852nd Meeting, 35th Session, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Good morning, distinguished members of the committee, Distinguished representative of the Republic of Chile, representative of the National Human Rights Institution, and the Children's ombudsperson, dear colleagues and all participants.
I call to order the 852nd meeting of the committee on the rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The committee will now proceed with agenda item five, consideration of reports submitted by state party under Article 35 of the convention.
This afternoon, the committee will begin its constructive dialogue with Chile.
I have the honor to warmly welcome the distinguished delegation of the Lipuic of Chile, headed by miss Maria Jesusu Ub Mai, Minister of Social Development and family and head of delegation.
Madam Minister, a very welcome to you and to all members of your delegations.
I also warmly welcome the representative of Chile's National Human Rights Institution, the Institute National delts Umanos.
The IMDHE is a representative by miss Silvana Lausan, head of the research unit.
I also warmly welcome the representative of De Penora de Lainez, Chile's Children's ombudsperson institutions.
The task force of the committee facilitating the constructive dialogue with Chile is composed of the coordinator of task force, miss Amalia Go, and miss Natalia Guilla, Mr.
Mano cof and miss Gatt They will be reading the dialogue.
The dialogue will be back to back question and answer format.
Where a question cannot be fully answered within the available time, the relevant information may be provided to the committee in writing following the dialogue.
I would now like to give the floor to head of delegation, miss Maria Jess Uu DM, Minister of Social Development and Family of Chile will deliver her opening statement.
Excellency, you have the floor.
Distinguished Madam Chair, Distinguished experts, a very good day to you.
I want to begin this meeting by describing a day, not my day, nor that of any person from this delegation.
It's a young Chilean person with a disability that this morning left the house just like any other day, could have gone to university to meet his friends or, in fact, I do anything.
The reason simply doesn't matter.
He could have trust in something simple that the public transport of the city was adapted to them and yet coming to the station, the lift wasn't working.
For the majority of passengers on public transport, this means taking the stairs and using a couple of minutes of their time.
But for him, much more difficult.
He would have to leave their technical assistance, their wheelchair, except somebody taking them in their arms in front of everything of everybody and turning around and going back home.
A blocked lift is simply all it takes for accessibility to become something that limits your day.
When the lift works, the young person can decide for themselves where to go and what time to arrive.
This is the difference.
And this is what the convention is all about.
When this committee asks us about compliance with the treaty, this young person is part of the answer.
While a person with disability in Chile can't leave their home and move about the city autonomously, then we've still got work to do.
On behalf of the state of Chile and as head of this national delegation, I wish to warmly greet each one of the independent experts that are members of the UN Committee on the rights of Persons with Disabilities.
I'd like to thank you in advance for these two days of constructive dialogue that are beginning today and where we hope that we will be able to clearly, succinctly, transparently tell you something about Chile's progress in the compliance and implementation of the convention and also say something about the areas of weakness and barriers that still stand in the way of inclusion.
We can also tell you about the challenges that we still face to ensure before we can ensure that each person with disabilities in Chile can live with dignity with real autonomy and with the support of their family and their community.
I also wish to greet and thank all public officials and authorities that are members of the national delegation, the National Institute for Human Rights, the Children's Oomudsperson, Civil Society, and of course, all persons that are making it possible to have meetings such as this one.
I'm proud to be able to share with the committee that during these two days, the state of Chile will be represented by a very high level delegation, including representatives of the three branches of the state, which reflects the relevance and primary position that the issue of inclusion has for the state of Chile.
It's an honor for me to introduce you to the permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Luis Plaza, Honorable Senator Paulina Nunez uruna, who is President of the Senate and who will make some introductory remarks of her own.
And also representing the legislative branch, we have the Honorable Senator Jimena Ortenz Na and Honorable Senator Sebastian Keita Bianch who chairs the Commission of Older Persons and Disability and to represent the judiciary, I extend my greetings and introduce Mr.
Gonzalo Ros Latiga who is a judge at the Supreme Court of Justice, the highest court in our land, who will also be making some introductory remarks.
When it comes to the executive branch, it's an honor for me to be head of delegation as Minister of Social Development and the family.
I'm accompanied by two other Secretaries of State, Mr.
Fernando Robtsilis who's Minister of Justice and Human Rights, and Thomas R Binder, who is Minister for Labor and social welfare.
And to this, we can add the Under Secretary of State for Public Health, doctor Alejandra Pizarro Banes, and officials from various public agencies who on a daily basis, we work with to tackle particularly sensitive issues for persons with disabilities such as independent living, decision making, accessibility, personal integrity, inclusion in the labor market, inclusion in education, access to justice, and decent standard of living amongst other issues.
So having introduced the national delegation, I wish to continue by indicating that during this year of 2026, the states parties to the convention are commemorating 20 years of the tieth anniversary of this International Human Rights Convention, which changed the paradigm when it comes to understanding and approach to disability.
This anniversary, as well as this constructive dialogue with your committee represent benchmarks to assess progress that's been made in terms of inclusion and accessibility by identifying pending problems and strengthening implementation, looking to those challenges that we still tackle, poverty, which affects persons with disabilities and their families, disproportionate and the speedy aging of our population as well as technological change, which can both open doors and present new barriers.
In Chile, poverty and disabilities are very strongly related, according to the National Socioeconomic survey, called Kassen in 2024, Multinational poverty affects 27.4% of persons with disability, whereas the corresponding figure for the rest of the population is 17.2%.
It's a ten point percentage difference.
This difference, it can't be explained with the actual condition of individual persons.
It's about the environment which was not designed bearing persons with disabilities in mind, schools that don't have support, jobs that are simply not there, and housing where families that have to stop working in order to provide care.
We know that persons with disabilities are more vulnerable to poverty and when we speak of poverty, we speak of dignity, understood in very specific terms, the possibility to study, to work, to have a family, and to make decisions about their own lives.
Looking at legislation, we remember that Chile ratified the convention in 2008 and as part of bringing its domestic law into line with the convention, in 2010, it published the first group of norms based on the biopsychosocial model and on human rights approach for persons with disabilities.
Meant, amongst other things, that the state made specific commitments to ensure the right to equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, aiming to ensure their full social inclusion, ensuring they enjoyed their rights, and eliminating any form of discrimination on the grounds of disability.
These laws also created a new institutional setup for disability and gave birth to the Senadis the National Service for Disabilities, which aims to promote equal opportunities, social inclusion, participation, and accessibility for persons with disability.
Persons with disabilities represent 17% of a population aged two years and above, which is, in fact, 3.2 million people.
This constructive dialogue is a very important event for us, bearing in mind that it also occurs at the time of the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the convention.
On this basis, I wish to inform you that in March of the current year the government of President Jose António Kast took office, and as part of the Chile for all plan, it makes a priority of its political agenda to build more inclusive and accessible society.
And in line with this in July, we breathed new life into the inter ministerial Committee of Social Development and the Family for Disabilities, led by the president of the Republic himself, together with myself, the head of delegation.
The aim of this body is to meet at least twice a year to strengthen coordination between different state agencies working this sector and to tackle the main challenges of the national inclusion agenda with a particular emphasis on the development of public policies aiming to guarantee the exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Bearing in mind all of these important events, I wish to point out that during this constructive dialogue, we will be tackling the periodic reports presented by Chile in December 2022, and more than 40 public or state agencies took part in drafting it as part of a cross cutting exercise looking at the variable of disability in laws, public policies, and other state activities.
The exercise was also copied when preparing for this report in order to share with the committee updated information on main progress difficulties and existing challenges when it comes to inclusion and rights for persons with disabilities.
We should also point out that in order to prepare the report for this dialogue, we saw the involvement of persons with disabilities and organizations representing them, as well as other representatives from civil society.
Their work is essential if we want to make progress in inclusion and to identify areas of weakness and challenges that persist.
The combined reports cover the period between 2016 and July 2022.
Here we can see progress when it comes to legislation, public policy, and significant events that had an impact on the exercise of the rights of ctry in general and persons with disability in particular.
So when it comes to legislation, we can indicate the publication of various laws and sectors such as inclusion in the labor market, education, health, Chilean sign language, augmented or alternative communication systems, autism, support and care, and we saw the establishment of the National Service for Access to Justice.
When it comes to public policy, there have been efforts to ensure that the variable of disability is now mainstreamed in the actions of all state authorities, especially in health, education, labor, employment, emergencies and disasters, housing, public safety, access to justice, and sport.
We can also see activities to progress towards certification of disabilities, which includes a human rights report and which envisages improvements and implementation.
We see progress in mental health with in 2021, approval of law 20 1331, and recognition at the legal level of the right of all persons to grant or deny their will or consent to be subjected to any procedure or treatment connected to their state of health.
We have seen prohibition of forced sterilization of children, and there have been actions to try and lessen the negative effects of pandemics of the pandemic and of emergencies in general and persons with disabilities, ensuring accessibility of information and ensuring uninterrupted access to support services and health and education.
We have nevertheless, despite progress seen significant challenges in guaranteeing the rights of persons with disabilities.
It is essential to continue to work between different sectors to ensure that policies, plans and programs consider persons with disabilities at all stages of life from early childhood to when they are older persons.
This is also support for families.
That care for them.
We identify challenges in public registration because they don't always consider disability as an issue that must be taken into consideration, which means we don't have specific quantitative information relating to the impact of certain action and public policies or other initiatives.
We must also indicate that our own convention enshrines the fact that Chile Um, make social policy a priority and it says preamble, the states parties are convinced that the family is the natural unit of society.
It's a fundamental unit of society and the persons with disability and family members must receive protection and necessary assistance.
We agree with this statement unreservedly.
In fact, behind any person with disabilities, there's a family that provides support and there can be a very solitary life for a person with disability if the family in any way is missing.
