E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.3 page 2 Executive summary This report is submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2003/56 and covers the official visit to Chile by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, which took place between 18 and 29 July 2003. In 1993, Chile adopted the Indigenous Peoples Act (Act No. 19,253), in which the State recognizes indigenous people as “the descendants of human groups that have existed in national territory since pre-Colombian times and that have preserved their own forms of ethnic and cultural expression, the land being the principal foundation of their existence and culture”. The main indigenous ethnic groups in Chile are listed as the Mapuche, Aymara, Rapa Nui or Pascuense, Atacameño, Quechua, Colla, Kawashkar or Alacaluf, and Yámana or Yagán. Indigenous peoples in Chile currently represent about 700,000 persons, or 4.6 per cent of the population. Despite the efforts made since the country’s return to democracy, the indigenous population continues to be largely ignored and excluded from public life as a result of a long history of denial, social and economic exclusion and discrimination by the majority in society. Chile has still not undertaken constitutional reform in this area and has not yet ratified the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Human rights problems continue to affect all the indigenous peoples in the country, although public attention has mostly focused on the situation of the Mapuche people. Attention should be drawn above all to the high levels of poverty among indigenous peoples and their low standard of living, which, according to various human development indicators, is below the national average. The Government’s welfare policies have had a significant impact but have so far not been sufficient to redress this situation. One of the most serious long-standing problems affecting indigenous peoples in Chile relates to land ownership and territorial rights, as a result of a long process that has left them stripped of their lands and resources. The programme set up by the country’s democratic governments to acquire land for indigenous people, which provides for private ownership of pieces of land but not for the return of former communal land, is proceeding slowly and is underfunded. It has not therefore been possible to extend it to all the areas where it is needed, and this has led to dissatisfaction among the indigenous population. The issues become more complicated when they concern access to underground and other resources, including water and maritime resources. Various sectoral laws facilitate and protect the registration of private property rights over resources that have traditionally been communal property. The protection and promotion of indigenous people’s rights have been affected by situations such as the construction of the Ralco hydroelectric power station in Alto Bíobío, the problems surrounding access to and use of water resources by the Aymara and Atacameño peoples in the arid northern region, and the restrictions imposed on many Lafkenche families along the coast of Araucanía, which hinder their access to their traditional fisheries and coastal products.