28 days and counting...

In Chile, representatives from one political party have expressed the “lack of solutions and insensitivity of the government" by the recent situation at UNICEF. Since Thursday 26 July, the office of UNICEF in Santiago de Chile was peacefully occupied by members of the Mapuche Territorial Alliance. Today the only people that remain are Sandra del Rosario Meza Huencho and her two year old daughter Kimwn. The other members, mainly mothers, have gradually left the building.

Why this extreme measure? The Mapuche community is asking the government to withdraw police forces in the Araucanía Region. It is reported that police violence against Mapuche communities has now been extended to children who have been injured by bullets when police carried out their procedures.

UNICEF While the body restates that the office is not the place to address the needs of welfare of a minor, both physical and psychological, UNICEF rejects to evict the occupants of the place.

Finally, the delegate Accorsi said that the government has not yet publicly repudiated what happened in La Araucanía with minors, given that it is the responsibility of States to assume special obligations in this area due to International Conventions on Human Rights and the Rights of the Child signed by Chile. He also referred to the ILO Convention 169, specifically Article 3 (2), which states “No form of force or coercion shall be used in violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the peoples concerned, including the rights contained in this Convention”.

Sources UNICEF (here)and Camara de Diputados de Chile (Chamber of Deputies) (here).