Today, Tuesday, October 15, Humanist Congressman Tomás Hirsch will present, together with Congressmen Labra (PC), Fernández (PS), Marzán (PPD), Mirosevic (PL), Boric (Conv) and Girardi (PPD) a constitutional reform project that seeks to make Chile renounce war as a method of conflict resolution.
The initiative has a pure article that modifies the fundamental charter. It is justified that our country can make use of “legitimate defense in case of a military attack committed by foreign forces,” but “this right may not be invoked in order to execute or justify a military attack on foreign territory,” he says.
Within the arguments to support the parliamentary initiative, the deputies indicate that “although the recognition of the principle of renunciation of war by Chile in international treaties is a remarkable fact, we believe it is necessary to incorporate this principle into our national legislation -specifically into our Political Constitution- in order to guarantee the full applicability of this principle at the national level”.
According to Tomás Hirsch, “Chile, although a small country, has occupied a leading position in the promotion of peace and non-violence as a form of conflict resolution. Constitutionally instituting the renunciation of war as a means of conflict resolution reinforces this position, also giving the country practical and moral leadership within the framework of the global peace agenda. Latin America has also historically been an area characterized by a low number of wars between states. Having said that, to consider today the existence of conflict hypothesis seems something extemporaneous to the reality we are living. The fact that Chile unilaterally decides to renounce war as a way of resolving conflicts positions it as a pacifist vanguard in a region marked by the absence of armed conflicts,” it says.
Moreover, the Broad Front deputy stressed that this initiative was an idea of some time ago on the part of Humanists, who reject violence in all its forms, and added: “I am convinced that today it is necessary to give a clear and forceful signal in favour of peace. Just as we are experiencing environmental problems, just as there is a global water crisis, the reasons for war may be some that we have not even imagined in the past. For the same reason, it is important in the current and future context to give clear signs of our country’s commitment to peace and rejection of war.
He concluded by saying: “If this same commitment were incorporated at the constitutional level by our neighbouring countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and others in the region, military spending could be drastically reduced. We, the humanists, propose the reduction of military spending, proportionally between countries in the same region.”
Translation Pressenza London