If we think about caring for persons with disabilities, when they are older persons, then more than 85% of older persons need support, and we also have the National System for Support and Care, but we are at the very beginning of this process to provide this kind of support.
The convention also reminds us of obligations that we have undertaken for children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and a We also have to factor in poverty here.
Nearly 600,000 children live with some disability.
When they also live in poverty as a family, then the path for them is marked very early on with late diagnostics, interrupted therapy, school dropout, and adulthood without the tools to pursue any personal project.
We have to support families and early detection.
These are at the heart of our new policies.
The other extreme of life, Chile is working on public policy as well.
4 million people in Chile are over the age of 60 and we have a very high percentage of persons with disabilities amongst this group of the population.
Anyone who puts in place policies for older persons in any country that does this is really looking after itself.
We must also note that one of the main challenges is silly in Chile, is not the absence of standards and norms, but rather the distance, the gap between rights which are enshrined in law and their effective compliance and practice.
This means that we must bolster social policies throughout life with coordinated responses between services and responses must be family centers.
We must have simple access, which is appropriate and non discriminatory on paper, and we must ensure that when someone has a problem, they don't need to go to five different offices to solve it.
And I want to conclude by saying that the State of Chile didn't come here just to say what we have done.
We've come here with great optimism, with evidence of progress with specific data, but also in a spirit of self criticism and willingness to improve.
The real measure of our work, it doesn't lie in report.
It's something simpler.
We want to make sure that a young person with disabilities has open doors to make sure that they can find their first job and that public transport isn't a barrier preventing them from achieve their goals.
This is the measure that we want to be used to assess our work and we want to thank this committee for requiring us to report because it helps us to comply with the wishes of those that simply cannot wait any longer.
Thank you so much, Madam Minister.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Distinguished committee members on the rights of persons with disabilities.
I echo the greetings that have already been mentioned by my colleague.
As President of the Senate of Chile, it is an honor for me to address this committee and ten years have gone by since the committee first reported to this committee in 2016.
It's ten years that means we have to take stock of what we've done, but we will also be able to show that there's been progress in the implementation of the Convention on Persons with Disabilities.
When it comes to legislation, I wish to indicate that the National Congress has approved during this period a series of laws that have substantively strengthened the rights of persons with disabilities in Chile.
In 2016, we approved a law on inclusion in the labor market, which established a minimum quota for persons with disabilities in the public and private sector and we also have a law on inclusion, comprehensive care, and the protection of the rights of persons with autism in and social sectors, health and education.
A few months ago in February, we've had a new law called Chile Cares, which created a new national system for support and care and which enshrines the right to care as a social right with rights holders recognized in persons with disabilities and those that care for them.
In 2011, we approved a law which ensured that parents of children with disabilities could be absent from work, and in 2016, a law ensuring that persons with disabilities could have access to and be appointed as public notaries and judges and there was a new crime of ill treatment and it enhanced protection for persons with disabilities.
But it's not just legislation that has seen progress.
The Congress has also promoted accommodations in its structure with lifts and restaurants, et cetera We guarantee accessibility in all Congress departments.
We also establish the standing committee of older persons and disabilities, a legislative body where there are currently 42 bills in this area, which speaks volumes about the importance that the legislative branch grants to this agenda.
We know that there are major challenges faced by persons with disabilities in Chile, and we believe this is an opportunity to honestly identify them and to see the gaps that remain.
We um fully undertake to implement the convention.
This why as president of the Senate, I make a commitment to continue to undertake work in this area and I thank you for the opportunity given by this constructive dialogue.
Thank you so much, Excellency.
Representative of the Supreme Court, you have the floor.
Merci.
Thank you very much.
A very good afternoon to you, Madam Chairman of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and good afternoon to distinguished experts.
I echo the words of greetings and thanks that our minister and head of delegation made earlier.
I represent the judicial branch judicial authorities here in this dialogue.
This is an opportunity that allows us to reflect on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities in our country.
It's also an opportunity to be able to speak about the progress that we've made and the challenges that are pending and that we must face.
The higher courts of Justice in their work have been able to deliver opinions in specific cases relating to the implementation of the convention and looking at domestic law in this area to ensure that there is full compliance with the rights enshrined in the Convention.
And this work done by the court goes hand in hand with work done in state institutions and a whole program of activities planned by them.
We have a subcommittee for access to justice for vulnerable groups and persons, which I currently coordinate and which is trying to ensure that our work is in line with international standards.
We also have a robust work being done within the Supreme Court and through committees and subcommittees and that shows its commitment to persons with disabilities and different activities.
These are tangible measures to identify and remove existing barriers.
We have been developing protocols for access to justice and practical guides for their implementation.
We have online translation services for persons that have communication difficulties, and we have special tribunals that are leads in training others in the implementation of these protocols and guides and they do this year on year.
We hold seminars and ongoing standing dialogues with academia, with civil society groups, and state administrations.
These are just some of the measures and tools.
We always train judges, and And in fact, our judicial training school has had mandatory training in this area for a good while.
To conclude, we know that progress in these areas doesn't wipe away all the challenges that are entailed by a full comprehensive implementation of the convention.
We very much value the opportunity of this dialogue, and we will keenly await observations and recommendations that might be the outcoming in order to strengthen our work and make sure we have full effective implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Cap of the committee, I thank you for all of your Excellenc's opening statement.
Now, I would like to give the floor to the representative of Chile's National Human Rights Institution, the Institute National Tess.
I give the floor to miss Sil Pana Lausan, head of the research unit.
Miss Lausan, you have the floor.
Good afternoon.
Esteemed committee chair, representatives of civil society organizations and Chilean authorities.
On behalf of the National Human Rights Institute of Chile, we'd like to thank you for this opportunity.
I'd like to begin by welcoming the legal progress which has been achieved by Chile since the last review.
That's important.
Nevertheless, the NHRI has noted that the move from a charity based model to a human rights based model has not been completed.
In order to contribute to this review, we'd like to focus on three main areas addressed in our report.
Firstly, legal capacity and replacing the substitute decision making model.
In Chile, there's not a single incoherent legal regulation on legal capacity.
Of persons with intellectual cognitive or psychosocial disabilities, which is fully in line with international standards.
There are articles in the Civil Code which continue to declare persons with intellectual pscial disabilities as being completely incapable.
The bill before Parliament to correct this situation has been stalled since 2021.
I certification and strong institutions for ensuring rights.
Chile has a National Disability Register which provides a disability card, but the classification certification system is bogged down in red tape, a lack of budget, and delays of up to 12 months.
Currently, only 24.4% of persons with disabilities in Chile are enrolled on the National Disability Register.
Furthermore, there's the problem that the National Committee for protecting persons with mental illnesses is part of the Office of the Undersecretary for Public Health.
It does not carry out compliance inspections and it lacks technical and institutional independence.
It's bound to the Ministry of Health.
Inequality and enjoying rights without discrimination.
Act 20609 against discrimination doesn't explicitly recognize the denial of reasonable accommodation as discrimination and 73% of claims are rejected by courts.
In Chile, 59.1% of persons with disabilities are out of work.
In the public sector, 61.1% of entities do not meet the legal quota of 1% of employees with disabilities and the program moving or the transition to independent living only caters to 2000 people.
Out of a total of over 1.6 million people of working age, the opportunities for autonomy and integration are few and far between and there are no appropriate programs and there's a lack of reasonable accommodation.
In education, 95% of children with disabilities are enrolled, but only 50% of them.
I should say that over 50% of them have serious problems ensuring their needs are met.
The What is on offer in providing support is something which is only on a voluntary basis, which leads to segregation when there should be universal access to classroom support and across all schools.
Lastly, the state is developing a reallocation of 3% of the budget also ministries and services with a few exceptions, but there will be further budget cuts over the next five years.
Whilst this is across the board cut, it has a disproportionate impact on services such as National Delivery Service.
Our institution is calling for the differentiated impact of budget cuts to be taken into consideration because they will have a particular impact on special protection groups.
Otherwise, we're going to lose some of the progress we've made in guaranteeing rights.
The NHRI reiterates his commitment to continue rigorous monitoring and permanent dialogue with state organizations in order to ensure that there is complete compliance with the convention.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I now give the floor to the representative of the Penora De La Nines, Mr.
Anar es, and miss Daniela Quintana.
You have the floor.
Madam Chair, distinguished members of the committee, and I would also like to extend my greetings to the representatives of Chilean State and Chilean Civil Society.
The Office of the Ombudsman for Children appreciates the opportunity to contribute to this constructive dialogue, and we welcome the fact that all three branches of state are well represented here.
Our report recognizes the important legal institutional progress which is made by Chile.
This has been achieved in recent years.
Nevertheless, I would like to convey an important concern of ours.
The main challenge in our country is not just to recognize rights through laws, but to ensure that these rights can be effectively enjoyed by children in their daily lives.
We have seen there's persistent gaps when it comes to support accessibility, interinstitutional coordination, protection from violence, and effective access to justice.
That's why we would respectfully urge this committee in its concluding observations to encourage Chile to make further headway in three priority areas.
Firstly, strengthen the governance of policies for children with disabilities.
Disability must be mainstreamed into the system of guarantees in the national care system.
With clear responsibilities for doing so, the necessary resources, indicators, and follow up mechanisms.
Secondly, ensuring support and specialized protection, particularly for children and adolescents in the state's care.
Respectfully ask the committee to urge the state of Chile to ensure that enough services are available, that they are specialized, and that they're available throughout the country with multidisciplinary teams, constant action, accessibility, and reasonable accommodation.
No child should be left without an appropriate response because they haven't got a place or there's not enough specialized services available or lack of institutional coordination.
What we have seen is that these gaps particularly affect children in the state's care.
Our diagnosis made this year is the basis for this finding.
