Recently, Chile’s National Congress approved Law 20.467, which amends some provisions of Law 18.314. Following the latest amendment to be approved, the relevant provision of Law 18.314 reads as follows: “Article 3. Should conduct [that is] criminalized under Law No. 18.314 or under other laws be carried out by minors under the age of 18 years old, by application of the principal of special status, the procedure and sentence reductions set forth in Law 20.084, which establish a system of criminal responsibility of adolescents, shall always apply. It shall be an aggravating circumstance of the crimes set forth in Law No. 18.314 to act with minors under 18 years old.” Pursuant to Law 18.314 as amended, a child or adolescent can be prosecuted for crimes of terrorism, but the juvenile criminal law rules of procedure and sentence reduction shall apply to him. However, the definition of the crimes and punishments set forth in adult Law 18.314, which sets particularly harsh prison sentences, remains in effect; consequently, even though the procedure for determination of sentences and reductions of prison terms in Law 20.084 is applicable, an adolescent could receive a long prison sentence. The new amendment to the anti-terrorist law should apply to current criminal proceedings, given that the amended provisions are more favorable in both substantive and procedural terms; however, it is reported that in some of the cases of the young Mapuche people, the Courts have interpreted the amendment to Law 18.314 in such a way that the anti-terrorist law provisions are still applied and, consequently, allow practices such as the testimony of unidentified witnesses or require a special majority [of judges] to lift preventive detention measures. One of the main purposes of the recent amendment to Law 18.314 was to restrict application of the procedural and sentencing rules provided therein so that the rules of procedure and sentencing under juvenile criminal law could be applied to juveniles instead of the rules provided by the anti-terrorist law. Nonetheless, Mapuche adolescents being prosecuted under the anti-terrorist law are still being held today under the rules of procedure and deprivation of liberty set forth in Law 18.314, and are unable to benefit from the provisions of the amendment. As was established in the merits report, Chile’s anti-terrorist law is at odds with several articles of the American Convention on Human Rights, particularly Articles 8, 9 and 24, in its wording as well as its implementation by judges. Furthermore, application of the restrictive measures, as well as other measures, set forth in the Anti-Terrorist Law, to children and adolescents, the length of preventive detention, the use of testimony of witnesses whose identity is kept secret, or other measures, are all blatant violations of the rights of juveniles. Moreover, in the police and military response to the social mobilizations of the Mapuche people, there have been repeated charges brought before a variety of international bodies that the right of indigenous children and teenagers to life and physical and psychological integrity has been infringed. Several human rights protection organizations, as well as international bodies, have denounced that judicial and police authorities are violating the rights of the Mapuche youth, who have been victims of arbitrary detentions and, in many instances, have been subjected to interrogations on the location of other members of the Mapuche people; these interrogations are often violent and take place during the school day or when the children or teenagers are on their way to school from home. The alleged crimes include cases of infringement of the children’s and teenagers’ right to life or personal integrity, in that they were wounded by bullets or harmed by tear gas fired or thrown, respectively, by the public security forces; or were forced to endure the fear or trauma of police search operations in the home, school or community. In 2007, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern over reports of indigenous children and teenagers being subjected to acts of police brutality and, consequently, recommended that the Chilean State make sure that such acts do not occur and adopt preventive and corrective measures when it is 1 suspected that such acts have taken place. 1 UN Committee on the Rights of the Chilld – 44th Period of Sessions –Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of the Convention. Concluding Observations: Chile. UN Document CRC/C/CHL/CO/3, April 23, 2007, par. 30.

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