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necessary measures to ensure that all children in conflict with the law are treated equally. Particular
attention must be paid to de facto discrimination and disparities, which may be the result of a lack of a
consistent policy and involve vulnerable groups of children, such as (…) indigenous children (…). In this
regard, training of all professionals involved in the administration of juvenile justice is important (…), as
well as the establishment of rules, regulations or protocols which enhance equal treatment of child
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offenders and provide redress, remedies and compensation.”
In its concluding remarks on Chile in 2007, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its
concern for the discrimination of which Chilean indigenous children are victims. Consequently, it
recommended “that the State party increase its efforts to review, monitor and ensure implementation of
legislation guaranteeing the principle of non-discrimination and full compliance with article 2 of the
Convention, and adopt a proactive and comprehensive strategy to eliminate discrimination on gender,
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ethnic, religious or any other grounds and against all vulnerable groups throughout the country.”
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According to accounts provided by different international organizations, children and teenagers of the
Mapuche people say they are victims of social discrimination in general, because of their physical
appearance and their first and last names, which would reveal the ethnic group they belong to. In nonindigenous social settings, many of them report feeling excluded, scorned or rebuffed; furthermore, they
feel that others consider them to be in a lower social class because they are Mapuche. This situation of
discrimination is further exacerbated by the conditions of extreme and widespread poverty of the
Mapuche indigenous people.
In light of this backdrop of discrimination, there is no question that subjecting indigenous children and
adolescents to a pattern of criminal prosecution, which infringes their rights, under circumstances that run
counter to the principle of equality, will only contribute to further engrain this perception of systematic and
structural discrimination and lead to the possible consequential individual and collective effects.
It is imperative, therefore, for the Chilean State to strive to effectively fulfill the minimum international
guarantees that it pledged to respect regarding all persons under the age of 18 years old in dealing with
indigenous children and youth. As vulnerable individuals who receive special protection under
international law, Mapuche children and adolescents enjoy a set of fundamental rights and to disregard
such rights is a breach of the international responsibility of the Chilean State.
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UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: General Comment No. 10 (2007)- Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice. UN
Document CRC/C/GC/10, April 25, 2007, par. 6.
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UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 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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http://www.unicef.org/adolescence/chile_39013.html