Almost exactly one month before the exit plebiscite on September 4, where citizens will choose whether to approve or reject the proposed constitutional text, the positions in favor of the new Magna Carta continue.
This was stated by the Chilean Commission on Human Rights, who argue that the proposal of the Constitutional Convention “does nothing but put the State of Chile in compliance with the international obligations contracted as a result of the signing and ratification of international human rights treaties” .
“Human rights become the articulating axis of the constitutional text, and their respect, due protection and guarantee, the backbone of the new social pact that is proposed. It is established in a transversal and obligatory way that all the organs and Powers of the State They must carry out their function with strict adherence to human rights,” they maintained.
“The text includes international human rights standards in terms of labor rights (right to strike and collective bargaining) and recognition and rights of indigenous peoples, according to the provisions of the ILO Conventions and the Declaration of Indigenous Peoples of the UN, signed and ratified by Chile”, they added.
On the other hand, they pointed out that “in terms of social rights, it not only formally enshrines them but also establishes the obligation to respect and guarantee them, as prescribed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, putting an end to the subsidiary State and giving way to to a Social and Democratic State of Law In addition, it enshrines the human right to water, duly confronts climate change by establishing the rights of Nature and its corresponding Ombudsman, advances substantially in terms of gender equality and sexual diversity, duly protects the rights of older adults and children and adolescents, along with adapting its text to the Convention on Disability”.
“In addition, it decentralizes political power, moves towards effective decentralization and establishes mechanisms that guarantee the participation of citizens in decision-making, laying the foundations for a participatory democracy,” they pointed out.
“The proposed new constitutional text thus takes care of the majority demands expressed during the social outbreak of October 2019, through legitimate citizen protests that made the ongoing constitutional process possible,” they added.
Given this background, they underline that “since human rights are a civilizing ethical minimum, whose respect, due protection and guarantee must be the founding basis of all democratic coexistence, it is an ethical duty to go to the polls and approve the constitutional text on the 4th of September”.
Failure to do so will delay the urgent social peace that the majority of the country aspires to, will prevent the transition to Democracy from being completed, and at the same time, will mean that the State of Chile will continue to fail to comply with its human rights obligations, incurring international responsibility. “, they sentenced.
