(2 October 2010) ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena welcomed the end of the hunger strike in Chile and congratulated the parties to the agreement.
"Guided by the principles and aims of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) draws attention to the importance of the international legal regime and the need to place equality at the heart of the debate", said Bárcena.
Today, representatives of the Mapuche Land Alliance, who entered ECLAC headquarters in Santiago on 23 September, voluntarily abandoned the premises.
The group, composed of 11 adults - the majority women- and three minors, had entered ECLAC premises to express their concern for 34 members of the Mapuche community on a lengthy hunger strike.
Yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "encouraged all actors to remain engaged in order to find a solution (to the hunger strike) as soon as possible and to avoid the loss of human life".
In a statement released in New York, Ban Ki-moon recognized the efforts of the Government and welcomed the resumption of dialogue to resolve the current crisis.
Last night, most of the 34 hunger-striking indigenous Mapuche agreed to end the 82-day protest after a deal was reached with the Government of Chile.
In his statement, Ban Ki-moon also said that the United Nations will continue to make its assistance available to Chile for the implementation of ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as other relevant international instruments.
On 28 September, ECLAC issued a statement on the Mapuche issue, stressing the importance of complying with the international legal regime from which derives a broad array of rights to which indigenous peoples are entitled, as well as the corresponding obligation of States signatories to promote and respect those rights.
The Commission asserted that equality should be at the center of this discussion. "Indigenous peoples in Latin America are no strangers to poverty and exclusion, as a result of a historical process of structural discrimination, which is now interpreted as a failure to recognize, promote, protect and guarantee their human rights", said the Commission.
In addition, ECLAC offered all parties involved its technical capacities to prepare studies or reports that, from an economic, social, demographic, environmental or gender perspective, may contribute to a better understanding of the current situation of the Mapuche people.
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For questions, contact the Public Information Unit of ECLAC and the Internet.
Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org, telephone: (56 2) 210 2040
