Chile extends indigenous rights

Wed, 30 Sep 2009

Chile's largest indigenous group, the Mapuche tribe, clashed with police several times last month.

President Bachelet has called for a unified front in the government to confront the indigenous people's problems.

Chile has given its indigenous population more government representation, creating two bodies dedicated to indigenous rights.

The decision was made after members of Chile's largest indigenous group, the Mapuche tribe, clashed with police several times last month over land issues in the country's southern Araucania region.

The row has left at least one indigenous protester dead.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet submitted on Tuesday two laws looking to strengthen indigenous rights in a bid to ease tensions over the issue.

The new legislations will create two bodies -- the Ministry of Indigenous Issues and the Council on Indigenous People -- dedicated to indigenous rights.

The Ministry of Indigenous Issues will be in charge of designing and coordinating new policies, while the Council on Indigenous People will be a representative body made up of 43 elected members.

Bachelet also called for a unified front in the government to confront the indigenous people's problems.

"We want to create and build a country that is inclusive, a country that includes all its sons. And to make that a reality, we have to work together," she told lawmakers while presenting the legislation in Santiago.

FF/AKM

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Source: Press TV