16 December 1981

Protection of human rights in Chile

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming its responsibility to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all,

Underlining the obligation of Governments to protect and promote human rights and to carry out the responsibilities they have undertaken under various international instruments,

Determined to remain vigilant with regard to violations of human rights wherever they occur and to take measures in order to restore respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Recalling its resolutions 31/124 of 16 December 1976, 32/118 of 16 December 1977, 33/175 of 20 December 1978, 34/179 of 17 December 1979 and 35/188 of 15 December 1980 on the protection of human rights in Chile, and 33/173 of 20 December 1978 on disappeared persons,

Recalling also Commission on Human Rights resolution 11 (XXXV) of 6 March 1979 on violations of human rights in Chile, in which the Commission, inter alia, decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Chile, and resolution 9 (XXXVII) of 26 February 1981 in which it decided to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for another year,

Deploring the fact that the Chilean authorities have consistently refused to co-operate with the Special Rapporteur appointed by the Commission on Human Rights and with other United Nations bodies in the field of human rights, Deeply concerned about the persistence and, in certain respects, the deterioration of situations which affect the enjoyment and exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Chile, as stated in the report of the Special Rapporteur,

Expressing deep concern that the whereabouts of the numerous persons who have disappeared over the past years are still unknown and that the Chilean authorities continue to fail to take urgent and effective measures to investigate and clarify the fate of persons who have disappeared,

Noting with grave concern that the new constitution in force in Chile as from 11 March 1981, which was prepared with a lack of popular participation, not only fails to guarantee fully, but in certain respects allows interferences with, human rights and fundamental freedoms,

1. Commends the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Chile for his report, prepared in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 9 (XXXVII) of 26 February 1981;

2. Reiterates its grave concern at the persistence and, in some respects, the deterioration of the human rights situation in Chile, as stated by the Special Rapporteur, and particularly:

(a) The disruption of the traditional democratic legal order and its institutions by maintenance and expansion of the emergency legislation and the promulgation of a constitution that fails to reflect a freely expressed popular will, and which clearly hampers the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Chilean people and allows interferences with such rights and freedoms;

(b) The intensification of practices such as arbitrary detention and confinement in secret places, often accompanied by torture and inhuman or degrading treatment which, on occasion, result in unexplained deaths;

(c) The persecution, intimidation and imprisonment, as well as the banishment and forced exile of a number of persons who participate in trade union, academic and cultural and humanitarian activities;

3. Reiterates also its great concern at the fact that the remedies of habeas corpus or amparo prove to be not effective owing to the fact that the judiciary in Chile does not fully exercise its powers in this respect and performs its functions with utmost restrictions;

4. Urges the Chilean authorities to respect and promote human rights in accordance with their obligations under various international instruments and, in particular, to take the following concrete steps that could enable the Commission of Human Rights to consider terminating the mandate of the Special Rapporteur:

(a) To put an end to the state of emergency, under which continued human rights violations occur and to restore the democratic institutions and constitutional guarantees formerly enjoyed by the Chilean people;

(b) To put an end to arbitrary detentions, physical or psychological intimidation and prosecution of persons who exercise their right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the right to petition;

(c) To respect the human rights of persons detained for political reasons and to separate them from those detained for criminal offences;

(d) To take effective measures to prevent torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment resulting, inter alia, in unexplained deaths and to prosecute and punish those responsible for such practices;

(e) To investigate and clarify the fate of persons who have disappeared for political reasons, to inform the relatives of those persons of the outcome of the investigation and to prosecute and punish those responsible for such disappearances;

(f) To restore fully trade union rights, especially the freedom to form trade unions which can operate freely without governmental control and can exercise fully the right to strike;

(g) To guarantee the freedom of assembly and association, and the freedom of Chilean citizens freely to enter and leave the country, and to end the practice of banishments applied to nationals, a practice which amounts to forced exile from the country;

5. Urges once more the Chilean authorities to co-operate with the Special Rapporteur and to comply with their obligations under various international human rights instruments;

6. Requests the Commission on Human Rights at its thirty-eighth session to study thoroughly the report of the Special Rapporteur;

7. Invites the Commission on Human Rights to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for another year and request the Commission to report on the human rights situation in Chile, through the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session.