The director of the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH), Yerko Ljubetic, responded to the statement made by the Minister of Public Security, Martín Arrau, who questioned the institution's report on the bill that amends the Criminal Code to extend privileged legitimate defense to military or police personnel acting in defense of their person or rights, or those of a third party, while off duty, an initiative known as the Nain Retamal Law 2.0.
"The INDH is once again disconnected from reality. Its report against off-duty legitimate defense for our police and armed forces reflects an ideological outlook that must be made transparent to Chileans, namely: its resistance to strengthening support for the Forces of Order and Security," Arrau stated in a message released this Thursday on his social media, shortly before the end of the day. Arrau guaranteed that President José Antonio Kast's government will continue "promoting the deepening of the Nain-Retamal Law to protect the officer who, while off duty and in compliance with their police duty, faces a serious aggression against their integrity or that of third parties."
"Facing increasingly violent criminals, providing protection and legal certainty to those who defend us is an obligation of the State. We will not back down on that commitment," the minister asserted. This comes amid the discussion of the 2027 Budget, while from the ruling party, proposals have emerged from parliamentarians asking to deny funding to the institution.
What Ljubetic said
During the afternoon of this Friday, meanwhile, the director of the INDH made a video statement defending the work the institution carries out within the framework of its legal mandate.
"Regarding the statements by Minister Arrau, the first thing I want to say is that both their tone and their manner do not correspond to those that should take place between State institutions. The INDH is a public institution, and between public institutions there should be deference and respect for the opinions and functions that each one fulfills within the scope of its competence," he stated.
Ljubetic affirmed that the minister's remarks "call into question the fulfillment of an essential part of the mandate that the law imposes on the INDH," related to the harmony that must exist between laws and the obligations that the State of Chile has regarding human rights standards, he explained.
Along those lines, he emphasized that it was the INDH Council, unanimously, that issued the report that Arrau questioned, and which, according to the INDH director, places "the emphasis, precisely, on the importance and value" assigned in the country to the security of persons.
"Without security, it is impossible to exercise human rights. But it also speaks to the security that all of us must have in the sense that, in carrying out the functions that the State and society entrust to the Forces of Order and Security, they perform their duties with full and complete respect for the human rights of all the inhabitants of the national territory," he argued.
The bill corresponds to an initiative by legislators from Renovación Nacional (RN), presented by José Miguel Castro along with other deputies from the caucus during 2023.