Lastly, we can see a vital challenge for ensuring autonomy, participation, effective access to justice.
What the state needs to do is to provide procedural adjustments and support for communication so that every child can be heard and take an effective part in decisions affecting them.
This is particularly when these children are part of a special protection group.
But we must also adjust the laws on legal capacity to ensure that disability isn't used as a basis for taking decisions on behalf of somebody else, the substitute decision making.
The state must ensure necessary support for legal capacity to be exercised and provide more specialized training to judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and other judicial operators.
These three priorities require dis aggregated information which can be transferred from one area to another, which will allow us to measure results and assess whether policies are producing real change in the lives of children with disabilities.
According to our office, what the committee should look for is for effective implementation by Chile of the laws which has adopted.
Our challenge for us all, is that the convention is not just a recognized legal framework, but a tangible reality for the lives of every child with disabilities in Chile.
Thank you.
M.
Now we will proceed the first round of back to back questions and answers regarding close to one.
Before beginning the question, I give the floor to miss Amalia Camilo, coordinator of the tasker force for opening Limk on behalf of the tasker force.
Amalia Camilo, you have the floor.
Go Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
On behalf of my colleagues on the task force, Marino Lorenzo, Natalia Guala, Gertrude Ffueme, and myself, and all the other members of this committee, I would like to extend the most cordial welcome to the delegation from the Republic of Chile to Her Excellency and head of delegation, Maria de Reso Wolfe Lamai Minister for Social Development and the Family, Ambassador Luis Plata, and the senators and the representatives of the judicial branch, as well as all the other members of the delegation.
A Silvana Rosana, who is the representative of the National Human Rights Institute and the representative of the Ombudsman's Office for Children, as well as representatives of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities.
It's very important that you've all made the effort to travel to Geneva for this important dialogue.
I visited your beautiful country in December of last year and I have to say that I spent a very warm Christmas and to visit some of the monuments, including Santa Claus as it's known in Chile.
I met Maria Solid Cisternas who took part from the very first day in drafting this convention back in 2003 in the United Nations.
She was a very important member of this committee and served as its chair.
I particularly admire Chile's civil society and the Organizations of Persons with Disabilities who are so interested empowered for ensuring that the convention is properly implemented in the country because this is a legally binding treaty for signatory countries such as Chile.
It's a huge bonus for this committee to have your important contributions.
I respectfully ask the delegation to listen more carefully to the experts from civil society.
They put together some excellent contributions as is foreseen in our convention and they have really embodied the slogan, nothing about us without us.
So This review is not just for celebrating your progress, one of which is to revive the inter ministerial Committee for Social Development and the family on disabilities, but also to look at all the challenges facing the state party.
During this review, we'll be focusing on the gaps more than anything because what we want to do is provide you with advice as to how you can overcome the difficulties that you've faced up until now.
Please allow me to say that We can't carry on at the same slow pace as has been the case up until now because this convention was adopted 20 years ago.
Now we really have to step up the pace and we shouldn't really be dealing with things which should already have been done, such as complying with Article 2 for Chile, which is equal recognition of persons before the law.
This is one of the biggest challenges in Chile and It means as a result that other rights are only partially met or not met at all, such as ensuring sexual and reproductive health rights for girls and women with disabilities, deinstitutionalization thanks to sufficient support in the community and accessibility and not enough steps have been taken yet to ensure that there is effective independent monitoring of the implementation of the the convention.
We've read your report carefully, we're familiar with your laws and programs, so When you answer our questions, please don't refer back to the programs and laws which you're already familiar with.
Please provide us with information about specific actions which take place in practice.
This will ensure that the dialogue is much more fruitful.
Please feel most welcome here.
I'd like to hand over to my colleague, Natalia Gala.
I would like to thank her for replacing one of our colleagues who was unable to be with us here today, Natalia, you have the floor.
Thank you very much, Malia.
I'd also like to extend my thanks to the delegation and bid you a warm welcome to We're very pleased to have representatives of the three branches of power and representatives of civil society.
Now I'm going to start the constructive dialogue with questions on Articles one to four which are general principles and obligations.
We're going to talk about legislation this part of the dialogue.
In 2016, this committee provided the State Party of Chile with its concluding observations and recommendations on the initial State Party report.
They included harmonizing laws which still contradicted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including law 2422.
When it comes to harmonizing your laws, we'd like to ask the delegation to explain to us what measures have been taken in addition to the laws which you've mentioned in your opening remarks and which Amalia has already referred to, what other measures have you taken to bring law 242218600 and Law 20 1331, which all contain terminology and language which runs counter to the conventions.
Similarly, what measures do you plan to adopt in the state party to reform the Civil Code in order to bring it into line with the general principles of the convention? At this stage, we'd also like to ask the representatives of the legislative branch, what are the main reasons for a number of different bills linked to the reforms that I've just mentioned being stalled in the Senate or the National Congress.
They don't move forward for several years.
What are the main reasons? What are the main challenges or areas of resistance preventing these reforms from being undertaken? Thank you.
Excellency, you have the power to respond.
Thank you.
The Ministry of Justice will answer the first question and then I'll give the floor to the legislative branch.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair.
I'm Fernando Rab.
I'm the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Chile.
I'd like to begin by extending my greetings to all the other people meeting here in this room.
In particular, I'd like to thank the entire delegation, including the representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights who have supported us in this presentation.
Now, when it comes to legal capacity, which is one of the questions you've just asked about, I'd like to inform you that Chile is aware of the committee's recommendation and the legitimacy of it.
So I'd like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to give you further details following on from paragraph nine A.
We're not ignoring this question or just treating it like any other question.
If you look at Article 1446 of the Civil Code, it states there that all persons who are legally capable can exercise their legal capacity.
When we're talking about incapacity, it is an exceptional case.
It is interpreted restrictively and cannot be interpreted through analogy.
Incapacity is an expression which comes from the original Civil Code of 18 67 and covers what is contained in the original source of the French Civil Code of 18 oh four.
It's one of the pillars of Civil Code.
This is because it is a rule for protecting persons with disabilities.
It is seen that we must protect their rights in the legal sphere and that protection means that they will not be subject to certain punishments.
This means too, if you look at Article 1686 of the Civil Code, that is what is covered there.
Chile uses the model of incapacity as an exception.
It means to say that a person is incampable of showing their will or having the necessary requirements for forming a legal act.
There is also a difference nowadays between absolute and relative incapacity.
In the latter, you would not be able to meet habilitating formalities, which means to say that you would give authorization to a third party for them to act on your part.
When it comes to reviewing the laws on legal capacity, I'd like to be frank with you.
Today, we do not have a time frame for amending this framework.
It's not because of a lack of interest, but this is because this is very central part of legal acts and There are third party rights which are involved in each of these relations.
Now, when it comes to substitute decision making and moving over to supported decision making, as the committee underlined in general comment one, this is a paradigm shift which is not limited to legal texts, but it also covers registers, notaries and requires profound changes in these areas and others.
We would See, gaps in implementation if there is not appropriate coordination between institutions, we wouldn't be overcoming the inequalities we're trying to put a stop to.
Chile has learned from the experience of other countries who have done this.
We cannot hear the speaker.
Thank you.
Apologies for interrupting.
Let's come back to legal capacity when we speak about Article 12.
With all due respect, I would like to call upon the delegation to answer the questions that I asked about the reasons why the bills in Parliament to reform the Civil Code and bring laws into line with the convention, notably when it comes to language and terminology that they use.
I'd like to ask you to answer these questions specifically.
Why have the bills been stalled in the National Congress for so many years? Why have you been unable to move forward with these reforms and please let's leave the issue of legal capacity when we get to Article 12 because we're going to get into a lot more detail then.
But thank you then for talking about that subject at that time.
Thank you.
With regard to the specific question that you've just asked, there's not been any delay in reforming laws, notably when we're talking about the specific articles of the Civil Code, that is Article 1447.
The bill has been tabled, it's before parliament and This was what came about just a couple of months ago, the ministry has made an agreement with the senators to move that forward so that the procedural changes can occur in both administrative and procedural terms so that we can cover the observations made by the committee at the time.
This is what I can tell you from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.
We're now hear from the legislative branch.
Madam Chair, very good afternoon to you.
I'm Jimena Ordonez Neder.
I am a senator.
I'd like to begin by referring to The observations made by the committee to Chile in 2016 and what has happened in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies since then, we created specialized standing committees in the area of disabilities because we felt that this was way of overcoming a barrier.
They are currently called the committees on disabilities and older persons in both chambers.
I'm saying this because this is a new forum and it has enabled the legislative power to monitor public policies in the area of disabilities.
This also has enabled us to have stable institutional forum because before disabilities issues were scattered across different committees such as employment, the family and health.
We felt that it was important for us to have these standing committees because otherwise it was very difficult to make disabilities a priority for the other committees.
Furthermore, we're also working on The monitoring of the implementation of sectoral laws on disabilities.
I'll give you an example.
What I'm trying to explain to you is that we have identified these barriers before.
The whole legislative agenda was fragmented across different committees which didn't consider disabilities as a priority, but now we have direct work with the executive branch, particularly the Ministries of Health, social Development and the Family, and the National Service for Disability Senatus, which is a reference point for the reforms affecting persons with disabilities.
This means that we monitor the passage of bills in this area.
We also have a service in the Ministry of Social Development and Family, which works with us on the drafting of laws and how correct language should be employed in them.
This is a recent initiative, and so the Chamber of Deputies set up its committee in 2020, the Senate in 2023, but we've now made disabilities a priorities, and this is what is happening concerning the passage of the bills in the Parliament.
I'd also like to take the floor, if I may.
I see that it's Mr.
Sebastian Catal from the Senate also wants to take the floor.
