Since 18 October Chile’s security forces, including the army and national police, have responded to nation-wide protests with excessive use of force, in what some human rights groups have described as a policy of collective punishment. The protests initially started against an increase in public transport fares and persistent social inequality.
On 21 November Amnesty International described the security forces as engaging in “widespread attacks using unnecessary and excessive force with the intention of injuring and punishing protesters.” Amnesty International further warned that police officers had fired “potentially lethal
ammunition in an unjustified, widespread and indiscriminate manner and in many cases aiming at people’s heads.”
At least 23 people have been killed and more than 7,000 individuals have reportedly been detained since the protests began. According to Chile’s National Human Rights Institute, over 2,800 people have been injured, many with gunshot wounds. The security forces’ reportedly reckless use of projectiles has also resulted in at least 232 people suffering serious eye injuries, including permanent blindness. Despite the official suspension on 19 November of “birdshot rubber pellets” for the purposes of crowd control, doctors have warned that they continue to be used.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has also registered numerous allegations of sexual violence, as well as more than 1,100 complaints of alleged torture or ill-treatment at the hands of the security forces. An estimated 1,900 police have also reportedly been wounded during the protests.
The use of disproportionate and deadly force against protesters, as well as widespread allegations of sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, poses a growing risk of potential atrocity crimes. While President Sebastián Piñera has promised that the security forces will be held accountable for the excessive use of force, the severe wounding, blinding and killing of protesters may indicate a policy of
extreme measures authorized at the highest level of the security forces.
The government must ensure that any crowd control measures are consistent with international standards. The security forces must strictly comply with the principles of necessity, proportionality, legality and precaution to help prevent any further deaths or serious injuries. Almost 30 years after the end of Chile’s notorious military dictatorship, the authorities must ensure that the security forces uphold the universal right to freedom of assembly and act in strict accordance with their primary responsibility to protect Chile from returning to the systematic human rights abuses and violations of the past.