CAT/C/68/D/882/2018
Facts as submitted by the complainant
Defending the rights of the Mapuche indigenous people from Switzerland
2.1
The complainant was born in Chile in the traditional territory of the Mapuche
indigenous people, in Los Laureles, a hamlet of the Juan Paillalef community 1 in the
municipality of Cunco, Araucanía region. The complainant is a member of the Mapuche
indigenous people, which is asserting its rights to its traditional territory in the face of
timber, hydroelectric and mining concessions granted by Chile to domestic and
international companies, road construction without the consent of the indigenous people
and the occupation of the land by large non-indigenous landowners.2 The demands of the
Mapuche are being met with violent reactions both from the Chilean authorities, including
the militarized police known as Carabineros, and from individuals who have formed private
armed militias. The Mapuche people are victims of assassinations, torture, the
criminalization of their demands, set-ups involving judicial officials and the police, and the
use of Act No. 18.314, the Counter-Terrorism Act, against their leaders. According to the
complainant, the Mapuche are persecuted not for what they do but for who they are. For
example, members of the complainant’s family have had their houses set on fire on several
occasions; one of the complainant’s uncles was killed and his body was thrown into a
burning house before the investigation was completed; the Mapuche are often detained and
then released; they are assaulted; and some of them are serving long prison sentences under
the Counter-Terrorism Act. The complainant states that there are approximately 80 court
cases against her community, which is experiencing constant violence.
2.2
In 1996, the complainant moved to Geneva. She has since been active at the
international level in the defence and promotion of the rights of the Mapuche people. For
example, she is involved with the various United Nations treaty bodies and participates in
the sessions of the Human Rights Council and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples in order to expose the violations suffered by the Mapuche people. In
2011, the traditional Mapuche authorities granted the complainant the title of Ambassador
for the Collective and Individual Rights of the Mapuche People of the Mapuche Permanent
Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva; she has continued participating in the
meetings of international bodies in that capacity.
2.3
Since 1996, the complainant has returned to Chile only three times, on short trips in
1998, 2003 and 2008. On her most recent trip, she was accompanied by representatives of
the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Paz y Tercer Mundo – Mundubat and
Entrepueblos to pick up her 10-year-old niece, Remultray Cadin Calfunao, whose parents
and brothers were in prison.
Application for asylum in Switzerland
2.4
On 19 November 2008, the complainant submitted an application for asylum for her
niece and herself with the Federal Office for Migration (which in 2014 became the State
Secretariat for Migration). She attached a video, photos, court records, copies of laws and
reports from international organizations to document the political persecution that their
family has endured as a result of its claims to the ancestral lands of the Mapuche people.
The application also included records of visits by the International Committee of the Red
Cross to the Mapuche prisoners in her family and a report from the association Mapundial
stating that the complainant could not return to Chile without fearing for her freedom and
her physical and psychological integrity.
2.5
On 18 August 2010, the Federal Office for Migration rejected the complainant’s
application for asylum and issued an order for her deportation by 30 September 2010. In its
decision, the Federal Office for Migration notes that Mapuche people in Chile who are
1
2
2
The community consists of 30 hectares on which there are 22 families and a total of about 120 people.
The complainant notes that Chile is a party to the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
(No. 169) of the International Labour Organization. That convention states that “the rights of
ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy
shall be recognized” (art. 14), that “the rights of the peoples concerned to the natural resources
pertaining to their lands shall be specially safeguarded” (art. 15) and that “the peoples concerned shall
be consulted whenever consideration is being given to their capacity to alienate their lands or
otherwise transmit their rights” (art. 17).
GE.20-00012