Implementation of the indigenous consultation by the Chilean state:

The case of the Ministerio de Desarrollo Social and del Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes

Abstract

This article seeks to describe public policies tending to guarantee indigenous rights in Chile, specifically based on the analysis of the implementation of the right to prior, free and informed consultation (article 6 from ILO 169 Convention) through two parallel processes of indigenous consultation developed by the Chilean State: 1) The creation of the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs and the Council (s) of Indigenous Peoples developed by the Ministry of Social Development and 2) The prior consultation on a draft that would create the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. From a qualitative approach, which rescues the voice of civil servants, we conclude that the same State, with a single consultation regulation, designs and implements two processes with strong discursive, practical and territorial differences. As the theory puts it, the success of these processes lies largely in the political will of the actors to seek greater dialogue and cultural relevance.