Chile said it loud and clear: a new constitution for a new social pact

From the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), we send our warmest greetings to Chile and its people, who yesterday went to the polls to give a lecture on citizen participation. In spite of all the obstacles, including the devastating pandemic, citizens used the democratic process to say loud and clear: the Constitution imposed during the civil-military dictatorship must be replaced and a new social pact built to distribute power, establish fair rules for living together and better protect the rights of all.

However, yesterday's elections are only the beginning. We invite you to continue reading the opinion column by Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Executive Director of GI-ESCR and United Nations Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (2008-2014)).

Contributing to this new stage of the constituent process, GI-ESCR has been working on the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights in Chile since January of this year. To this end, we have put our knowledge and experience at the service of collective work with local and international civil society organisations.

These are some of the actions we have been promoting together with our partners and we which we encourage you to support:

#ConstituyamosOtraEducación is a campaign that we launched together with SUMMA and the Right to Education Initiative, which seeks to inform about the importance of including the right to education in the new constitution. We notably presented together a study on the 10 critical knots that, in the 1980 Constitution, prevent this right from being guaranteed.

#ciudadjusta - For the right to the city and to decent Housing for all - Together with Techo-Chile and Fundación Vivienda, we started a working alliance with the aim of raising awareness among citizens and decision makers about the right to housing, which is not explicitly protected in the current constitution. This campaign and project will be launched on 5th November with a seminar with national and international panelists, who will analyse the report on the challenges related to the right to housing in the constitutional process. Follow the information on social networks! #ciudadjusta @giescr_LatAm

Together with the Observatorio de Políticas Económicas de Chile and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) as well as other international organisations, we have been developing criteria and proposals for the elaboration of a fiscal policy that guarantees the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights in the context of the constitutional process.

Jointly with Ahora nos Toca Participar, Fundación Avina and Contexto (Espacio Público, UDP, Corporación Humanas and Observatorio Ciudadano) GI-ESCR organised the webinar series "Social Rights and the Constitutional Process: (re)imagining the Chile of the 21st century". The 7 webinars, held between July and October, allowed a wide sprectrum of actors and international experts to reflect, exchange and debate upon the social pact we want for the coming decades.

In the coming weeks and months we will continue our advocacy work, where we hope to bring together a greater number and diversity of actors. We are confident that dialogue is the way to build a social pact that ensures everyone’s well-being and dignity.

Photo credit: courtesy of @BAVECK.