TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 2

Chapter 3

Subsection 2

CHILE

6. A National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (the Chilean Commission) was set up in 1990 to account for the dead and disappeared in Chile during the period 11 September 1973 to 11 March 1990. This corresponds to the period during which the Pinochet regime ruled Chile.³⁹

7. The Chilean Commission envisaged three aspects to reparation, namely:

a disclosure of the truth and the ‘end of secrecy ’ ;

b recognition of the dignity of victims and the pain suffered by their relatives,and

c measures to improve the quality of the lives of victims.

8. While the Chilean Commission largely fulfilled the first objective of reparations – namely that of ‘ending secrecy’ and establishing the fate of victims – the third objective remained unfulfilled and the Chilean government accepted the Chilean Commission’s recommendation that specific measures be taken to compensate victims and their families. As a consequence, a National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation (the Chilean Corporation) was established in 1992 to see to the unfinished business of the Chilean Commission and to implement recommendations, including reparations .⁴⁰

9. The Law Creating the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation (Law No. 19, 123, Chile, 31 January 1992) established the following benefits:⁴¹ monthly pensions for the relatives of those killed or disappeared; fixed-sum payments for prison time and lost income of dependants of those who died or disappeared, health and educational benefits.⁴²

a Monetary reparations included a monthly pension paid by cheque to family members of those killed or disappeared (as determined by the Chilean Commission or Corporation). If only one family member survived, the pension amounted to $345 per month. If more than one family member survived, the pension amounted to $481 per month, to be distributed amongst immediate family members. Family members were entitled to the pension for their lifetimes, except for children, whose pensions ended at the age 25 years. In addition to the monthly pension, family members were entitled to a one-time start-up payment of the total annual sum. The total cost to the state was $13 million per year.

b Medical benefits to the families of the disappeared and killed included a monthly medical allowance (calculated at 7 % of the pension mentioned above) as well as free access to special state counselling and medical programmes. The total cost to the state was $950 000 per year.

c Educational benefits to the children of the disappeared and killed included full coverage of tuition and expenses for university training up to the age of 35 years. The total cost to the state was $1.2 million per year.

d Children of victims were exempted from mandatory military service.

e Those who had lost a state job for political reasons could reinstate their retirement pensions with lost years credited with the assistance of a special state office .

f Those who returned from exile abroad were eligible for a waiver of re-entry tax for vehicles.

10. The total cost of the reparations programme in the years when the greatest numbers of survivors were still alive was approximately $16 million per year.

11. With respect to symbolic reparations, former Chilean President, Patricio Aylwin, issued a formal apology to the victims and their families on behalf of the state and requested the army to acknowledge its role in the violence.

12. Despite what are generous measures by comparison with the recommendations of the South African Commission, critics of the Chilean initiative pointed out that compensation would have been greater under Chilean civil law had this course not been precluded by the 1978 amnesty decree. In terms of the decree, the former military regime headed by General Augusto Pinochet promulgated an amnesty that had the effect of awarding itself a self-imposed and unconditional immunity for criminal offences committed between 1973 and 1978. This amnesty granted to itself by the former regime – and not repealed by its successor civilian government – survived for over 20 years.⁴³

13.Moreover, as the Chilean Commission/Corporation’s mandate was confined to investigating cases of deaths and disappearances, reparations – aside from a little-known medical assistance programme – did not include survivors of imprisonment and torture.

HAITI, EL SALVADOR AND GUATEMALA

14. Truth commissions in Haiti, El Salvador and Guatemala all drew up proposals for reparation.

15. In its final report, delivered in February 1996, the National Truth and Justice Commission in Haiti recommended the creation of a reparations commission to determine the ‘legal, moral, and material obligations’ due to victims, and suggested that funds come from the state, from national and international private donations and from voluntary contributions by the United Nations member states.⁴⁴

16. The Commission on the Truth in El Salvador, established in 1992, recommended :

a the creation of a special fund to award ‘appropriate material compensation to the victims’ to be funded by the state and substantial contributions from the international community (the El Salvadorian Commission suggested that not less than 1 % of all international assistance reaching El Salvador be set aside for reparations);

b the creation of a national holiday in memory of the victims;

c the construction of a monument bearing the names of all the victims of the conflict, and

d recognition of the ‘good name of the victims’ and the ‘serious crimes of which they were victims’.⁴⁵

17. The Commission for Historical Clarification in Guatemala recommended :

a a declaration by Congress affirming the dignity and honour of the victims;

b the establishment of a day of commemoration of the victims;

c the construction of monuments and parks in memory of the victims, and

d the creation of a National Reparations Programme, to be overseen by a broadly representative board, to provide moral and material reparations, psycho-social rehabilitation and other benefits.⁴⁶

18. However, these recommendations were not taken seriously by the respective governments, nor have foreign agencies pursued recommendations that they contribute towards such reparation pro grammes .