The Conference presentation made by Liliana Mason Padilla, Chilean Former Political Prisoners National Coordination Organization. Appears in English and the original Spanish (click below her photo).

It is an honor to be invited to the 13th International Women Resist the Occupation and War Conference to think together about the Journey towards Peace. It is my conviction this initiative can be very valuable for women from all regions of the world.

I would like to emphasize that I am neither an expert nor a researcher on the vast subject of reconciliation between populations that have been victims of terror, conventional war or war of occupation.

However, murder, arbitrary executions, rape, sexual abuse, concentration camps, kidnappings to minors, prison, torture, exile, expulsions, loss of home, poverty and family disintegration, are realities common to all to us. I bring the voice of those who systematically are ignored: the Survivors of the State Terrorism, distinctively Chilean women.

How can we define the concept of reconciliation? The answer is relatively simple: speak of reconciliation is to speak about reinstatement of optimal or normal interaction between people in a given society; in this case, among the victims with those who have violated their human rights.

To reconcile is to recover an agreement, something lost, the moment at which we were a common project. It would be necessary then, to ask ourselves if we ever had a common project –based on equal rights and duties- by most members of society. In the Chilean case, the Coup d'Etat took place when we started to build a common project.

Subsequently, with whom should we reconcile? Victims and perpetrators? Is it possible to reconcile with those who kidnappings our relatives and friends It is possible to reconcile with whom assassinated our daughters and grandchild? Those who destroyed our families, condemning them to live exiled?

To impose a Reconciliation by a forced consensus, under the alleged reason of the defense of the new institutional process, is to endorse impunity for Crimes against Humanity. The argument used to justify that course of action is the viability of the undertaken democratization.

In Chile, the last fifteen years have been characterized by the political phenomenon denominated "transition to the democracy". This is the misleading name given to a series of agreements among the leaders of the Government Coalition and Augusto Pinochet’s regime. Based on these agreements, it was decided on the human rights issues, neither to investigate nor to persecute crimes committed during the 17 years of military dictatorship.

The principles of Truth, Justice and Reparation, have not been a point of reference for the three governments of the Coalition for Democracy.

In 1991, the first president of "the new" democracy was compelled to create a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” in order to investigate the crimes with respect to the executed and disappear people. After six month this commission briefed the names of the missing prisoners and executed, nevertheless, the beginning of the judicial processes against the DDHH criminals only began 9 years later and have not yet finished.

In 1998, after the arrest of Pinochet in London and its later removal to Chile, avoiding judgment, the former president of the Government Coalition, decided along with the Armed Forces to install a "Dialogue Table" to set up the bases for a supposed "national pacification". The outcome was a hideous listing of people throw to the sea, rivers and volcanoes. For instance, Michelle, a 23 years old woman and seven months pregnant is among the list as throw to the sea. The information given eventually, proved to be misleading.

Since 1973 until last year, concentration camps, kidnappings of babies and minors, prison, torture, rape, sexual abuse, exile, expulsions, loss of home, poverty and family disintegration were never mentioned neither considered Crimes against Humanity.

Last year, due to the increasing pressure by former political prisoners organizations, Ricardo Lagos and the Government Coalition, gave origin to a Commission to investigate Political Prison and Torture.

However, despite his alleged intentions to reconcile the Nation, the law passed actually contravened fundamental aspects of the International Humanitarian Right –with a restrictive definition of torture. It implied the exclusion of an important number of victims. It excluded automatically those who suffered torture or mistreat outside the official detention location; those tortured outside the country within "Condor Operation" and thousands of people who were arrested on the streets and later underwent physical and mental torture.

It's well-known women’s role in the struggle for Democracy. They were the first to go out to demand respect for life. They challenge the repressive forces for 17 years. They were jailed time and time again. They played an essential role in promotion of the human rights. The government has discriminated against these untiring fighters. They were not recognized as former political prisoners. Out of the 30.000 people qualified as “political prisoners” only 10 percent are women. Minors ( ) who were tortured did not qualified as victims of political prison because they could not give an account of their histories.

The Government sent to the Chilean Parliament a Restoration Law Project to be dispatched in less than 48 hours. The time frame given for approval, practically inhibited debate in Parliament as it should be in any authentic democracy. Former political prisoners were given 15 minutes to state our concerns.

And our primary concern was the fact that the Government, contravening International Humanitarian Rights Treaties -of which our country is signatory- decided to hide for 50 years the identity of the perpetrators mentioned in people’s testimonies. That is to say, we will not be able to access this information until the year 2054. The Government along with the Parliament and the Supreme Court has put the Nation in an illegality situation in the International Community by hiding the identity of those who violated human rights, denying the right to justice consecrated in the Convention against Torture.

The Restoration Law denies the right to the family of those who are dead to claim the benefits. As restoration, they have only received a number with which the survivors of torture have been registered in the Commission listing. Near to 90% are women.

As such, the law denies the impact of human rights violation in the family. It also denies the transgeneracional effects of political prison and torture. It is a cruelty to invite relatives to bring back painful moments while rendering testimony to finally exclude them from all restoration. For all the above our answer is clear. We have said it time and time again: NO to administrative reconciliation. The question then, is what to do?

The past gives form to our present and it also will give form to our future. No society that refuses to critically face its past of human rights violations will be able to guarantee the application of justice in the future.

It’s obvious to us, Survivors of the State Terrorism, if we want to move forward in this journey towards peace, if want to build a solid present to conceive a better future, it’s essential a collective debate about what have happened, based on:

1.The right to know the truth. The first principle is the equitable access to know the truth and guarantees to ensure that right. This it is a right that reaches to all the society. The acknowledgement of its history may provide grounds for peace. The entirety society –be it by action or omission- must assume its responsibility in its own history.

2.The right to justice. The most horrible crime is the extermination of people, known as "disappeared prisoners". Plan that was devised and executed with the knowledge of the highest authorities of the dictatorial government. Recent judicial investigations established that by direct order of Pinochet, the bodies of the assassinated ones during the first years of the dictatorship were removed of their clandestine tombs and the rest incinerated or sent to the sea. In short, these people were assassinated twice. The right to the justice, understood as a cycle that includes investigation, sanction and restoration, implies the obligations arising under international law to secure the right to access justice and fair and impartial proceedings shall be reflected in domestic laws.

3.The right to Remedy and Reparation. To have adequate, effective and prompt reparation is intended to promote justice by redressing gross violations of international human rights law. Reparation should be proportional to the gravity of the violations and the harm suffered. In accordance with its domestic laws and international legal obligations, a State shall provide reparation to victims for acts or omissions which can be attributed to the State and constitute gross violations of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law. Only if the three above mentioned principles are fulfilled, we will be able to think about the social reconstruction of the society. These conditions are the first stone on which an authentic Human Rights policy can be build upon.

We have to accept that no one can impose reconciliation. Only by reconstructing social networks we may have a chance to build a common project.

We, women, should raise our voices to overcome oppression and indifference walls. We are united by our common history: our struggle and desire to build an authentically Democratic society.

We, women from all over the world, believe in pacific solutions to conflicts and we will continue struggling for the promotion of democratic and non-violent solutions.

We, women, must play a key role in the process. Our active involvement, on equal conditions in the negotiations and decision making process, is crucial for the fulfillment of a viable peace.

We, Chilean women are committed with Justice, Truth, Equal Rights and Democracy and Peace. We, women constituted half of the humanity; therefore we cannot be put aside in the Journey toward Peace.

Thank you

Liliana Mason Padilla

Chilean Former Political Prisoners National Coordination Organization

Jerusalem, 12-16 August 2005.