By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO,Chile-President Michelle Bachelet created a new agency this week to protect human rights in Chile. A special committee from the institution will investigate claims for compensation based on Pinochet-era abuses.

The National Human Rights Institute will be able to recommend charges in cases where human rights are found to have been violated. Leaders of the National Human Rights Institute can be removed only by the Supreme Court, giving the institute “considerable independence.”

An official tally estimates that over 28,000 people suffered under the Pinochet government. In 2003, thousands of people received government compensation after proving they or their relatives went missing, were executed, or tortured under the Pinochet regime. Those who failed in their claims will now have a second chance to prove their case.

The agency will be given six months to build on the work of the 2003 investigative efforts. It is unclear whether torturers will be publicly identified, something that victims and their families have lobbied for. Furthermore, under the new law, victims have no right to effect prosecutions- only to seek compensation.

Estimates of Pinochet-era abuses include 3,197 political killings by the government. Of those, 1,192 people were disappeared, less than eight percent located or identified after twenty years of democracy.

President Bachelet stated that Chile needs the agency to defend its democratic institutions and prevent a repeat of Chile’s “painful history.”  Batchulet stated that the goal is to “promote a culture of peace and education about human rights principles in present and future generations.”

For more information, please see:

Brunei News-New Claims of Compensation Arise from Pinochet Era-24 November 2009

Taiwan News-Chile Creates Human Rights Watchdog Agency-24 November 2009

Radio Netherlands-Pinochet’s Victims Get Second Chance to Claim-24 November 2009