Chile

Start date: 2020
Areas of expertise: Comparative Constitutional Law, Constitutional Law, International Law, Human Rights
Highlights: comparative legal research papers, translation project, legal consultations, webinars

Overview

In 2019, people began to protest about increased fares on the underground in Santiago, this quickly developed into a national protest highlighting economic and political inequality. As a result of this, a referendum for the establishment of a new constitution was planned for April 2020 to ask the electorate whether they want a new constitution or not, and if yes, to elect the type of body that will be tasked with the drafting of the new constitution (either a Constitutional Convention or a Mixed Constitutional Convention, depending on whether members of Congress participate or not in such a body). Due to the COVID-19 situation, the plebiscite was postponed to the end of October 2020.

With funding from the German Federal Foreign Office, the Foundation is lending support to the constitution-making process by creating instances that bring different stakeholders together (e.g., government, judiciary, academics and civil society organisations) and, once the constitutional convention is established, will offer assisting its work through the provision of comparative legal research. To date, several tailor-made research papers of relevance to Chilean constitutional law changes have already been shared with various stakeholders.

In implementing its project in Chile, the Foundation has concluded an MoU with the Chilean Library of Congress to assist the Library with the creation of an online platform called ‘comparador de constituciones del mundo’, which enables users to easily compare the texts of foreign constitutions in Spanish . In addition, the MPFPR has signed an MoU with Instituto Desafíos de la Democracia (IDD) to collaborate and work closely in the provision of technical legal assistance to the Chilean Constitutional Convention.