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Case CHL 180806.3
Follow-up Case CHL 180806; CHL 180806.1, and, CHL 180806.2
Dry hunger strike / Fear for safety, physical and psychological integrity
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your VERY URGENT intervention in the following situation in Chile.
New information:
The International Secretariat of the OMCT is concerned for the safety and in particular for the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao, son of the Mapuche Lonko, Mrs. Juana Calfunao Paillalef[1], who is currently detained in the High Security Jail (Carcel de Alta Seguridad - CAS) of Santiago, and who has been on hunger strike since 1 October 2006, which was transformed on 17 November 2006, in a dry hunger strike.
The International Secretariat is concerned about Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao’s health, which deteriorated because of the dry hunger strike, and fears an irreparable consequence. Indeed, according to information from reliable sources, Mr. Cadin Calfunao, after a forty-seven months long hunger strike, started a dry hunger strike (without any liquid) on 17 November 2006, in order to protest against his arbitrary detention, the absence of trial and sentence after a three-month long detention and his total abandon in a subterranean punishment cell in the High Security Jail of the Chilean Capital.
Furthermore he wants to protest against the ill-treatment he was subjected to by policemen during his detention and by his jail guardians in Temuco and against his transfer to a jail at 800 kilometres from his community and family, without any reason.
Moreover the OMCT recalls that Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao could only be visited on a few occasions, by family members, among them his mother the lonko Mrs. Juana Calfunao Paillelef, who is currently detained in Temuco (see Observatory Urgent Appeal CHL 001/0705/OBS 056.5, issued on November 17, 2006).
The International Secretariat of the OMCT, after issuing four Urgent Appeals and a Press Release on his case, is still concerned for the safety and the personal integrity of Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao and, considering the lack of guaranties for his security in jail, his health and his family and community distance, urges the Chilean Government to take urgent and adequate measures in order to guarantee his safety and his physical and psychological integrity, and his procedural rights.
Background information:
Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao was arrested on 17 August 2006, following a confrontation which took place on 31 July 2006 between his community and police members, as a result of the community’s decision to prevent the cutting down of trees and the installation of new electric poles, by the company Frontel S.A., without the consent of the Mapuche authority1. Mr. Cadin Calfunao was detained and transferred to the Temuco Jail, accused of damages, disturbances and theft by the Regional Public Prosecutor’s Office and by Public Prosecutor Cristian Paredes. During his detention, he was beaten many times by policemen, and, in general, was victim of ill-treatment from police members and other detainees, benefiting the guardians compliance 2.
Subsequently, on 1 October 2006, the Mapuche Mr. Cadin Calfunao started an indefinite hunger strike, in order to protest against his detention and the ill-treatment he was subjected to during his detention, and in order to claim the rights of his people on their lands3.
The OMCT recalls that on 17 October 2006, Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao was transferred from the Temuco Jail to the CAS of Santiago, located at 800 kilometres from Temuco, immobilized with ten handcuffs and according to reports, with chains on his wrist and ankles, and fixed with them on the walls of the police car.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Chile urging them to:
i. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of Mr.Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao, in particular provide him with adequate and free medical assistance if he needs it;
ii. Order the immediate release of Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao in the absence of valid charges that are consistent with international law and standards, or, if such charges exist, bring him before an impartial and competent tribunal and guarantee his procedural rights at all times;
iii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into these events, in particular the acts of ill-treatment and torture against Mr. Waikilaf Manuel Cadin Calfunao, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards, in particular the American Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ratified by Chile.
Adresses:
・ Permanent Mission of Chile to the United Nations in Geneva, 58, Rue de Moillebeau (4o piso), CH-1209, Ginebra, fax: + 4122.734.52.97, misionchile@misginchile.org
・ Mission of Chile to the European Union, Rue des Aduatiques, 106, 1040-Bruxelles,
Fax.: +32 (02) 736 49 94, embachile@embachile.be
・ Mrs. Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of the Republic, Palacio de La Moneda, Santiago, Chile. Fax: (+562) 690 4958, opinion@presidencia.cl, internet@presidencia.cl, mhansen@presidencia.cl
・ Mrs. Paulina Veloso Valenzuela, State Department Minister, Palacio de La Moneda, 1160 Entrepiso, Santiago, Chile, fax: + 562.69.04.329, gjoignant@minsegpres.cl
・ Mr. Belisario Velasco Barahona, Internal Affairs Minister, Palacio de la Moneda s/n, Santiago de Chile, fax: (+562) 69 68 740, lguzmanp@interior.gov.cl (contacto de prensa)
・ Mr. Isidro Solis Palma , Justice Minister, Morande 107, Santiago Casilla 21, Santiago, Chile, fax: (+562) 698 70 98, minju@reuna.cl; minju@minjusticia.cl; rmadrid@minjusticia.cl Mr. Alejandro Foxley Rioseco, Foreign Affairs Minister, Catedral 1158, Piso 3, Santiago, Chile, fax: (+562) 696 87 96, minrel@minrel.cl; mdelaguarda@minrel.gov.cl
・ Mr. Eduardo Klein Koch, Intendant IX Region La Araucania, Bulnes 590, piso 2, Temuco, Chile, fax: +56 45 208630 o +56 45 208218, intaraucania@interior.gov.cl
・ Mr. Tucapel Jimenez F., President of the Human Rights Commission, Nationality and Citizenship of the Representatives Chamber, tjimenez@congreso.cl
・ Senator Mr. Carlos Ignacio Kuschel Silva, President of the Human Rights Commission, Nationality and Citizenship of the Senate, ddhhsen@senado.cl
Please also write to the embassies of Chile in your respective country.
Geneva, 23 November 2006
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[1] Mrs. Juana Calfunao Paillalef is a well-known authority of the Mapuche people, representative of the “Juan Paillalef” Community, which is located in the Cunco Commune, IX Region of Chile. As a community representative and spokeswoman, she has been fighting for its rights and for the restitution of its adjacent misappropriated lands. The Lonko Mrs. Juana Calfunao Paillalef has been threatened by latifundistas and policemen and has been constantly followed by strangers.
1 see OMCT Urgent Appeal Case CHL 180806
2 see OMCT Urgent Appeal Case CHL 180806.1, follow-up issued on 1 September 2006.
3 see OMCT Urgent Appeal Case CHL 180806.2, follow-up issued on 17 October 2006.
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