Chile Acts to Protect Refugees

Although the overall number of refugees that seek asylum in the South American country of Chile is relatively small, the country has, in the last few years, taken in several hundred Palestinian and Haitian refugees.

These groups represent the country's main refugee population, who have settled mainly in "different parts of Chile, including the Nuñoa and Recoleta boroughs of Santiago, and the cities of La Calera and San Felipe in Region V," according to an article by Silke Steiml in The Santiago Times.

And legislation initially approved in Chile this month is likely to become law there and help protect the rights of people who come to Chile to escape economic and political instability in their native countries.

The law would "define refugees under four different categories" and "place 'no rejection' policies to protect political refugees" Steiml writes.

In short, the "no rejection" law would grant refugees key protections, including admission into the country at border crossings, no prosecution of those who enter Chile illegally and a stated goal of keeping members of refugee families together. Additionally, it would define refugees as people "fearing persecution in their country because of ethnic or social affiliation, religion, nationality or political position."

Chile's new law, once passed, would, according to Steiml, "be incorporated into the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol, both ratified by Chile in 1972."

Photo courtesy of Iva'n Utz, via Flickr