NAME OF MECHANISM

National Reparation and Reconciliation Corporation

YEARS OF OPERATION

1992-1996 (although it was initially established for only 24 months). Since 1996 it functions simply as the "program for the continuation of law 19.123" to oversee on-going reparations.

MANDATE AND OPERATIONS

Mandate: Established by parliament (Law 19.123) to coordinate, execute, and promote the "actions necessary for complying with the recommendations contained in the Report of the National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation." Thus, it was tasked with examining over 600 cases that the Commission had been unable to resolve and to administer reparations to the victims (but with a narrowed scope: the commission did not include the victims of torture who survived their ordeal).

Result: Together with the Rettig Commission, a total of 3,197 people were documented as victims of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings (torture survivors were not included in this figure). The Commission also instituted an incredibly comprehensive reparations program including monthly payments, health care benefits and educational benefits. A total of 27,255 Chileans have received compensation, including 4,886 individuals who receive the monthly stipend of $481. ($5,781 per year)

Final Report: Published in 1996.

LATEST UPDATE

January 2008: The huge gap resulting from the exclusion of torture from the mandates of both the Rettig Commission and the National Reparation and Reconciliation Corporation was finally redressed in 2003, with the creation of the National Commission on Political Prison and Torture.

Update on Pinochet, January 2008: Following an extradition request from Spain, Pinochet was arrested on 16th October 1998 while in London for medical treatment, for multiple charges including torture. A report estimates that around 3000 people were killed and a further 1000 disappeared during Pinochet's 17-year presidency. He was also accused of having taken part in "Operation Condor", a campaign across Latin America to gather intelligence and eliminate political opponents, under the title of counter- terrorism.

In November 1998, the House of Lords overturned the decision by the High Court that his arrest was unlawful, but in January, Pinochet was ruled medically unfit to stand trial, and in March 2000 he returned to Chile.

Pinochet died on 10 December 2006.