Mapuche organisations propose a resolution to the European Parliament against Chile
Press Release
Europe , 18th April 2006
The Mapuche Documentation Center, Ñuke Mapu (Sweden), the Committee for Indian of The Americas (Belgium) and the Mapuche International Link (UK), today began a consultation process with similar organizations, political parties, non-governmental organizations and the European civil society. The objective is to gain the necessary consensus to force the European Parliament to adopt a motion against the State of Chile due to its systematic violation of human rights against the Mapuche nation.
The initiatives are based on the acts during the last decade in which the Chilean government has systematically ignored calls to respect the rights of the Mapuche nation. Just as diverse and international organizations have stood out, the Chilean state insists on the use of oppression in order to neutralize and silence the demands and the actions of the Mapuche nation's representative organizations that demand civil and political rights. The arbitrary use of anti-terrorism laws - passed during the Pinochet regime - against the accused that are judged through the Chilean Court of Justice have turned into a systematic persecution and criminalization of the Mapuche leaders and political authorities. The application of the anti-terrorism laws breaks all legal provisions within a constitutional state; it contravenes the juridical provisions established by sound and fair judgement under international law.
The absence of procedural guarantees, in the judgement of the Mapuche people is a reality in Chile today. Since March 13th, four Mapuche political prisoners have been on hunger-strike in the prison in Angol, situated in ancestral Mapuche territory. The political prisoners took this decision because they consider themselves to have been the objects of an unfair trial. They stress that they are condemned to punishment in an extremely harsh prison based on the testimonies of paid and anonymous witnesses. This situation has been denounced by other Chilean and international human rights organizations.
We call on all mutual organizations sharing in the cause of the indigenous nations to join in this initiative. We request you to contact and inform the parliaments of your respective countries, to proceed to organize campaigns to denounce these violations against the human rights of the Mapuche people. We express our thanks to our European friends in the cause, to our indigenous and Latin American brothers who accompany us in the struggle for justice and freedom for the Mapuche nation.
For further information
Jorge Calbucura
Coordinator
Mapuche Documentation Center, Ñuke Mapu
e-mail: yefal@mapuche.info
www.mapuche.info
Gaston Lion
Committee for Indian of The Americas
e-mail: gaston.lion@skynet.be
Reynaldo Mariqueo
General Secretary
Mapuche International Link
e-mail: mapulink@mapuche-nation.org
http : //www.mapuche-nation.org
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Translation from Spanish by
Robert Jonson
Mapuche International Link