Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to recent UN reports of human rights violations by Chilean state agents, if he will make an assessment of the correlation between UK training of Chilean police and trends in the level of human rights violations by state agents in that country.

The UK Government shares the concerns of the UN about events that have occurred in Chile. Our Ambassador in Chile has talked with representatives of the Chilean Government to express our concerns about the violence witnessed during protests and about reports of human rights abuses by state agents. We welcome the Chilean Government's acceptance of the report and its recommendations and the Chilean Government's assurances, in public and to our Ambassador, that allegations of human rights abuses will be investigated fully and that, if appropriate, perpetrators will be prosecuted. In this context, the UK is considering what assistance it might be able to offer to help the Chilean Police improve compliance with international human rights standards following recommendations by the UN and others.

The British Government undertakes extensive risk assessments when designing projects in Chile and other countries, including of any potential negative impact on human rights. This includes the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) process, which is intended give assurance that UK funded OSJA work meets our human rights obligations and accords with our values. We regularly monitor the effects of our programme work in consultation with colleagues working in Chile, making a thorough assessment of the impact of all of our projects. Our Embassy in Santiago remains in contact with the Chilean authorities and will continue to monitor the situation.