On September 24, on the occasion of the 12th period of sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the adoption of the State of Chile’s statement on the periodic report, Madame Mitterrand, representing the NGO “France-Libertés” and the International Solidarity Network, with Elena Varela (a documentary maker) and the Mapuche nation, drew attention to the unjustified and unacceptable nature of the criminalization of demonstrations by the Mapuche people for the protection of their fundamental rights and ancestral territories, in the form of the application of the law against terrorism and the detention of documentary makers who have reported on the conflicts between Mapuche communities, on the one hand, and the state of Chile and private interests on the other. She also emphasized that the criminalization of the demonstrations is accompanied by cruel repression, which she herself has witnessed, and finished by requesting intervention by the Human Rights Council, to bring to an end the practice by the state of Chile of charging members of the communities with criminal offences, and the application of the law against terrorism, and to guarantee a dialogue on equal terms between the government and the Mapuche nation, through the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, in order to resolve the existing conflicts.

In parallel with this session, a conference entitled “Chile: the criminalization of the Mapuche social movement by means of the law against terrorism”, organized by the same organizations and held at the UN headquarters, took place. The arguments that had been expressed earlier, during the Council session, by Carlos Portales, Permanent Ambassador of the state of Chile before the UN, were countered. Madame Mitterrand was present at this event; she spoke about her visit to Chile as part of a mission by her institution in April 2009, and ratified the arguments she had put forward during the Council session.

French anthropologist Fabien Le Bonniec outlined the social, political and economic framework within which these conflicts are taking place.

Jaime Madariaga, who is acting as lawyer for Elena Varela, also spoke. He pointed out that the statement issued by the Chilean government describes Chile as a paradise for human rights, and stressed that this was not the case, given the number of members of the Mapuche nation who had been charged with terrorist offences. Five – not two –people of Mapuche origin have been charged under the law against terrorism during President Bachelet’s government, in spite of her promise during her presidential campaign not to apply the law within the context of what she referred to at the time as “the Mapuche conflict”. The same law has also been used against non-Mapuche people who have become involved with the nation’s struggle to recover land, autonomy and territorial rights.

Sr Madariaga stated that all charges laid against Mapuche people have related to alleged crimes against property or material damage, and none to crimes against life; moreover, some sentences have been passed on the sole basis of statements by anonymous witnesses. He also pointed out that while the state has persecuted some of those who have violated human rights during the dictatorship, it has not persecuted those who currently violate the essential human rights of the Mapuche nation. In the cases of two of the most recent killings of young Mapuche people, two unarmed young men were shot in the back. [Elena Varela’s lawyer also defends two of the families of such victims.]

Elena Varela testified on her detention, which resulted from her investigation and her production of a documentary on the situation of the Mapuche nation, and on the charges against her and her trial, her detention in the high-security jail in Rancagua, the treatment she received, unjust charges made against her and her current situation (she is imprisoned at night). She pointed out that her trial had struck Chile’s conscience, and that this demonstrates that freedom of expression does not exist there. Much of her audiovisual material has been confiscated.

Christophe Harrison, a French documentary maker who in March 2008, together with Joffrey Rossi, his producer, had made a program on the situation of the Mapuche communities which were in the process of recovering land, testified to his detention by police officers, and the confiscation of his material and passport, and to having been charged with an offence under immigration law. The pair were not deported, but had to leave the country very quickly.

José Venturelli, a pediatrician, referred to the consequences of the repression of the Mapuche communities, and the effects on their health of the humiliation they receive. He also referred to Chile as a state of “apartheid”, in which the Mapuche nation and indigenous people suffer oppression not unlike that experienced by the black population of South Africa in the recent past, as a result of that country’s policies and practices.

Likewise, he refuted Carlos Portales’s statement before the Human Rights Council that freedom of expression is protected by the country’s constitution, given that an amendment to the law has just been defeated in the Senate. The law was, it was claimed, intended to secure and protect the work of documentary makers such as Elena Varela, in terms of professional secrecy and safety for sources of information in particular.

On the government’s statement regarding the creation of the National Institute of Human Rights, it was explained that the reach of the institute is limited, as it is concerned only with memory, and essentially has its basis in the past; that is important, but the fact that today, in Chile, the basic human rights of indigenous and Chilean people are also being violated, without any doubt, does not seem to matter.

Members of the Calfunao family testified on the persecution of their community (some relatives have been imprisoned, and others exiled), and asked the government representative present about the political prisoners. He merely referred back to Carlos Portales’s speech during the Council session, effectively dodging the question. Finally, these arguments were refuted by lawyer Jaime Madariaga, who urged the government to seriously address the issue of the conflict.

*International Network of Solidarity with Elena Varela and the Mapuche Nation*

The International Solidarity Network is made up of the following associations:
Terre et Liberté pour Arauco (France), Collectif pour les Droits de l’Homme au Chili, Comité de Solidarité avec les Indiens des Amériques (CSIA), Nitassinan, Réseau d’information et Soutien au Peuple Mapuche and Apatapela (France); Defensoría Internacional de los Derechos de los Pueblos (DIDEPU), Comision de Apoyo a los Pueblos Originarios and Comité Memoria y Justicia (Switzerland); Association Culturelle Mapuche (Radio Región 14) (Gothenburg, Sweden); Comité Mapuche Belgique (Brussels); Komiteen for Mapuche (Norway); Comitato Lavoratori Cileni Esiliati and Associazione Wenuykan (Italy); José Venturelli (Canada); the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Osservatorio della Pace (Capannori, Italy).]
This press release is supported by Association Relmu (Paris).

For more information, please contact:
Collectif Droits de l’Homme au Chili (France): hzavalaL@hotmail.com
Terre et Liberté pour Arauco (France): libertadarauco@gmail.com

*(Translation: Ramiro Pozzo Edition: Claire O’Kell)*