TNAG-0652-FCO40-801-Planning-Staff-papers-on-human-rights-and-foreign-policy-cou-1977 — Page 49

CHILE

CONFIDENTIAL

Report by HM Embassy Santiago

General Observations

Any assessment of the current position on human rights in Chile must, of course, take into account the three reports of the United Nations Ad Hoc Working Group on Human Rights in Chile, published during the past 18 months, the latest of which has been endorsed by a General Assembly resolution, which we co-sponsored. However, our impression is that although there are bad patches on the Chilean record, the current trend is showing an undoubted im- provement.

Comment by Latin American Department

Chile will possibly receive a more favourable overall marking in this exercise than it really deserves, because the question- naire as framed contains no category giving adequate weight to Chile's performance, consistently bad until recently, in relation to undisclosed arrests and disappearances. We suppose that some other countries' peculiar little foibles may escape attention for the same reason, but there is no doubt that the mysterious dis- appearance of large numbers of persons has been a significant as- pect of the human rights scene in Chile. Moreover, the Chilean authorities, unlike those in some other countries (such as Argentina) could largely put an end to these practices if they wished.

Right No.

(i)

Detention without trial under the state of siege occurred from September 1973 to November 1976, up to 3,000 people being detained at any one time (out of a popula- tion of 10,760,000). However, all such detainees have now been re- leased. During the past three years, some 2,000 persons have dis- appeared, and there have been un- confirmed reports that some of these are still alive in secret detention camps, though if so, the number must be very small.

Comment by Latin American Dept The Chilean record on imprisonment without trial has been bad since September 1973; there has recently been a very marked improvement, but this is probably accounted for by a

/shrewd

CONFIDENTIAL

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