The defence of human rights in Chile within the context of the transnational human rights protection movement, 1973-1990

Abstract

This article engages with the protection of human rights through networks in Chile that developed under Pinochet ́s civil-military dictatorship between 1973 and 1990, in a transnational context. As well as the good relations that the Popular Unity government had established with diverse governments through its embassies, the article suggests that there were other influential factors in the swift international support for the Chilean organizations established to assist the victims of the regime. It is argued that as much as the knowledge and contacts at the international level that had been generated by different church representatives in terms of refuge during the Popular Unity government, it was principally the impact generated by progressive sectors in Europe and Latin America with respect to the coup and the death of President Allende, that contributed to the immediate response of the international movement networks in support of the defence of Chilean human rights. Consequently, the ways in which international cooperation would function – from donor agencies, UN organisations, the World Council of Churches and diverse governments and international NGOs – were established in the early months following the coup, and would be maintained and consolidated over the following, almost 17 years of dictatorship. During this time, the Chilean human rights defence organisations, supported by international cooperation, learnt to operate as efficiently as possible, creating a modus operandi as well as a human rights culture, that had repercussions at the international level. This is illustrated by the work of FASIC. Finally, the article maintains that this culture has left its imprint on current social movements, where sectors of civil society, young people in particular, make claims for social, cultural and gendered rights that have been put off for a very long time.