SANTIAGO – Chileans believe the privatized pension system (AFP by its Spanish acronym) counts among the country’s biggest human rights violators. That is the outcome of a survey carried out by the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH). The Carabineros top the list of human rights violators.
This fourth installment of the INDH survey, which, according to its director Consuelo Contreras “seeks to measure conceptions, stances and values around human rights as well as confront experiences not only by Chileans but also residents in Chile of age 18 or over” was conducted among 7,333 people.
Contreras said on Radio Cooperativa that when respondents were specifically asked about civil and political rights, 17.5% put the pension system on the list of human rights violators. Similarly, the government, with 23.1% of the votes, was also included on the list.
Number two was the state (24.2%), and the biggest human rights violator is the Carabineros police force, according to 27.5% of respondents. Notably, the survey was conducted before the latest incident in La Araucanía region, where Carabineros special forces are suspected of killing a Mapuche comunero.
The INDH director also indicated that for the first time ever the pension system AFP was mentioned by respondents. “The state and the police are usually on the list, but now the AFPs show up with a high percentage,” she said. She explained that respondents mainly related social rights to health care, pensions, education and housing conditions.
“The current pension system seems to be one of the most important rights violations for people,” Contreras emphasized.
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Born and raised in the South of Chile, JP Rodríguez moved to Santiago in 2013 in order to obtain his Masters in Linguistics at Universidad de Chile and has been working in higher education ever since. Thrilled to explore new things, JP joins Chile Today to share his culture with the rest of the world.
In addition to writing, he loves reading, doing sports and teaching tricks to his newly adopted English Bulldog.