• Indigenous peoples in Chile

    Indigenous peoples in Chile

    There are 10 different indigenous groups in Chile. The largest one is Mapuche, followed by the Aymara, the Diaguita, the Lickanantay, and the Quechua peoples. Chile is the only country in Latin America that does not recognise the indigenous peoples in its constitution.

Chile

Indigenous Peoples in Chile

There are 10 different Indigenous groups in Chile. The largest one is the Mapuche, followed by the Aymara, the Diaguita, the Lickanantay, and the Quechua peoples. Chile is the only country in Latin America, that does not recognise the Indigenous Peoples in its constitution. For that, Indigenous groups face challenges, especially in terms of territorial rights.

However, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the Government of Chile on 13 September 2007 and ILO convention 169 was ratified in 2008. Despite Chile’s constitution not recognizing the Indigenous Peoples, the Ministry of Social Development has convened an Indigenous constitutional drafting process to gain the perspective of the Indigenous Peoples on the content of a new constitution.

Law No. 19,253 of 1993 on Indigenous promotion, protection, and development remains in effect, even though it does not meet international law standards concerning the rights of Indigenous Peoples to land, territory, natural resources, participation, and political autonomy.  

Indigenous Peoples in Chile 

There are 10 different Indigenous groups in Chile. Despite being in constant increase since the 1990s, the Indigenous population of Chile has not varied greatly since the 2017 census, resulting in 2,185,792 people self-identifying as Indigenous, or the equivalent of 12.8% of the country’s total population of 17,076,076. The Mapuche are the most numerous (almost 1,800,000 individuals), followed by the Aymara (156,000) and the Diaguita (88,000). 

There has been a notable and sustained increase in the proportion of Indigenous population living in urban areas, with 87.8% of Indigenous members now living in cities compared to 12.2% living in the countryside. 

Main challenges for Chile’s Indigenous Peoples

According to the Ministry of Social Development, 30.8% of the Indigenous population live in poverty, while for the non-indigenous population that figure is 19.9%. The region of Araucanía, which concentrates the largest Indigenous population, continues to be the country’s poorest region.

A continuous struggle for the Mapuche peoples is their rights to the lands and territories, which legally and/or ancestrally belong to them. In the Region of the Araucanía and Los Ríos, the rights of the Mapuche people have been gravely threatened by the expansion of extractive, production, and infrastructure projects. The great majority of these initiatives belong to private corporations.

Although a new legislative bill raises questions on the part of Indigenous Peoples and has created the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP) and the National Protected Areas System (SNAP), it fails to recognize the contribution of Indigenous Peoples to biodiversity, does not protect indigenous rights against public and private conservation initiatives, nor recognizes or protect indigenous and community conservation initiatives.

Another challenge is the criminalization of Mapuche social protest by the state. During 2017, the State broadly used the Antiterrorist Act to persecute members of the Mapuche people. During the course of the year, that law was invoked against 23 Mapuche persons charged with terrorist homicidal arson, terrorist arson, and/or terrorist conspiracy.

Legislative progress for Chile’s Indigenous Peoples

In August 2017, the Ministry of Social Development started to a process of consultation of Indigenous Peoples' perspectives in regard to the content of Indigenous matters for a new constitution. This process, namely the "Indigenous Constitutional Assembly Process" gathered proposals as involving the Indigenous Peoples' legal recognition as nations, the status of Chile as plurinational State, the right to the self-determination and autonomy, the right to the territory and natural resources, the right to special indigenous representation, and linguistic and social rights. However, the process has failed to take the content that the indigenous peoples had identified as priorities into account.

Following the social protests that broke out in the country from October 2019 onward demanding in-depth institutional change, and with approval given for the drafting of a new constitution in a referendum held in October 2020, there is now a new opportunity opening up for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples and their collective rights within the new Political Constitution.

Training Indigenous Women to Influence the Climate Struggle

BY ROCÍO YON, HORTENCIA HIDALGO & FRANCISCA CARRIL FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

Institutional responses to the climate crisis, guided by negotiations at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), have perpetuated gender, ethnic and territorial inequalities. This situation can clearly be seen in the barriers facing Indigenous women’s effective participation in decision-making. Given this failure, Indigenous movements and, Indigenous women in particular, are organizing to develop their own strategies for confronting the crisis, resisting extractivism and demanding environmental justice. These initiatives include training spaces in which to strengthen their struggles.

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The Indigenous World 2024: Chile

Despite steadily increasing since the 1990s, the Indigenous population has not seen any major variations since the 2017 census. 2,185,792 people thus self-identify as Indigenous, equivalent to 12.8% of the country's total population (17,076,076). The Mapuche are the most numerous (almost 1,800,000 people), followed by the Aymara (156,000 people) and the Diaguita (88,000 people).[1] There is a sustained trend of moving to urban areas, with 87.8% of Indigenous people now living in the cities compared to 12.2% in the countryside.[2]

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Memoirs of Mapuche women relatives of disappeared detainees in Chile

BY DÉBORA ASTUDILLO RAMOS AND MARÍA JOSÉ LUCERO FOR DEBATES INDÍGENAS

During the last civil-military dictatorship, the forced disappearances and political executions of members of the Mapuche people must be framed as a continuum of colonial and genocidal violence. Despite the pain, Mapuche families continue to struggle for truth and justice. In September, the anniversary of the coup, an illustrated, bilingual book will be presented that brings together the memories of seven women from Araucanía who remember their fallen relatives and embrace a political horizon of dignity and human rights.

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Weaving networks among indigenous women of the sea: everyday political action and resistance from the territories

BY KARINA VARGAS HERNÁNDEZ FOR DEBATES INDÍGENAS

Indigenous women in Chile who inhabit coastal areas come together with the shared goal of defending the ocean, protecting biodiversity, and exercising their rights. Among their main issues are inequity in caregiving tasks, lack of recognition for their work and contributions to ocean governance, wage gaps, and lack of opportunities. Through local and national gatherings, they propose solutions for the protection of their territories and their communities.

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Chilean Presidential Commission for Peace and Understanding: a real opportunity or more of the same?

BY HERNANDO SILVA NERIZ FOR DEBATES INDÍGENAS

In recent decades, conflicts over Mapuche ancestral lands have intensified in the southern central part of the country. At the same time, the policies promoted by the State have proven to be insufficient, and the territory has been militarized. Within this context the Commission is presented as a possibility to open a social dialogue through institutional channels, to determine the real demand for land and to propose mechanisms for the solution of conflicts to achieve peace.

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The Indigenous World 2023: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Rapa Nui is an island of 16,628 hectares located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and separated from the coast of continental Chile by more than 3,700 kilometres. The Rapa Nui people live there, descendants of an age-old culture recognized for the creation of large megalithic structures known as Moai and for having developed a unique civilization.

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IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Read more.

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Indigenous World

IWGIA's global report, the Indigenous World, provides an update of the current situation for Indigenous Peoples worldwide. Read The Indigenous World.

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