Government Confirms INDH Reform Bill Without Timeline; Senator Campillai Calls It a 'Symptom of Intolerance'

Human Rights Undersecretary Pablo Mira confirmed on July 12, 2026 that the Kast government is finalizing a draft law ('anteproyecto') to reform Chile's National Human Rights Institute (INDH) — a retreat from Kast's 2025 campaign pledge to shut the institute down outright ('debemos cerrarlo'). The bill follows a 2025 review process that produced 44 recommendations and would restructure the INDH Council to 'strengthen pluralism' in its composition while expanding its mandate to cover human rights violations committed by private parties, not only state agents; the administration has set no timeline for formally introducing it to Congress. The announcement drew immediate criticism from Senator Fabiola Campillai — blinded in both eyes by a police tear-gas canister during the 2019 protests — who said on July 13 that 'esta idea de reformularlo no es más que el síntoma de la intolerancia' ('this idea of reformulating it is nothing more than a symptom of intolerance'), defending the institute's record as impartial and professional and questioning why the government was prioritizing this over other pending human-rights legislation before her Senate committee. Chile Vamos senators simultaneously pressed the government from the opposite direction, demanding it grant legislative urgency to the reform bill — illustrating the cross-pressure Kast faces from the right, which wants the INDH weakened or closed, and from rights advocates, who want it protected.