Member Resolution
Regarding the Mapuche People

VIII General Assembly
26-29 october 2006,
Taipei, Taiwan

The UNPO General Assembly;

Notes that the Chilean state still fails to recognise the Mapuche as a people in its political constitution and, in contravention with international laws, does not acknowledge their right to self determination;

Noting that the Chilean state also fails to ratify Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on indigenous people;

Concerned by the degree of economic and racial discrimination experienced by the Mapuche, as is evident from the intensified mobilisation and protests as they struggle for their individual and collective human rights, and for the retrieval of their illegally seized territories;

Underlines that these concerns are echoed by numerous international human rights organisations, and were highlighted by UN Special Rapporteur, Mr Rodolfo Stavenhagen;

Expresses Grave concern that the Mapuche movement is criminalized by the Chilean government, and that legitimate and democratic Mapuche protests are suppressed by the use of antiterrorist laws, introduced under military dictatorship;

Distressed by the targeting of Mapuche activists and community leaders, hundreds of whom have been prosecuted and imprisoned over recent years;

Concerned that Mapuche prisoners are subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, that their status as political prisoners is not recognised, and that they are also denied the right to a public trial by an independent and impartial tribunal;

Alarmed by the murder of Alex Lemun by the Chilean police in November 2002, and the fact that the perpetrators have not yet been brought to justice;

Alarmed by the recent murder of Chief Juan Collihuin Catril, further reflecting the extreme degree of repression directed against Mapuche leaders;

Disturbed by the continued harassment and intimidation of Chief Juana Calfunao Paillalef, as both her and her family have been systematically attacked, tortured and imprisoned, and that her son Waikilef is currently being detained in a high security prison located 800 kilometres from his community;

Therefore, we urge The UNPO General Assembly to:

1. Call upon the Chilean government to comply with international norms, to guarantee the right of people to self- determination, and to ratify convention 169 of the ILO.

2. Demand the Chilean government honour their commitment to modify the Anti-terrorist law and to release all Mapuche political prisoners;

3. Call upon the Chilean Government to fully implement justice with regards to the murders of Alex Lemun and Chief Juan Collihuin Catril, and to safeguard and protect all Mapuche detainees.