I'm Sebastian Cat, I'm a senator.
I'm also the chair of the standing committee on Disabilities and Older Persons.
I would just like to add to what my colleague Senator Ordonez was saying and help answer the question which was just put to us, our work in the committee is far reaching.
What we have been trying to do is to improve Our laws.
One of the laws which we're dealing with at the moment is the law on persons with autistic spectrum disorders.
How can we listen to civil society better? How can we learn from their experience? Because they will help us improve the law.
What we want to do is to have the best possible practice.
Everything could be improved and so we're working with a great deal of will and energy in this and I'm sure this will help us make progress in our country.
What is your market.
Thank you very much for those answers.
I'm sure that the recommendations that we can make in the committee will contribute to the very necessary harmonization of your laws with the convention.
As the head of the day delegation said at the moment, we know that you will listen to what we can contribute.
Carrying on with the articles on general principles and obligations, in 2016, in the recommendations that we made as a committee to the State Party of Chile, we urged you to improve the classification certification system for disabilities.
What we have seen from the State Party report is that progress has been made, you've trained staff and there are offices throughout the country.
But we're worried about the fact that according to the census on disabilities, only around one in four persons with disabilities are actually registered.
That means to say that they have their disability certificate.
How can the delegation explain the low level of registration and what barriers to persons with disabilities face when they try to access the register or why would they choose to register or not? What could the state party do to improve the disability classification certification system so that persons with disabilities not only have a disability certificate, but through it could have access to the affirmative action measures which are foreseen in the laws which have been enacted in recent years in Charley? Bearing in mind the budgetary allocation for this system and bearing in mind the budgetary adjustment, which is being undertaken in the country.
How can you reconcile the budgetary restrictions with the needs in this area? Thank you.
The Ministry of Health will answer this question.
Thank you, Minister.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair.
I'd also like to extend my greetings through you to all the members of the committee and representatives of civil society for joining us here for this important meeting.
I am Alessandra Pissarro.
I am the Undersecretary for Public Health.
The disability certificate is a voluntary and active process in our country.
Its legal basis is in Chapter two of law 2422 of 2010, which establishes rules on equal opportunities and the social inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Since 2012, We have been moving from a medical model to a biopsychosocial model, which means that we will have a multidimensional and holistic perspective in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
We have gradually favored this system through extending our technical ability, and this is based on the international classification of disabilities and functionalities in public health and assessing performance in community through the tool for that purpose.
So It is the individual themselves that will assess the difficulties in their environment, bearing in mind their dignity and autonomy at all stages of life.
The classification process has three basic stages.
Firstly, there is a functional biomedical report a including the health condition, and then there is a social and support network report, which is linked to support networks family situation in the context of the individual.
Thirdly, there is the performance report, which is a self reporting process, which I just mentioned.
There are 23 disability units of preventive medicine and disability across the 16 regions of the country which carry out this process, which means to say that the entire country is covered.
In June 2026, over 10,500 staff had been trained which voluntarily support The application of this instrument under the biopsychosocial model by May of this year, over 600,000 people had been certified and there has been a gradual increase of coverage over the past few years and growing participation of the classifying entities.
This is a collaborative process with the community as well.
Complying with the committee's recommendations and the deadlines for completing this process, which is foreseen in our law, we are constantly redesigning the system through digitizing it and training throughout the country and regulations to reduce red tape.
In this context and recognizing that there are gaps when it comes to certification of disability, Jose António Pz the president of the Republic, through the inter ministerial committee said that the Ministry of Health had to solve the problem of the waiting list with certification of disability.
This has meant that we now have a process underway which is about to be rolled out.
We've also had ongoing training sessions and information sessions for civil society, certification agencies, and the general public.
This has been through regional roundtables and web seminars, et cetera, explaining the conceptual model of the system and ensuring the participation of organizations that are relevant in this area.
This shows the state's commitment to strengthening the classification and certification system for disabilities, promoting processes which are increasingly accessible and in line with principles of autonomy and independence and so on.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for those answers.
We can now move on to Article 5, equality and nondiscrimination.
Returning for a moment to the 2016 recommendations.
Now, in respect of this article, a recommendation was made to the state party to harmonize its laws, to include a reasonable accommodation as grounds for discrimination against persons with disabilities.
We would like to know what measures have been taken in terms of harmonization of legislation.
And in terms of enabling legislation to include the notion of reasonable accommodation as grounds for discrimination against persons with disabilities, we would like to know how the perspective of intersectional discrimination against persons with disabilities has been included.
In the state party, is there any plan for a measure to strengthen, for example, law 20 609 in order to include the disability perspective within this law.
Thank you.
To begin, we will hear the first speaker.
Thank you.
Well, it seems to answer the last question that we have a comprehensive law on violence against women and this included the mention of a special factor of vulnerability when it came to referring to persons with disabilities.
There is a recognition of disability as a vulnerability, and this tried to address the issue of multiple discrimination against women specifically in this case.
Obviously, this women can be women with disabilities and this was a protection against the risk of violence and there can be special measures taken in the case of imminent risk, that is, before the ill treatment occurs.
The disability of the person, in this case, is something that the court has to take into account as a possible aggravating circumstance.
This also applies to cases of domestic violence.
If there are cases involving persons with disabilities, these are considerations which are taken into account when considering the rights of persons with disabilities.
We are currently discussing this bill and disability is a factor of vulnerability, which is taken into consideration.
So We do consider vulnerability and intersectionality in cases of domestic violence as well.
The law says that the policies must take into account multiple discrimination and situations of vulnerability in cases affecting women, and there is a vulnerability factor which is applied if it's a woman with disabilities.
Additional answers to be provided by the Ministry of Justice, please, says the speaker.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you for the question.
Let me answer what's already been said by saying that we have significant legislation in this areas.
We have law 2422 already mentions on equal opportunities and social inclusion of persons with disabilities.
We have law 2069 of 2012 on discrimination, and there's been recent reforms of the labor laws where we see a prohibition of any form of discrimination when it comes to recruitment for employment.
So the full implementation of these three bodies of law allows us to conclude the following.
First of all, that there is action against arbitrary discrimination.
We also have specific action pursuant to Article 57 of La 2422, and we also have protection in the employment sphere as part of the Labor Code, and we have constitutional protection, ensuring equality for all persons.
This is obviously going back in time.
There can be arbitrary in case of any arbitrary discrimination, you can resort to any of these four bodies of law.
In relation to what the committee has been pointed out, we must indicate that currently there is discussion in the legislature in what we call a mixed commission in Chile.
This is a commission including both senators and members of Parliament.
It's a mixed commission which in July of 2026, after the change in government of March 2026, saw a change in composition with new senators and new members of Parliament.
When it comes to the executive and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, our goal is to amend and ensure there is greater efficacy in the actions of law 269, particularly when it comes to the burden of proof when this is invoked or on how appropriate it is to provide evidence in court.
We must emphasize that the old law from 2010 talks about necessary accommodation and not reasonable accommodation.
This is a problem of terminology and not of legal interpretation.
This is interpretative work which must be done by the judges that are examining this legislation.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I would be grateful for very specific on point answers because we have little time and many questions to answer.
I wanted to ask questions on Article 6, women with disabilities and seven, children with disabilities so that we can tackle both articles at once.
In relation to both groups, Madam Minister, in her introductory remarks told us that poverty and disability are very closely linked when it comes to children and women with disabilities and indigenous persons, migrants, women, and children that live in rural areas.
Could you tell us what measures you're planning to put in place to ensure the rights of these groups to ensure that action is in line with convention rights.
Furthermore, we have noted that the interinstitutional roundtable on sexual and reproductive rights has been brought to a close.
We would like to know whether this is an agency that is going to replace by a different body.
In any case, what are you doing to ensure that women and children with disabilities are ensured proper sexual and reproductive health education, and what are you doing to ensure that there is appropriate decision making opportunities for women with disabilities? We will address this question by Senates, the National Disability Service, and then the Ministry of Health.
Thank you very much and a very good afternoon, Madam Chair and through you, my greetings also to all committee experts.
Maria Pilar Hbas is my name and I'm currently the head of the Human Rights Department and legislative follow up of the National Disability Service.
In relation to the questions that you've asked us on the intersectional considerations, reproductive health and participation, within the National Disability Service and in the state in general, we have put in place a number of activities to ensure there is an intersectional approach in our actions and in the policies that are currently in force when it comes to gender issues specifically, Our executive branch has a management improvement program, as we do have a gender component to this, which means that every year the different public departments must conduct specific activities to promote gender equality within these state departments.
Along the same lines and pursuant to the legislation that you've heard that we've implemented.
In Chile, we have put in place the fourth gender equality plan 2018, 2030, and one of its goals is an intersectional approach to take account of the different situations of women in the country with a particular focus on women and girls.
This intersectional approach feeds into our national childhood policy and the plan of action.
This is a plan for 24 to 2032.
This body of public law includes provisions for its full implementation.
As part of the activities, we look at issues such as sexual and reproductive rights, and we also consider participation on an equal footing, of course, all pursuant to the legislation currently in force.
Taking note of one of the 2016 recommendations, the Syndes the National Disability Service, together with the faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, has rolled out an awareness raising campaign on sexual and reproductive health called Let's Talk About Disability and sexuality.
As part of this program, which was rolled out in 2021, Well, the drafting of this program saw the participation of adult persons with disabilities who provided guidelines to the states and order to draft the content of all the material distributed as part of this campaign and to make sure that all of the rights were contemplated from a perspective of equal rights.
We also have a legislative framework which ensures participation.
This is through law 2,500 of 2011.
This is a law which includes different methods for participation, including citizens consultations, public budgeting exercises, and different civil society councils.
