Mercedes Julia Huenteao Beroiza et al. Petition 4617/02. Report Nº 30/04 [ENG]

The Mapuche Pehuenche people of the Upper Bío Bío sector, in the Eighth Region of Chile, started a long fight to defend their rights when the Government of Chile authorized the construction of hydroelectric plants that would have deep consequences on their ancestral land and culture. After filing complaints with several agencies, including the World Bank Inspection Panel, the Ombudsman of International Financial Corporation at World Bank, and domestic courts, a group of indigenous families filed a complaint against the Government of Chile with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) for having authorized ENDESA to build a dam (Ralco) that would destroy indigenous land in an irreversible, permanent manner, threatening the Pehuenche culture. The IACHR requested the State to refrain from adopting any measures until it issued a decision on the matter at stake. In the meanwhile, works for the Ralco dam went forward: having started in 1998, 75-80% of the project was completed. In October 2003, the parties reached a friendly settlement. The families assigned their right to their ancestral land, which would be flooded by the dams, and accepted to withdraw all legal actions. In return, the families were granted quality land, technical support to promote agricultural production, education scholarships and a compensation of US$300,000 per family. Furthermore, the State committed itself to adopting general measures, such as a constitutional reform to legally acknowledge the indigenous peoples and ratification of ILO Convention No. 169, as well as to refrain from authorizing large projects, particularly hydroelectric projects, in indigenous land in the Upper Bío Bío sector.

Keywords: Mercedes Julia Huenteao Beroiza et al. Petition 4617/02. Report Nº 30/04, Land, Rights, Natural, Resources