Invites you to a presentation of the Chilean lawyer José Aylwin on
Human and First Nations Rights in Chile, current situation.
This presentation will be on Friday February 24, 2012, 6 pm at OISE: 252 Bloor Street West, Room 5260 (fifth floor room 260)
José Aylwin is a human rights lawyer, with specialization on indigenous peoples and citizens rights in Latin America. He graduated at the Faculty of Law, University of Chile, and has a Master in Law degree from the University of British Columbia.
His research has been published by different organizations including the University of La Frontera, Chile, the United Nations (ECLAC), the Inter American Institute for Human Rights, IWGIA from Denmark, and the University of Montana, on several topics including indigenous peoples’ land rights, Ombudsman in Latin America, globalization and human rights in Latin America, and Chile
He currently acts as Co-Director of the “Observatorio Ciudadano “(Citizens’ Watchdog), an NGO aimed at the promotion and protection of human rights in Chile, based in Temuco and Santiago (www.observatorio.cl). He also teaches Indigenous Peoples’ Rights at the School of Law of the Universidad Austral de Chile. The presentation will be in English followed by a question and answer period.
Brief Summary of the Mapuche situation. The Mapuche make up 87 percent of indigenous people in Chile and one million of the country’s 16 million people. Their ancestral territory spans the southern tip of South America across Argentina and Chile. Most of the Mapuche territory was lost in the late 19th century through abusive measures and harassment in the so called “Pacificacion de la Araucania” by successive governments. Later, particularly under the Pinochet regime, international forestry and mining companies were offered incentives to operate in the Araucania region, as a result, indigenous communities who generally have no formal land titles to their ancestral properties, have been increasingly forced off their land. The Chilean state has labeled the Mapuche struggle as “terrorist activities” and has repressed it with “anti-terrorist laws” established during the Pinochet Dictatorship.
This repressive legislation has only been used by the Chilean State in post-dictatorship time against the First Nations and their supporters, except for one case. Accusations of terrorism “justify” long secret investigations that can last years and make access to a fair trial almost impossible. The anti-terrorist laws include practices such as long periods of arrest on remand, “protected witnesses”: prosecutors present witnesses with concealed identity and “double trials”, where the accused are condemned in civil and military courts resulting in heavier sentences and detriment imprison conditions against the human dignity.
The government’s treatment of the Mapuches violates many UN International accords including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the ILO Convention 169.
Ontario Mapuche Support Group
The aim of the Ontario Mapuche Support Group is to assist with the legal costs of the Mapuche Political Prisoners trials. Very few lawyers step up to defend Mapuches because they must work without pay since most of those accused are very poor and those in prison are often the only source of income for their families. It also means that those defending Mapuches are later ostracized from further legal work and even become a target of the state, a case in point: the lawyer Karina Riquelme who became well known for her defense of Mapuche minors accused of terrorism, she is now accused of having practiced as a lawyer just before fully completing her degree.
In 2008, Canadian outward foreign direct investment in Chile was measured at $8.346 billion. Canada's priority sectors in Chile are among those that have most aggravated the Mapuche conflicts, including mining, forestry, fishing and agricultural industries.
How can you help change this situation
* Demand that the Canadian Government ensures that Canadian companies working abroad comply with the regulations regarding protection of peoples and their environment as established in Canada.
* Become an International Observer of the Mapuche trials
* Support the costs of the Mapuche’s legal defense
* Join the Ontario Mapuche Support Group: call (416) 441-1872 or email us to on-apoyomapuche@googlegroups.com