When it comes to women and children with disabilities, in each public entity that has a competency in this area, and then of course, in the National Disability Service, we have civil society councils with representation of the people affected women and children with disabilities that are part of the advisory committee, and these are part of the Childhood Protection Services.
Mr.
Natalia, you have the 15 minutes until you finish the first round up close to one.
Thank you.
Thank you, chair.
Thank you very much.
Let me now move on to Articles eight and nine.
In Macula de Plascencia, my colleague will address these issues.
But under Article 8, I wanted to ask the delegation to explain why or provide a justification for why there are certain expressions used relating to visibility of persons with disability and the medical model continue to be used in the country.
In 2016, we also drew the state party's attention to this because these models using advertising or fundraising activities run counter to the convention, particularly the relevant article 0F the convention.
Could you please tell us what measures you've been putting in place in order to scale back the use of such models and what have you been doing to promote a rights based culture for persons with disabilities? In other words, the social model which is enshrined in the convention and which the state party has a duty to roll out across society.
Persons with disabilities are rights holders, of course, that is the basic understanding.
Let me give the floor to my colleague Placencia, who will ask a question under Article 9, and then we'd like very specific answers to these questions, please.
Thank you very much and I echo my colleagues in greeting Members of representatives of the State Party of Chile.
My questions are on Article 9 on accessibility.
I read your report with great interest and also looked at the legislation which is mentioned in the report, particularly Section four of Law 2422 and measures for equal opportunities in paragraph one giving measures of accessibility, and then articles down to 33.
There is the question of a lack of accessibility reported by persons with disabilities in all areas, including under Article 9 of the Convention, in the built environment, in public transport, in information and communication, and services for the public in urban and rural areas.
Now, reading this law, I can see that the state says that competent authorities must promote specific activities to promote universal access.
Now, I don't think there are very many examples, but there's the question of television broadcasting, housing in the built environment, shops, et cetera.
Some examples are given, but I'm not clear about whether Such subsequent or required enabling regulations and legislation has been put in place.
We have seen regulations on sign language, for example.
There are specific requirements for regulations, and these are all detailed in Convention Article 9.
So Do these agencies have the ability to put in place such legislation pursuant to state of the art standards that meet the requirements for accessibilities? If these regulations do indeed exist, do they include monitoring requirements for compliance with the legislation? If so, detailed reports been produced? If so, what do the reports say relating to compliance? I would also like to know whether there are sufficient funds available to comply with legislation on accessibility.
Are there any measures to train, for example, building staff or contractors, anyone involved in this sector to provide accessibility? Let me conclude with two comments and questions.
In the report, in Article 57, there is something said lack about accessibility, but these are individual measures.
A an individual with disabilities can lodge a complaint or denounce a lack of accessibility.
But there's also not just the question of sanctions, but also compensation in these cases.
And my last point is asking about the National Commission on Disability, which was set up and I congratulate you for that.
But it was said that there would be a national plan for accessibility leading up to 2032.
Now we're now in 2026.
Does this plan exist? What does it contain? What about the regulation, according to law 2422, this enabling legislation must be put in place and what has been done about that? So First of all, ynadis and then the legislative branch will answer.
Thank you very much.
First of all, in relation to Article 8 on awareness raising.
We wanted to say that the National Disability Service on an ongoing basis develops educational information and rights promoting material which is disseminated not just through the disability service mechanisms, but in fact, throughout the whole public sector.
In relation to this issue, it's important to point out that since 2022, the National Disability Service in As has been providing an online training platform, which includes free training programs that any interested person can access and complete, including accessibility standards.
2022-2026, 109,709 persons have registered for these online courses on our platform and 36,280 persons completed the courses.
Of the others, we believe therefore that this is a specific tangible tool, ensuring that the state can comply with its requirement for awareness raising.
If we think about other services, then they roll out promotional campaigns such as the one that we've just heard about, the 2023 Program on Disability and sexual and reproductive health and there's a program on barriers in social attitudes.
All of this aims to remove barriers to social inclusion.
As of 2025, we've had a barrier free educational program in order to provide training to persons involved in secondary education to ensure that they are in a better position to do their work in this area.
Finally, on awareness raising.
We wanted to inform you that this very year we've set up the first National Register of sportspersons with intellectual disabilities, ensuring that there will be participation in the forthcoming 2027 Olympiad.
It's a register which aims to record and include about 20,000 athletes with this kind of disability and we hope that they will be active participants in the special Olympiad of next year.
Now, we've also been asked further questions and in answer to this, I can say that in 2021, we set up the National Council for Persons with Disabilities.
It is an active operational council and it works directly with our head of delegation, the Minister for Social Development and the family.
They look at accessibility in the physical environment and information, and so on.
As part of the work of this Advisory Council, there was a development of a national universal accessibility program planned for, and work was underway on this for a number of years.
We can tell you that with the inter ministerial committee on Family and Disability, which was set up in June of this year, We've been able to see the state approval of the National Plan for Universal accessibility.
This is a ten year government strategy with 118 measures to be implemented by 18 ministries in 13 different sectors, including, for example, mobility, information, education, health, amongst others.
We trust that once this plan is formally approved, it will make a contribution to reduce the gap that exists in accessibility and we do recognize that such a gap exists.
To conclude, I wanted to specifically mention those norms included to accessible information for deaf persons and persons with hearing impairments.
In our country, The speaker is interrupted.
Interruption.
Thank you so much.
Miss Natalia, you have just 3 minutes at this first round.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair.
Mas Abe, We would ask you to please provide further information in writing in answer to this question.
I'll give the floor to Amalia Gamo, the coordinator of the task force so we can continue with questions.
Thank you, Natalia, and my thanks to the distinguished delegation for the answers they provided thus far.
Let us continue with the next cluster of articles, if you agree, Madam Chair.
Normally, it is the break time.
So let's have a break time until 445.
Thank you so much.
I We will continue with round of back to back question and answer regarding second round of c one.
This segment will last for 30 minutes and will conclude at 5:15.
I now open the floor to the committee expert for additional and follow up questions regarding closed one.
Colleagues wishing to take the floor, please raise your name, please.
Misto Magino Lorenzo, you have the floor.
We'll check it out.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to greet the Chilean delegation.
My greetings to you, Madam Minister, and all the other members of the delegation.
I have to confess that I also have dear love for Chile.
I've got some great friends in Chile.
There was a document that was submitted by the government of Chile.
That consistently used the acronym PCD.
This was in the report.
I'm not sure if I counted correctly, but I got to 225 times.
I'd like to draw your attention to this because generally speaking, The technical jargon always creates so many barriers against our community.
The conventions causes for us to be released from stigmatizing language.
I think that the acronym PCD in Spanish could become a new form of stigma.
Well, we're trying to save a few letters in the report, but we end up going to calling persons with disabilities the PCD or PWD in English.
That's why I wanted to underscore that because it sounds stigmatizing.
Now, with regard to Article 9 on accessibility, I'd like to As the delegation to really carefully consider the potential of developing that article for Chilean society.
If you look at the potential that that has for generating wealth through all the initiatives that you could take in areas such as accessible tourism and all the accommodations that you could make which could have a real knock on effect in other sectors such as transport and tourism.
Thank you very much.
Yes.
I'd like to ask a follow up question.
I'm pleased to hear that you're about to adopt the National plan on universal accessibility.
I wonder if you could inform the committee about this.
Could you share a draft with us so that would help us prepare our concluding observations.
It seems to me that you do not have regulations which would develop the general obligations.
How will the plan impose compulsory accessibility measures in the sectors that we've mentioned? How could a person with disabilities when there aren't such regulations, use the possibilities foreseen under Article 57 of La 2422.
Those are the two questions that I have for you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Mr.
Hirotaon, you have the floor.
Thank you, Chair.
I have two questions, both related to Article 9.
There are differences among local governments in the provision of sign language interpreting services.
My question, what measures are being taken to ensure a consistent system at the national level, particularly regarding human resources and budget? That's my first question.
My second question.
Is there a professional sign language training system for people working in the public, medical, and judicial sectors? We've received information suggesting that sign language access in these sectors is not sufficient, resulting in accessibility barriers for many deaf people.
I'm wondering if that is true.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Excellency, you have the floor to this.
Yes.
Thank you.
We'll have Jimena Abas from Synatus and then she'll be followed by Pilar.
Thank you very much.
I'm Jimena Abas.
I am an advisor to the Minister's Office on issues of inclusion.
Now, with regard to the questions, We have identified and recognized the importance of universal accessibility and the potential that it has for our country, not only in terms of the rights of persons with disabilities to have universal accessibility in all walks of life, but also considering that such accessibility whilst a need for the persons with disabilities is a benefit for all.
Moving on to the next question, we'll be able to send you a draft of the National plan on universal accessibility, which is currently being revised by the 18 or so public entities which are involved in its drafting.
Whilst It is not a regulation.
It refers back to Decree 50 on the accessibility of instruction, but the National plan on universal accessibility goes well beyond that because it also refers to accessibility of communication and accessible web pages as well as cognitive accessibility, which hasn't yet been regulated in our country, but was absolutely vital for many groups.
So We've also initiated certain projects in tourism sector, we're learning about the good practices for the sector, and I think this plan will help us move forward in this sector in particular.
Now, when it comes to meeting obligations under the plan, as was mentioned by the committee member, whilst there are no laws which set out binding obligations, but it is a state commitment and it was an issue which was raised by the president in the inter ministerial committee on social development in the family on issues of disabilities.
That's why we are moving forward with the plan and there is a set time frame for us drafting, adopting the plan, and having it revised by the Cotroller General's Office, and so we have the program of work which is set out and also the monitoring plan for each of the targets.
You don't necessarily need a law behind a plan.
We fully trust the vital role which is going to be played by civil society because they're going to be our number one accomplices in ensuring monitoring of the plan and various entities respecting the time frame so that the plan becomes a reality and is not just a sheet of paper as sometimes happens in other fields.
