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Chile: Update to CHL33869.E of 28 March 2000 on rape legislation, including its implementation and effectiveness; additional information on new protection measures and remedies for victims of sexual assault and rape

The Website of the Gendarmería de Chile reports that of the 20,568 persons convicted and serving jail sentences in December 2001, 946 or 4.6 per cent were incarcerated for the crime of rape (Chile n.d.a).

The following information is provided in a 10-17 July 2002 article published in Contacto Nacional, a publication of the political party Renovación Nacional.

The Chilean Ministry of the Interior reports that the number of complaints of rape increased from 1,035 in 1998 to 1,905 in 2001, which represents an increase of 84.5 per cent. In 2001, the statistics department of the Chilean Investigations Police received a total of 8,971 complaints of sexual crimes, of which 3,006 were complaints of rape. However, only 10 per cent of the complaints of rape (roughly 300 cases of the total intake) are expected to be processed quickly because the victims of these cases suffered lasting physical injuries, while the other 90 per cent of cases will be processed more slowly because the victims suffered no lasting physical injury and consequently will have to undergo a “credibility examination” (examen de veracidad) to prove the rape. This examination is carried out only by the Centre for Victims of Sexual Abuse (Centro de Atención a las Victimas de Atentados Sexuales, CAVAS), which is under the jurisdiction of the Investigations Police.

In 2001, however, CAVAS was only able to administer expert examination of 677 cases of sexual crimes out of a total of 7,994 cases because it lacked resources. Without this expert report, a sexual crime cannot be certified thus rendering most crimes unresolved and leaving most violators unpunished. On 28 June 2000, CAVAS stated that it was unable to meet the excessive demands for judicial expert reports (pericias judiciales) from judicial tribunals and that it has had to restrict the number of patients admitted to the centre. In response to CAVAS, the National Service for Women (Servicio Nacional de la Mujer, SERNAM) and the National Civil Police stated they were pushing a bill in Congress to double the number of professionals working for CAVAS and to establish regional offices to meet the increased demands for expert assessments. Renovación Nacional, however, points out that, as of the date of publication of this article, only one CAVAS centre with a staff of three has been created in Valparaíso and that most of the government's promises have gone unmet.

Country Reports 2001 states the following on legislation in effect in Chile:

In 1999 a law took effect increasing the penalties for sexual abuse. The legislation includes clauses to facilitate proof of the crime and to protect the privacy and safety of the person making the charge. The Citizens' Peace Foundation indicated that there were 1,250 cases of rape reported to the police in 2000, 1,297 in 1999, and 1,052 in 1998. Experts believe that a majority of rape cases go unreported (2002, section 5).

CHL33869.E of 28 March 2000 provides further information on Law 19.617, which was passed in 1999 and modified the Penal Code, the Procedural Code and other legal texts in relation to rape offences.

The Website of the Carabineros police reports that complaints of rape can be lodged with the police unit closest to the victim (Chile n.d.b). To assist the investigation, the Carabineros recommend that the victim preserve as much proof of the crime as possible (ibid.). For example, it is suggested that the victim not bathe until after the crime has been reported and that the location of the crime be left as it was at the time it was committed (ibid.). Once the complaint is made, the status of the crime moves from being “semiprivate” (semiprivada) or “mixed” (mixta) to being “public action” (acción pública) (ibid.). The case then gets processed by the competent criminal court (ibid.).

An October 2000 EFE report states that Chilean lawmakers of the ruling alliance were complaining that 1,797 persons convicted for serious crimes, including murder, rape and drug trafficking were at large and presented a danger to society (22 Oct. 2000). The Chilean legal system apparently has no information as to the whereabouts of the convicts (ibid.).

In May 2001, Ricardo Lagos, the Chilean President, signed a law that abolished the death penalty, replacing it with life in prison (EFE 28 May 2001). Under the new law, parole can only be granted to prisoners who have served 40 years of a life sentence (ibid.). Such a sentence will apply to the 33 crimes previously under the purview of the death penalty, including kidnapping, rape with murder, and treason (ibid.).

In December 2001, the government presented a bill to create a genetic database to help monitor and track delinquents (Chile 11 Apr. 2002). The bill, which allocates 2,000 million pesos ($4 million CDN) to the project, will task the Forensic Service (Servicio Médico Legal) with taking and processing the DNA samples of persons accused of crimes such as kidnapping, rape, rape with murder, and sexual assault, and the Civil Registry and Identity Service (Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación) with the general administrative operations (ibid.).

Please consult the attached document on Chile taken from the Latin America and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights (CLADEM) report presented to the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women in July 2002. Please note that the information contained within the document related to national legislation, application of the laws, public policies and services is based primarily on CLADEM's regional diagnosis published in the book Cuestion de Vida - (A Matter of Life) Regional Summary and Challenges on Women's Rights to a Violence-free Life in 2000.

Attempts to obtain additional information from the Investigations Police and from the SERNAM were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Chile. 11 April 2002. Ministerio de Justicia. "Registro de ADN Criminal en Chile." <http://www.minjusticia.cl/Comunicados/2002/Abril/abril11.html> [Accessed 19 Sept. 2002]

_____. n.d.a. Gendarmería de Chile. "Principales delitos de la población reclusa condenada." <http://www.gendarmeria.cl/estadisticas/est-7.htm> [Accessed 19 Sept. 2002]

_____. n.d.b. Carabineros de Chile. "Diccionario Policial." <http://www.carabineros.cl/consultas/glosarios.htm> [Accessed 19 Sept. 2002]

Contacto Nacional [Santiago]. 10-17 July 2002. "El Ministerio del Interior debe explicar por qué no cumplió su promesa de otorgar recursos al CAVAS." <http://www.rn.cl/news/vwconta.asp?ident=47> [Accessed 19 Sept. 2002]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001. 2002. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/wha/8318.htm> [Accessed 19 Sept. 2002]

EFE. 28 May 2001. "Chile-Death Penalty Law Enacted to Abolish Death Penalty in Chile." (NEXIS)

_____. 22 October 2000. "Chile-Justice More than 1,700 Sentenced Criminals Free in Chile." (NEXIS)

Attachment

Latin America and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights (CLADEM), July 2002. Report for the United Nations' Special Reporter on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Dr. Rhadika Coomaraswamy, in the Context of the Preparation of her Final Report to be Presented in the 59th Session Before the Human Rights Commission.     <http://www.cladem.org/Ingles/viol.htm> [Accessed 25 Sept. 2002], pp. 56-62.

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 2000-2002

Latin America Regional Report: Southern Cone Report [London]. 2000-2002

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

Fempress [Santiago]. Search engine. 2000-2002

Servicio Nacional de la Mujer (SERNAM)

UNIFEM

Search engine:

Google

Topics: Violence against women, SGBV,