Meetings continue with specialists for the implementation of a national survey on the prison population in Chile

On August 17, the UNODC-INEGI Centre of Excellence (CoE) organized a meeting with Gustavo Fondevila, research professor at the Legal Studies Division of the Center for Research and Teaching Economics (CIDE) of Mexico and expert on prisons in Latin America and the Caribbean, who shared with Paula Pérez and Ana Figueroa of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CTP) of the penitentiary area of Chile, his extensive experience in the design and implementation of surveys on persons deprived of liberty, especially in Mexico, Brazil and Central America.

This meeting was held within the framework of the preparatory work and technical assistance provided by the CoE to the CTP, to prepare a national survey in Chile on the prison population, in order to learn about their treatment and victimization, as well as the corruption that exists inside prisons.

Gustavo Fondevila emphasized, among other things, the importance of identifying the victimization gaps that exist between men and women not only inside prisons, but throughout the criminal justice process. Likewise, due to the high levels and increase of people deprived of liberty without a sentence in the region, he pointed out the need to know how the accused and the sentenced persons face a series of violations of their human rights in a different manner.

In this regard, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has under its mandate to support countries to collect information to report the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, including SDG 16 which, among its targets, 16.3 establishes: “Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice all and all.”

For her part, Luisa Sánchez-Iriarte, Acting Coordinator of the CoE highlighted the importance of this exchange of experiences, inviting the participants to continue with this dialogue in order to strengthen the process of building a National Survey on persons deprived of liberty in Chile.