82 Human Rights Organizations File IACHR Complaint Over Kast Government's Dismantling of Accountability Institutions

A coalition of 82 human rights organizations, memory site associations, survivors' groups, and legal advocacy bodies filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) demanding the commission request information from Chile about the 'severe dismantling of human rights, memory, and justice institutions' under President Kast. The complaint catalogued: the elimination of the Human Rights Subsecretariat's forensic program budget; budget cuts of nearly 10% to the Ministry of Culture (affecting the Museum of Memory, Villa Grimaldi, and regional memory sites); signals from the presidency that pardons may be issued for Pinochet-era convicts; the near-passage of the Senate commutation bill (currently in the Chamber of Deputies) that would free most of the 370+ human rights violators at Punta Peuco; and the rollback of the 2019–2022 protest era convictions. The organizations argued that Chile's failure to protect accountability institutions violates the American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court's rulings in multiple cases against Chile. Among the signatories: the Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (AFDD), Corporación Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi, Londres 38 memorial, and multiple regional survivor associations.