had not enjoyed the
same legal protection as unions.  Only the police and military
are not allowed to form unions.

The 1992 Labor Code permits nationwide labor centrals, and the
Unified Workers Central (CUT), the largest and most
representative central, legalized its status in April 1992.
CUT and many other confederations and federations maintain ties
to international labor organizations.  Unions are independent
of the Government, but union leaders are usually elected from
lists based on party affiliation and they maintain ties to
their parties.

Reforms to the Labor Code in 1990 removed significant
restrictions on the right to strike.  For example, employers
may no longer fire striking workers without paying severance
benefits.  But the law continues to require that workers vote
by secret ballot in the presence of a labor inspector or notary
whether to accept the company's final offer before they can go
on strike.  Employers must now show cause to fire workers, but
"needs of the company" is a permissible cause.  Union leaders
claim that some employers invoke this clause to fire employees
who are attempting to form unions or who are active in
collective bargaining.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Although the climate for collective bargaining improved under
the democratic government, most workers continue to negotiate
individual contracts.  Employers say this is due to the
emphasis that workers put on individual performance, but union
leaders say that the Labor Code prevents many sectors from
organizing.  The process for negotiating a formal labor
contract is carefully regulated, and the Labor Code prescribes
a detailed set of rules for contract negotiations.  Formal
negotiations are required for unions to call a strike.
Nonetheless, the law permits (and the government encourages)
informal union-management discussions to reach collective
agreements ("convenios") outside the regulated bargaining
process.

Employers may include a clause in individual employment
contracts that some classes of employees are not allowed to
participate in collective bargaining.  While this supposedly
applies only to supervisory personnel, in the telephone
company, for example, technical personnel also have such
contracts.

Temporary workers--defined in the Labor Code as agriculture,
construction, port workers, and entertainers--may now form
unions, but their right to collective bargaining continued to
be restricted.  The Labor Code provides sanctions for unfair
bargaining practices that protect workers from dismissal during
the bargaining process, but labor leaders claim that companies
invoke the "needs of the enterprise" clause to fire workers
after a union has signed a new contract, particularly when
negotiations result in a prolonged strike.  If a worker proves
in court that he had been fired unfairly, this will raise his
severance pay by 20 percent, but he will not get his job back.
Since workers must wait months or years for the court to rule
before collecting their severance pay, they seldom resort to
this remedy.

The same labor laws apply in Chile's duty free zones.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The Constitution and the Labor Code prohibit forced or
compulsory labor, and there is no indication that it is
currently practiced.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The law permits children as young as 14 years old to be employed
only with permission of parents or guardians, after completing
their compulsory elementary schooling, and in restricted types
of labor.  Those aged 15 to 18 may be employed in a larger
variety of jobs and at expanded hours, but only with their
parents' or guardians' permission.  Labor inspectors enforce
these regulations and voluntary compliance is good in the
formal sector.  Many children are employed in the informal
economy, however, which is more difficult to regulate (see
Section 5 on children).  The Carabineros have procedures to
counsel parents who take their children out of school and put
them to work.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The law sets minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational
safety and health standards.  The legal workweek is 48 hours
which can be worked in either 5 or 6 days.  The maximum workday
length is 10 hours, but a few positions like caretakers are
exempted.  A tripartite committee comprised of government,
employer, and labor representatives normally suggests a minimum
wage based on projected future inflation and increases in
productivity, but in 1994 the employers did not participate and
the labor representatives did not accept the Government's final
offer.  The Congress passed the Government's proposal with
little dissent, which set the minimum monthly wage at about
$125 (51,125 pesos).  Lower paid workers also receive a family
subsidy to help raise their earnings to an acceptable level.

Ministry of Labor inspectors enforce laws covering working
conditions.  The Government has increased resources and
targeted inspections at industries that had been the worst
abusers.  As a result, enforcement is improving and voluntarily
compliance is fairly good.  Insurance mutuals have provided
workmen's compensation and occupational safety training for the
private sector since the 1960's, and they reported a 24 percent
decline in occupational injuries over that time, although 11
percent of the work force still submitted claims.  In November
the Congress amended the law to allow public sector workers the
same coverage, a longstanding demand of organized labor.
Workers who remove themselves from situations that endanger
their health and safety have their employment protected,
provided they asked a workers' delegate to bring the problem to
the attention of labor inspectors.