The Monitoring and Participation Committee for the National Search Plan has expressed deep concern regarding the dismissal of technical officials essential to the execution of Chile's program to locate victims of forced disappearance.
In a formal letter addressed to Minister of Justice and Human Rights Fernando Rabat and Undersecretary Pablo Mira, the oversight body demanded an explanation for the departure of staff responsible for key coordination roles.
These officials managed critical tasks including the reconstruction of disappearance trajectories, the planning of field searches, and the management of vital archives.
Loss of institutional memory
The committee, which includes representatives from victims' families, human rights organizations, and the Catholic Church, noted that these departures occurred before new authorities could receive detailed briefings on ongoing work.
“Given the complexity of the task involved in installing the Search Plan, the transfer of that experience to the new authorities was fundamental,” the committee stated in the document.
The National Search Plan aims to recover the remains of more than 1,400 people forcibly disappeared in Chile between 1973 and 1990.
While the committee praised the institutional design and the development of methodologies during the program's first two years, it warned that the recent layoffs threaten the plan's operational stability.
The group has requested that Minister Rabat and Undersecretary Mira present the reasons for these dismissals during the committee's next session.
They are also seeking information on how the vacant positions will be filled and how the government intends to maintain progress in digitalization and archive management.
Minister Rabat previously stated that certain leadership positions are discretionary appointments of the Executive. He assured the public that the National Search Plan will continue to function and that investigations will proceed via the visiting ministers overseeing the cases.
