Incorporation of the rights approach in the local management of migration in Chile

Abstract

In Chile, migrants constitute 10% of the population with 75% residing just 14% of the country’s municipalities. This high territorial concentration of migration is a distinctive feature of the Chilean context; however, research on the subject remains scarce and there is no national policy that effectively guides public migration management at the territorial level. For this reason, the article contributes to determining the characteristics of Chilean local migration management and its possible rights-based approach from the perspective of public officials who worked directly with the migrant and refugee population between 2023 and 2024. An exploratory and descriptive research design with a quantitative approach was employed. Data were collected through a survey in which 465 civil servants from 158 municipalities participated. The results show that Venezuelan, Colombian and Haitian women are the ones who request social assistance the most and that municipalities with larger migrant populations experience greater demand for regularization and protection against gender-based violence. However, municipal service provision remains fragmented and insufficiently coordinated with the central government. A gender approach implementation index was developed and an appraisal of the implementation level of the rights-based approach was conducted, obtaining average levels with territorial asymmetries. Messages from the media and opposition politicians emerge as the main obstacle in local work with the migrant population, and the main challenges are training and strengthening municipal institutions.