Chile: Latest assessment on the implementation of Human Rights Committee Recommendations

Adopted during the 119th session (March 2017)

The Committee recommends the state to amend the Counter-terrorism act to ensure that the efforts of law enforcement personnel do not target specific individuals based on their ethnic origin or other factors. More information is needed on the interpretation of key concepts and their compliance with the principles of legal certainty and predictability. The state should ensure all procedural guarantees under art. 14 of the Covenant (B).

Furthermore, the Committee remains concerned about the lack of exceptions to the general prohibition of abortion including for cases of therapeutic abortion, rape or incest. The Committee requests more information on the status of the bill (B). The state should also ensure that all women and adolescents have access to reproductive health services and increase the number of awareness-raising programmes. The Committee requests information on the measures taken to implement this recommendation, and on whether sexual and reproductive health education is a formal part of the school curriculum (B).

The Committee recommends the strengthening of human rights training for members of security forces and law enforcement personnel in order to prevent and eliminate torture and ill-treatment. More information is requested on the amount of hours of the training, the content and the use of certain weapons (B). The Committee asks concrete information regarding the investigations (C).