Access to justice for migrants is reinforced in Chile

The increase in migration requires a comprehensive response to guarantee the protection of migrants, therefore, the cooperation programme funded by the European Union, EUROsociAL+, has drawn up and presented the Protocol for Access to Justice for Migrants in Chile.

The presentation was made through an online workshop given by various specialists from EUROsociAL+, a programme in whose management FIIAPP participates. The presented protocol puts forward various rules for action and effective guardianship mechanisms to the judiciary that ensure greater protection of access to justice for migrants in Chile.

As the specialists explained, the document includes international human rights regulations, national regulations applicable to migrants, and includes administrative resolutions. In addition, it includes a series of recommendations for legal professionals when interacting with migrants, refugees and foreigners.

The inauguration of the workshop was carried out by the president of the Supreme Court of Chile, Guillermo Silva, who highlighted the commitment assumed by the judiciary to “promote effective and timely access to justice as an axis of its activity, generating tools to achieve this end, especially in the case of groups and people in vulnerable situations, who may be subject to discrimination.”

Also present at the virtual event was Ewout Sandker, the head of cooperation with the European Union Delegation in Chile, who underlined “the enormous challenges faced, among others, by justice institutions in the region to improve access to justice for migrants”.

Chile has seen an increase in its migrant population in recent decades and studies indicate that such migration will continue, and even increase, in the coming decades, especially during the post-Covid-19 stage. This data is important to understanding the needs and challenges that lie ahead for, among other institutions, the Chilean judiciary, to improve access to justice for migrants, as explained in the protocol presentation by María Luisa Domínguez, technician in charge of the EUROsociAL+ Democratic Governance Area at FIIAPP.