Thank you.
Thank you.
With regard to the National Plan on Universal accessibility, I'd like to point out that it addresses various areas of action, for example, housing, health, information and communication.
Each of these spheres has its own sectoral ministry which is responsible and each of the sectors which are linked to the National plan has regulations which set out that It is binding upon those ministries to meet the accessibility measures.
One of the important themes of the national plan is providing information in an accessible form.
As a state, we realize that we have a long way to go because whilst there are laws and regulations in force which compel accessibility measures to be taken, for example, when there are certain Emergency situations, national broadcasters have to make sure the information is accessible.
Above all, accessible for deaf persons because that information needs to be captioned and there needs to be a sign language interpreter using Chilean sign language.
So we have the laws for that in force, and what we are doing now is we are drawing up the implementing regulations so that the laws are actually implemented.
Now, these implementing regulations are currently being revised by the intersectorial committees that are responsible.
For example, The undersecretary on telecommunications and the entity responsible for television channels are in that intersectorial committee.
But there is also a law which recognizes Chilean sign language as the official language of deaf persons and their right to use sign language in all the places they go to.
We are awaiting publication of the implementing regulation for training and teaching of sign language.
Without prejudice to that, We are working on drafting and validating these regulations.
But there is already the framework law, which is binding.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll now hear from the legislative branch.
I think it's absolutely vital that I inform you of the following.
Our laws recognize deaf blindness as a specific disability and promotes full inclusion of deaf blind persons.
Deaf blindness is a specific disability and not the conflation of deafness and blindness.
This means that there are appropriate measures should be taken for communication and mobility of deaf blind persons so that they can use the best communication methods for them.
But we go beyond communications, laws ensure that information of high public relevance broadcast on TV and radio is subtitled and has sign language interpreting.
Thank you.
Sure.
Thank you, Chair.
I have a question relating to the batch thing because I In some cases, we see that there are some disability specific programs and other things left not implemented in the proper way because of the lack of patch in the data.
That's why my question is, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that adequate resources allocated to those programs in other rules considering for persons with disabilities, particularly a improving their independence and social inclusion.
My next question is related to the Article 9.
You mentioned that the state party pay much attention to the accessibility related issues.
Regarding that, I just would like to know whether state party have overall mapping on level of accessibility of nationwide mapping.
Just particularly, I would like to know you took a number of actions.
For example, last year in 2025, what was the improvement rate among the public buildings about their accessibility related issue.
If you have such specific number, I would be happy to hear that.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Miss Amalia Camillo, you have the floor.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I wanted to ask a follow up question on Article 184.
In one of the answers provided after a question of my colleague Natalia, you spoke about Roman law and the 18 oh four convention and so on.
But we are thinking about harmonization of the convention and domestic law.
I know that there are regulations pending approval, but I would like to ask specifically, what are you doing to amend Law 2422, which still contains many issues which run counter to the convention.
Thank you.
Miss Natalia Voila, you have the floor.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I also have a question which remains unanswered.
I would like to ask a How do you use regulation, not just in legislation, but in regulations of the state on informed consent? Now, there are different interpretations of different regulations on this issue.
I would like to ask whether there is any draft bill or any plan within the inter ministerial committee's work to provide harmonization as to what is intended with informed consent and if there's any mechanism to a include informed consent in all forms of communication and alternative communication for persons with disabilities.
I'm particularly interested in the initiative of CoA prem on informed consent in the health sector in order to avoid enforced treatment and non consent treatments without consent.
I would like to know what you're doing about its implementation and the allocation of resources to make sure it can be fully operational.
Thank you.
Thank you so much Excellence.
You have the floor.
Would you reply fully please? Because time limited.
Yes.
We will provide brief answers and we can start with Senates, the National Disability Service, and then the Ministry of Health.
Thank you.
In relation to the budget, I think it's important to bear in mind that in our country, we have a public budget law which defines the allocation of resources for each department to ensure it can be operational in its sector.
The Universal Accessibility plan, as we've said before, is connected to different sectors within the state, such as housing, health, education, and everything else we've already mentioned.
Each sector, depending on its budgetary allocation, will allocate appropriate resources to implement the measures it's committed to.
Within the inter ministerial committee in July 2026, this inter ministerial plan was worked on, and it was the president of the Republic that spoke of it at that time as the central pillar of social inclusion in our country.
Now, on La 2422 of 2010, we can mention that this is the first body of law that required root and branch amendment of our national legislation in order to implement the psychosocial model, which is enshrined within the Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities.
Since 2010, we've had countless laws already mentioned by different members of the delegation, all of them in line with this model and with this human rights based approach and ensuring appropriate use of language.
Of course, in different spheres of activities, there are still pending matters for harmonization and adaptation to the convention and there is no doubt that the our state party is committed to continuing to work in this area.
On informed consent, the general rule is, as you have already been told, that in our country, all persons are entirely able to express their own volition and different sectors have specific rules governing this expression of will or volition.
For example, marrying, having children, and being subjected to certain interventions relating to health.
And obviously, our representative from the Ministry of Health will add more information on this last point.
Thank you so much, Rhaple, you have the floor.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now, the approach of free informed consent to Chile is based on La 584 of 2012, which governs the duties and responsibilities of persons operating in the health sector, and this recognizing every person's right to grant or deny their consent on any health procedure following clear information having been provided and that this information has to be adapted to persons with disability.
Law 2422 of 2010, which includes standards on equal opportunities and social inclusion, says that the state has to put in place specific measures to ensure women with disabilities or persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities must have their full rights on an equal footing with others.
They have the right to their dignity, the right to have a family, be part of a family, and to their sexual reproductive health.
Thirdly, on mental health, the 2021 law on the recognition and protection of rights of persons and mental health provides guarantees from the very admission to a mental health institution, there must be free informed consent with supported decision making respecting their will and preferences.
There is a prohibition of irreversible procedures and psychosurgery and involuntary admissions.
On persons with the revoking of legal capacity.
The standard in the health sector is that by themselves, these conditions don't restrict the rights of a person.
We want to ensure that persons can understand the information, express their will, adopting the necessary accommodation for them, including in cases where there is representation, there must always be respect of the preferences of the person concerned.
On the updating of the legislation in October 2025, we had Supreme Decree number nine approving the new regulation on psychiatric institutions pursuant to law 20 1331 on mental health.
And this repealed the previous Supreme decree.
The new regulation says that the capacity to consent is the general rule and not the exception in psychiatric cases.
It requires for specific evaluations for a specific case and the treatment team, it says must provide reasonable accommodation.
Five minute but still to member of the committee and needed to give the question.
Your question related to close to two, if you want to reply again during the time of the close to two.
Now I would like to give the floor to miss Labnzo and then miss Rehab Bosley.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question deals with Article 5 relating to discrimination, equality, and anti discrimination.
I know that you mentioned earlier efforts to look into intersectional discrimination, and I'm wondering if you can say a bit more about those efforts.
In particular, are there methods, legal analysis, et cetera being put in place to address issues that affect persons with disabilities who are also indigenous peoples, migrant individuals, people with refugee like status, I'm wondering how that will be addressed and if you can say a bit more about your plans to address that.
Thank you.
Su Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to welcome the delegation of Chile.
I have a question on Article 11, which is about emergencies.
What are the reasonable accommodation and measures taken by the states in facing emergencies as well as human disasters, especially That Chile is subjected to floods, tsunamis, as well as earthquakes.
My question also is about schools.
Are the schools equipped to deal with those emergencies? Are there evacuation plans to deal with those emergencies? Both clusters, apologies.
Miss? Yes.
Miss Pozo, will you give the question during the time of the cluster two.
So Excellency, you have the floor to reply to the Jacob? Yes, of course.
This question will be addressed by the Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary.
Yes, Madam Chair, in relation to the question on intersectionality, I wish to point out that today this is not provided for in law 26 oh nine, but it is under discussion because the reform of law 26 oh nine has set up this mixed commission.
So we will have to solve this matter on a case by case basis until we have agreement in the mixed Commission to amend La 20 609.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Respect delegations, any remaining information could not fully provided because of time constrained.
Maybe submit a committee in writing following the dialogue.
Thank you for your understanding.
We will now proceed directly to the C two.
The first round of back to back question and answer regarding clause two covering Article 10 to 20 of the convention.
This segment will last 40 minutes.
I first give the floor to miss Natalia Gala for the question concerning Article 10 Amalia Camillo, Article 112 or 18, and maybe tomorrow morning, Mr.
Mino, Article 19 to 20.
This please remind this segment will last for 40 minutes.
Miss Natalia Gala, you have the floor.
My apologies, Madam Chair.
I'm going to be asking questions under Article 10.
I would like the delegation to answer very specifically, please.
Could you please indicate what have been taken relating to the families of the family of a man of 28-years-old Oscar Valter Diaz who died in hospital having been denied mechanical ventilation.
Another question on Article 10 2014-2027, under state care, 163 persons died when they were being held in isolation, which runs counter to the convention.
Could you tell us what criminal and disciplinary actions were taken following these cases and what compensation or redress was provided to the families, and what have you done to ensure that such horrific situations don't happen again? We await your answers eagerly on this matter.
Thank you.
Please.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will address this question, followed by the Ministry of Justice.
Thank you very much.
This is the first time I'm taking the floor.
I'm the Director of Human Rights within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We have taken good note of the case of Oscar Valter Diaz mentioned by the committee members.
Now, of course, there is no special system in order to become fully cognizant and then sanction persons and their fate under the care of the state.
But we can provide further explanations in writing because we have to collate the relevant information in this case.
Perhaps the prosecution service can add to this.
Thank you very much and good afternoon, Madam Chair and all committee members.
