CAT/C/CHL/CO/5
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connection, the Committee is pleased that the bill to create a national human rights institute
provides for recommencement of the work done to classify cases involving victims of torture and
political prisoners (art. 13).
The Committee urges the State party to reopen the Commission on Political Prisoners
and Torture or to promptly set up another body to take up the Commission’s
mandate. In order to fulfil the requirement that victims of torture during the
dictatorship receive compensation, the Committee recommends that:
(a) Effective action is taken to publicize the mandate and work of the
Commission or the body to be created for the same purpose so that everybody who
was a victim of torture during the dictatorship will be aware of its existence,
particularly those who are in remote or underprivileged areas or are not in the
country. The Committee urges the State party to make use, inter alia, of the media
and consular offices in countries where former Chilean exiles reside in order to
accomplish this;
(b) Sufficiently ample deadlines are set so that all people who believe they
have been victims of torture can present their cases;
(c) All cases corresponding to the definition of torture set forth in article 1 of
the Convention are included;
(d) The determining criteria are reconsidered, especially with regard to all
victims who were tortured when they were minors or while outside national territory
or who reside outside the State party;
(e)
Sexual violence is included as a form of torture.
Programme of Compensation and Comprehensive Health Care
18. The Committee takes note of the fact that, in the State party, torture victims have access to
the Programme of Compensation and Comprehensive Health Care (PRAIS) system and is
pleased that this programme has been extended to cover the entire country. The Committee also
welcomes the programme’s cooperation with such organizations as the Centro de Salud Mental y
Derechos Humanos (Centre for Mental Health and Human Rights) (CINTRAS), the Corporación
de Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (Committee for the Defence of the People’s Rights)
(CODEPU), the Instituto Latinoamericano de Salud Mental y Derechos Humanos
(Latin American Mental Health and Human Rights Institute) (ILAS) and the Fundación de
Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas (Christian Churches Social Aid Foundation) (FASIC). It
is, however, concerned that victims of torture living outside the country do not have the benefit
of this programme (arts. 14 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party take into consideration the
obligation to ensure redress for all victims of torture and that it consider
concluding cooperation agreements with countries where they reside so that they
may have access to the kind of medical treatment required by victims of torture.