Why was Fundación Amparo y Justicia created?

Twenty-five years ago, Andrónico Luksic Craig was shocked and affected by the dereliction of the State and pain of the family of a 5-year-old girl who had been raped and murdered in Talcahuano. He decided to bring together a group of professionals to legally represent them and provide them with psycho-social support.

That same year, in 1998, support was also provided to three other families from Coelemu, Hualañé, and Valparaíso who had lost their children to similar crimes.

Thus, Fundación Amparo y Justicia was created that same year.

We are here to help families who have lost a son or daughter to a sexual homicide gain greater access to justice and psychosocial healing.

Vision

To be points of reference in promoting and protecting the rights of child and adolescent victims of sex crimes, as well as their families.

Mission

To provide specialized and ongoing psychological, social, and legal support to families who have lost a son or daughter to a sexual homicide, throughout criminal prosecution and during the stage of conviction and serving their sentence.

To have an influence on public policies on sex crimes against children and adolescents and to contribute to the prevention of secondary victimization that they and their families experience.

Our History

1998

Amparo y Justicia was created following the lack of protection and vulnerability experienced by the family of a 5-year-old girl who was the victim of rape and murder in Talcahauno. That same year, three other cases in Coelemu, Valparaíso, and Hualañé shocked the country. These three cases gave rise to the start of the Foundation.

2001

The Foundation took on the case of Alto Hospicio, and legally represented the families of adolescents who had been raped and murdered by a serial psychopath, and they also provided them with psycho-social support.

2007

After taking on several sex crime cases that did not result in death, Amparo y Justicia added to their mission the task of promoting actions that would contribute to the decrease of secondary victimization. That same year, the first international conference on child sex crimes took place.

2008

The second conference on child sex crimes took place, which brought together officials from different institutions in the criminal justice system. The first inter-institutional round table was also brought together to learn more about how to prevent the victimization of children and adolescents.

2011

The Foundation and the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security undersigned a convention for child rape cases involving homicide, which was aimed at perfecting the provision of timely and specialized help to families of victims. That same year a working group was convened and the third international conference took place.

2012

Following the work done by the working groups and the collection of information on the shared experience of international experts, a legislative bill was presented to the Executive power regarding a videorecorded interviewing system.

2013

The campaign “Don’t ask me again” was launched to promote the implementation of the videorecorded interviewing system.

2014

The Executive Branch sent Congress the legislative bill on the Videorecorded Interviewing Law, and, jointly with the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, the first edition of the professional certificate was carried out, entitled “The rights of child and adolescent victims of sex crimes and the legal system.” In 2020, the 10th edition of this academic program was offered, and today there have been over 600 professionals trained through this program.

2015

The fourth meeting with families took place. The Foundation launched the first edition of the book “Videorecorded Investigative Interviewing.”

2017

The Foundation started to work with institutions from the criminal justice system in training interviewers and instructors, and this is how the first specialized training courses began. In October, and after four years of being reviewed in Congress, the Videorecorded Interviewing Law was approved.

2018

In January, the Videorecorded Interviewing Law was enacted. To celebrate this huge milestone, the Foundation inaugurated the “Childhood Ladder for Protection and Hope” in the municipality of Providencia. The goal was to show the importance of the protection of children throughout Chile by using an urban work of art.

2019

The Foundation represented the mother of Ámbar, a girl who was only 7 years old who was raped and murdered in Los Andes. After 17 months of investigations and one month of oral testimony, the rapist and murderer was sentenced to life in prison. The first stage of implementing Law 21,057 on Videorecorded Interviewing began.

2020

Fundación Amparo y Justicia continued to promote the prevention of secondary victimization of children and adolescents through supporting public policies, taking actions to make an impact, creating information and technical materials on subjects related to childhood, and training institutions. Likewise, obtaining justice for families who have suffered painful losses, and with the constant multidisciplinary support of the team, helping them to move forward in their healing process.

2021

During 2021, the Foundation continued supporting families and actively accompanied another three who had suffered the loss of their sons and a daughter. An Online Interviewer Training Course was designed, implemented, and assessed through the Moodle platform thanks to the area of specialized training within the framework of implementation of Law 21,057 on Videotaped Interviewing.

2022

In 2022, the third and final stage of implementing Law 21,057 on Videorecorded Interviewing began. Our Foundation continued providing support to institutions, and launched the book on Interviewers and the book on Intermediaries.

2023

One of the most important milestones from this year was the Family Meeting. The amendments to the Parole Act were also approved, and the project was launched entitled “Do you know what to do if you find out about a sex crime against children or adolescents?”.