Francisca Fidero is my name, and I'm participating here representing the prosecution Service.
We have constitutional independence to investigate cases constituting crimes under a principle of objectivity and providing protection to witnesses and victims.
This being so, I can provide additional information, starting by saying that we abided by recommendations received in 2008 and we have provided information on the complaint and investigation of the death of persons that occur if they are in the care of or being held by state institutions.
The prosecution Service has a technical unit that coordinates the interinstitutional work.
We have a cooperation agreement, including the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Ministry of Health, and all state bodies that provide care or protection for the person as well as independent human rights organizations.
2025, we also saw the inclusion of the National Disability Service in this collaborative coordinated work between state bodies precisely to document cases of deaths of persons with disabilities in institutions.
In March 2026, so in March of this year, we put in place measures and put in place a protocol of early warning system in line with the convention to make sure there was timely reports to the prosecution service in cases of deaths in this form of custody.
This triggers due diligence investigation pursuant to the Minnesota protocol.
Was also the recommendation that there be a statistical register setup in order to have the information allowing for follow up and documentation.
I would like to ask specifically what happened with the cases of these 163 persons.
What redress and compensation was provided to families, and what actions were taken by the criminal justice system in the cases of these 163 deaths.
The prosecution service can reply once again.
I would point out that in all cases that are reported to the prosecution service, investigation is automatically triggered pursuant to the Minnesota protocol.
And in this respect and on this figure, mentioned by the committee member, we would like more information to determine which persons and in which facilities because we have psychiatric hospitals, institutions, residencies for older persons, and many other institutions where people can be cared for in this way.
We need more information in order to review the cases and provide additional information to the committee.
Just to add one figure which is highly relevant, we're currently working on a systematic overhaul of the statistical data system.
This will happen this year and we will inform the committee what this yields and when it's done.
Thank you.
Well, this was a very well known case, so I'm sure that you'll be able to come up with the required information.
Due to a lack of time, let me move on to Article 11.
What accessibility measures for information and communication for persons with intellectual disabilities and deaf persons have been put in place in emergency situations? This is the first question under Article 11.
My second question stems from the first.
Does the state have special protocols? In order to take into consideration different types of disabilities in humanitarian crises and emergency situations.
If you have such protocols and guides, were they drafted with the participation and close cooperation of persons with disabilities and organizations representing them? Thank you.
I'm awaiting your answers.
Disability Service will answer this question.
In relation to emergency situation and natural catastrophes, we have done some work to press ahead with timely information provision in line with existing legislation.
When press releases from the state on risk management are issued, for example, there's always a sign language interpreter provided to make sure the information is accessible.
The National Disability Service, in addition to this, together with the emergency and Disaster Management System of our country, has drafted a disability on inclusive disaster management.
And it was launched just a few days ago in the month of August and we have also been working on recommendations for the implementation of this guide and for an inclusive management of emergencies and disasters.
This is information for persons with disabilities and members of their families, but also for public bodies that have to manage and implement this inclusive emergency management.
They have been circulated in accessible formats.
Thank you.
Complimentary.
Perhaps I can add to this answer by saying that as well as emergency and risk management, When we implemented the formal report assessing the level of damage caused by the different risks in our country, we have managed to ensure constant monitoring.
This also covers persons that are in the direct care of the state.
We carry out monitoring activities to make sure that persons, for example, can have generators available in the case of blackouts.
And remedial measures if people are suddenly left without resources.
Thank you very much for your answers.
I want to move on to Article 12, and I have three questions here, and then I'll give the floor to my colleague, Susanna laid so she can ask more questions.
As we heard in the introductory statement, one of the great problems in Chile is due to legislation, and there are problems stemming from this relating to the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
In 18 years, we still see no change to equality in the law for persons with disabilities.
We know that there are many draft bills, but none of them seem to be about real public policy.
Could you please tell us what have you done to remove revoking of legal capacity from the civil code and what have you done to truly promote supported decision making? And a further question, Law 18 600, which lays down standards on and I quote, persons with mental deficiencies.
What have you done to repeal this? This completely runs counter to the convention.
I now give the floor to Mohana Al Asid so she can ask one question on Article 12 and one on Article 13.
Mohana, you have the floor.
Thank you very much, Amalia.
Again, I would like to warmly welcome the delegation.
With regard to Article 12 and the legal capacity, it seems as indicated in your replies to the list of issues that you took a good step by amending La 2584 regarding health.
The issue is within the same law, still there is clear provision about decision substitution.
Provision said that if the person, and here this is unofficial translation, but it says suffers from cognitive impairments that without prejudice to another article, you refer to it in the same law, then the law allows several medical interventions, including sterilization for constracept issues and psychosurgery.
And the decision is left in the authority which is responsible to the facility, to the medical facility.
The question is, since this in complete contradictory with general principles, general obligation, Article 12 in the Convention, Do you have any plans to review this, abolish it, and to replace it with the informed consent principles for persons with disabilities? I'm waiting for your answer.
Thank you.
Answers will be provided in the first instance by the Ministry of Justice, then the Judiciary with brief answers, and then the Ministry of Health.
Thank you very much.
I'll answer the question which has just been asked.
I'd just like to point out that there is equality before the line law in Chile.
This is a basic issue in our legal framework.
It's set out in the Constitutions and our institutions, and this is something which underpins the whole democratic rule of law.
What I was saying is that the legal capacity is a fundamental pillar of legal acts.
This was something which was discussed in the Justice Commission in the Senate under a month ago.
There is a commitment from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to review procedures when it comes to removal of legal capacity and those which are regulated by civil prosecution rules and the others, which come under law 186 oh oh.
Whilst this is an old law, it has been amended on a number of occasions.
The most recent, if I'm not mistaken, is from 2017.
Law 186 oh oh establishes the state's duty to support persons with disabilities.
Thank you very much.
I'll be very brief.
Firstly, I would like to inform you that there is a constitutional mandate to the judiciary, which means that it cannot give an opinion on bills before the Congress.
Nevertheless, the Constitution states that when these bills have an impact on the organization of courts, a contribution can be made.
When this bill was being drafted, the judiciary said that it agreed with the scope of the amendments and that it was in agreement with the idea of perfecting laws and that we also agreed with the support and repealing certain rules in the procedures for removal of legal capacities.
This was the view of the judicial branch.
In addition, the natural judge for dealing with such cases is that from the family courts.
Not only would he have technical support, but it would also be someone who would be better trained.
So That's as much as I can say on the matter because of the constitutional mandate that we have.
Furthermore, those occasions in which cases have been presented, for example, cases of full sterilization or contraception, what the courts have done is that they have applied the rules of the convention in essence.
They've certainly done it in cases where sterilization has been requested for persons with a mental disability and who cannot decide for themselves.
But the courts have rejected those applications by directly invoking Article 2 of the Convention.
The courts felt that this was a form of social control and that it violated the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel and human degrading treatment or punishment.
I cannot give you more details about the cases because there are still some cases before the courts, but I have to say that they have been dealt with in our hearings.
Before listening to the representative or minister of health, I notice that both distinguished members of the delegation, you mentioned everything except the person himself or herself.
You mentioned the Constitution, the court, the committee, and here is my question.
There is a full absence for concrete, transparent, effective mechanism to support the person who's subject for such practices in order to give informed consent and in order to exercise their legal capacity by supporting them through the supporting decision model as set forth in the convention.
We'll get further answers from the Ministry of Health.
Thank you.
Thank you, Minister.
With regard to informed consent in Chile, we have informed consent procedures which are adapted to persons with different kinds of disabilities.
We have a legal framework which prohibits sterilization without consent of people who have been sanctioned, particularly children adolescents and others who cannot express their wishes.
We have law 20 1331, which states that nobody who has been sectioned in a psychiatric ward could be subject to sterilization or psychosurgery.
Since the 3rd of October of last year, we have replaced the former Decree 570 by Supreme Decree nine, which expressly prohibits the sterilization of children, adolescents or any other control on their fertility.
This means to say that whenever a person cannot express their will, you can only use reversible contraception.
Also, the necessary support and reasonable accommodation must be provided to persons with disabilities so that they can understand information, express their wishes.
The new regulatory framework for sectioning in a psychiatric ward in line with law 21331 and the Law on persons with disabilities is an optional therapy and must respect the autonomy and dignity of persons with mental health problems.
The law contains special protection for certain groups such as persons with psychic or intellectual disability or migrants with disabilities, so you cannot determine admission to a psychiatric ward solely on the basis of disability.
But my last question on this article with concrete example would be very beneficial to the committee.
When you have a person with intellectual disability and you said that you have provisions, I'm not sure if there are mechanisms to ensure her or his informed consent.
Can you tell us how you do that? How you take his or her informed consent for person with intellectual disability, for example.
I'd like to ask the Ministry of Health can continue with its answers.
There are different mechanisms for adapting the informed consent procedure in view of the individual and their disability.
We have Conor Pm, which is an independent entity It's technically independent, which comes under the Office of the Undersecretary for Public Health.
It deals with protection and ensures that informed consent is adapted to the needs of the individual.
Connor Prem is also developing informed consent instruments in plain language and they have a number of expert consultants for that and will be able to provide you with additional information on that in writing.
Thank you very much, Amalia Go, I'd like to ask a question on Article 13, and then I'll move directly onto Article 14.
In paragraph 75 of the report, you refer to the pilot project, which is intelligent Wayfinding for blind persons and persons with low vision in the Santiago courts.
I'd like to know if you have evaluated that project and if it is still in force as it moved from being a pilot project to a permanent one.
I'll move on to Article 14 afterwards.
Delegation will now hear from an advisor to the Judicial Branch Study Center.
Can you answer? Thank you.
I'm Alejandro Soto.
I am director of the Supreme Court Studies Center.
Now, with regard to the question, in fact, during 2019, the judicial branch implemented the first stage of that pilot project, which consists of a project in different chambers of the court complex.
It enabled blind persons to find their way around.
This was not just in the courtrooms, but also in the bathrooms and other areas within the court complex.
It meant that these people were able to take part better in court hearings.
So this was a project which was undertaken in the Santiago criminal courts, which have the largest number of cases in the country and also in the family court center.
There were two stages to the pilot project.
First of all, we did the mapping and then we implemented, and then we were evaluating the project to see if it could be expanded to other courts, but it is still the evaluation stage which is going on.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Amalia Gamiel.
Before I move on to Article 14, I'd like to remind you that you haven't yet answered me on my question about progress being made in removal of legal capacity from civil code and ensuring that there is supported decision making.
I'd like to come back to the person who a few moments ago said that everybody in Chile is equal before the law.
So that means you're claiming that you comply with Article 12.
Does this mean to say that there is nobody under guardianship or tutorship? So if everyone is equal before the law, there's no one under guardianship because that is what is stated in Article 12.
I'm waiting for your answer.
Thank you.
We'll hear from the Ministry of Justice.
The Minister of Justice.
I think that these various different subjects, the Constitution states that everybody is equal in rights, and this is something which runs throughout the rule of law.
As I was saying before, there's a general rule in Chile about legal capacity.
Everybody is legally capable.
This means that we are materializing the principle of equality before the law.
But then there are people who are considered to be absolutely or totally or relatively incapable and they have a guardian or tutor who is appointed for them to represent them legally.
This is a protection measure, which is one of the pillars of civil law.
The legal Director of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has studied the situation in similar jurisdictions about the kind of support which can be provided to persons with disabilities.
We have analyzed Spanish law, which brings us back to the general rules on incapacity rather than the support that can be provided because we come back to an essential problem, who is expressing their will.
This is something that we have to study carefully.
We have to see who is expressing their will and who is representing them.
Malia Gamo.
But please review that again because you cannot claim that everybody is equal before the law in Chile since there are people who are under guardianship.
That means to say you are not complying with Article 12.
I would now like to move on to Article 14.
In law 20 1331, there are articles that run counter to the convention.
You regulate involuntary admission to hospitals in a way which runs counter to the guidelines in Article 14.
We have heard that the Are thousands of children adults in residency.
Where are you going to change the law so that you will not allow involuntary admission to hospitals in any case? Because I'm sure you're going to answer that you have to have involuntary admissions, but that is something which is in stark violation of the convention.
I'm waiting for your answer.
Delegation, the Ministry of Health will reply.
Ministry of Health.
Thank you, Minister, with regard to this question and Danger is used as a criteria for involuntary admission, which is Article 7 of the law.
This is something which regulates mental health care facilities.
Article 7 states that the diagnosis of mental health must be done on technical criteria on the basis of the psychosocial criteria of the person.
There's nothing to do with politics, economics, sexual orientation and You cannot consider a previous stay in a psychiatric hospital, involuntary admission to a psychiatric hospital only occurs for therapeutic reasons when you cannot provide outpatient care and when there is a clear risk and imminent risk to the life and integrity of the personal to third parties.
This was recently affirmed by Supreme Decree nine of the 3rd of October 2025.
For example, that decree regulates admission to psychiatric hospitals under the framework of law 20 1331 and should be understood in line with your principles of Articles three and nine.
This means that all involuntary admissions should be communicated to the competent family court within 72 hours, which will decide on its lawfulness within a maximum of three working days and that admission must be regularly reassessed.
Amalia Gamo, I would like to say that that is in stark contrast to Article 14 of the convention, so please review it.
So I would now like to bring together Articles 15 and 16 because I have to say that I haven't got enough time for all the questions that I have for you on these articles.
I'll try to summarize them, possible cases of torture in psychiatric wards, reports of ill treatment, discipline and punishment of persons in closed psychiatric units, for example, in Valpariso, the use of convulsive therapy without a anesthesia.
There's no protocol for that and there's no limit on the number of sessions of such therapy.
Do you have The fact that you haven't got a regulation on ECT is shocking because it is something which is clearly banned by the convention.
Two women with psychosocial disabilities brought a claim before Teuco court because they have been subject to extreme violence and sexual abuse in state care.
They had been subject to chemical constraints as well at those times and they suffered a exposure such as nudity in collective bathrooms and also video cameras were installed in private areas.
Legal medicine practices show a failure to respect gender and childhood.
There is disproportionate use of force over long periods, particularly against women and children with disabilities when they have been segregated.
So please tell us what's happening because these are very serious violations of persons with disabilities rights occurring in institutions, including against Mapuche women and children.
So I eagerly await your answers to the list of violations of Articles 15 and 16.
Head of delegation, the Public Prosecution Service will answer.
Public Prosecution Service.
Thank you very much.
I can give you some background to this.
In November 2016, Chile criminalized the crime of torture and the crime of cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the Chilean Criminal Code.
As a result, since then, the prosecution Service has deployed efforts to comply with due diligence standards in investigating and punishing these crimes.
This has been undertaken very specifically through training and creating specialized prosecution units throughout the country, in every region of the country.
There are specialized prosecutors in human rights and teams working on these subjects.
I'll go to the specific cases now.
By way of introduction, I can tell you that in 2024, we published a guide on investigative due diligence when there are deaths in institutions and when there is enforced disappearance amongst other things.
This due diligence considers the measures which must be taken when there are people in medical and social care facilities.
Also in the last chapter, there is a specific section on access to justice which focuses on investigative due diligence with the participation of victims of institutional violence and there are specific guidelines on what you were asking about about how persons with disabilities can participate and also indigenous peoples and persons deprived of their liberty, older persons and other special protection groups.
That is the background information to say that we are training specialized prosecutors.
What we do now is that we do address these subjects which are of particular concern to the committee.
That means a Non consensual practices in psychiatric wards and in residential facilities.
Now, with regard to the cases that you've mentioned, we have made some significant progress.
We have some convictions for torture.
There was a case of sexual violence within a psychiatric hospital against a woman who had been admitted there and there's also another conviction for torture because of ill treatment in a children's home for children with intellectual and mental disabilities and there was another conviction for torture of two carers.
One was convicted of torture, in fact, and the other was for cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
This was because they used mechanical constraints and There was physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children in the home.
There were a total of nine victims in this case.
There are also ongoing investigations with charges which have already been brought for cases occurring within residential homes.
I would just like to add that we are aware that there are gaps in access to justice for persons with disabilities and persons deprived of their liberty.
It's very difficult for them to report a crime.
These crimes such as torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are public crimes.
This means to say if the public prosecution service hears about them, they have to launch an investigation even if the victim has not made a complaint.
This was what happened in the case of the women's psychiatric Hospital because we have launched an investigation without the victims actually having made a specific complaint.
Now, with regard to the electroconvulsive therapy, we are aware of the committee's standards and the standards contained in the report by the special rapporteur on torture in his report on the subject.
We are receiving expert advice.
I would just like to say that there is also an ongoing investigation into the case which I believe you're referring to, Madam Gamo.
That was a case which came to light a couple of years ago.
The investigation is ongoing.
It's been absolutely vital for us to collect information about the regulations on electroconvulsive therapy in Chile in order to determine which is the applicable law.
We believe that in the criminal cases, a There is individual criminal responsibility, and so the committee's standards have left us with the challenge of ensuring they are transposed into domestic legislation.
I would just like to say that all these cases are under investigation and what we are doing is we're investigating the use of electroconvulsive therapy outside the framework which has been proposed by the committee.
We've taken testimony from victims and family members and we are We've got a list of the names of people who have been held in these psychiatric wards over the years to see if there are any other victims and we've also got a list of names of the health officials who are responsible for these facilities.
We are following the Istanbul protocol for investigating these cases.
Amalia Gamio, there are many cases and we would recommend that you make unannounced visits in order to try and prevent these cases and detect them upstream so that you don't have so many criminal cases being brought.
I think I've got 5 minutes left, have I not, Madam Chair.
You're saying two.
Well, I've got two more questions.
Perhaps you can answer them tomorrow.
Could you provide us with information about establishing administrative, criminal, and economic responsibility of the state towards victims of the social uprising in 2019, that is to say, persons who suffered disabilities during those protests.
My second question is, could you provide us with information about How inclusive the legislative process has been in the law on violence.
Have women and children with disabilities and Ppuch women and children with disabilities been included in drafting that or preparing that law? I don't know if there's enough time for an answer now, Madam Chair or not.
Madam Chair, if you'll allow me, we'll start answering.
Head of delegation, the second question will be answered by the legislative branch.
Legislative branch.
This isn't held over until tomorrow.
The first thing that we answered yesterday, the general law on violence includes vulnerability criteria, notably women who suffer violence because of their gender and also women with disabilities.
They are Consider specifically in law 20 1675 and this will have an influence on the punishment if there's a conviction, and also it's possible to get an injunction or security measures if there is a complaint made and also the intersectionality is considered as also has to be a response to domestic violence as well.
I want to insist on this.
This is holistic law which seeks to eradicate gender based violence against women, but it also expressly refers to women with disabilities because there will be additional measures when it comes to prevention, punishment, and eradication of this phenomenon.
Thank you so much.
This concludes the first part of the committee's constructive dialogue with Chile.
I would like to thank the member of the task force and all committee experts for their questions and contribution.
My sincere thanks to all the Excellency and the delegation for your replies.
We will continue with the second part of the constructive dialogue with Chile at the next scheduled tomorrow morning.
Any information that could not be fully provided during today's dialogue may be submitted to the committee in writing through the Secretariat.
Thank you very much.
I now declare the 852nd meeting adjourned.
Thank you so much.