22.The Ministry has managed the resource requirements to achieve the expected accomplishments for the design, implementation and follow-up by 2030. The budget allocated in each of the years is guaranteed to advance the objectives, goals and indicators of the Fourth Equality Plan.

23.The implementation, follow-up and evaluation of the national plan on the equality of men and women has required the deployment and application of initiatives to achieve its objectives, goals and indicators. These include those mandated by law:

•Design of policies, plans and programmes generating coordination between State administrative bodies at the national, regional and local levels.

•Implementation of specific plans and programmes in coordination between State administrative bodies at the national, regional and local levels.

•Mainstreaming a gender perspective into the policies and plans of various ministries and services at the national and regional levels.

•International treaties on women’s human rights and gender equity, ratified by Chile and in force, especially those relating to the elimination of all forms of arbitrary discrimination and violence against women.

•Cooperation with international organizations devoted to women’s human rights and gender equity, without prejudice to the powers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

•Sectoral and intersectoral coordination of public sector agencies in the formulation and incorporation of gender criteria in their policies and programmes, evaluations and planning processes at the national, regional and local levels.

•Collaboration and cooperation agreements with public and private, national and international organizations.

•Public information systems on compliance with and enforcement of existing gender equity regulations.

•Studies and research necessary for the implementation of the plan, both in-house and those of other administrative bodies.

•Training of public officials in gender and public policy matters.

•Diagnosis of gender indicators and ensuring their incorporation into social and economic development planning and in the administration of the State.

•Reports on the situation of women, the exercise of their human rights and gender equity at the national, regional and local levels.

•Communication campaigns at the national, regional and local levels for the promotion and dissemination of the main gaps, inequities and barriers to the full exercise of women’s rights.

•Legal reforms to ensure that gaps, barriers and inequities in legislation are reduced.

D.Follow-up information relating to paragraph 25 (b) of the concluding observations

24.The Ministry for Women and Gender Equity in the Government of President Sebastián Piñera understands that a comprehensive and integral definition of violence is indispensable for the protection and increased empowerment of all women. It has therefore accelerated the adoption of the draft law on the right of women to a life free from violence as a high priority. As of 20 January 2020, the draft law is at the second stage of review in the Senate Women’s Committee as an urgent matter.

25.The objective of the draft law is twofold. The first relates to improving institutional responses to victims of domestic violence, both for women and for other people in particularly vulnerable situations. To achieve this objective, the draft law aims to strengthen intersectoral work and promote coordinated actions among the various actors involved in preventive and protection work and the provision of assistance to people more likely to be victims of violence owing to their vulnerability. Towards the same end, it regulates new figures aimed at recognizing the different forms of violence against women, children, adolescents, older persons and persons with disabilities, and improves procedural aspects whose limitations have resulted in a deficit in the protection of the rights of victims of violence, among other relevant issues.

26.The draft law is geared towards all women, “regardless of their age, marital status, ethnicity, language, religion or belief, ideology and political opinion or other views, national or social origin, affiliation, socioeconomic status, employment status, level of education, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, appearance, health status, migrant or refugee status, disability of any kind or any other condition”. This is a significant advance in incorporating both human rights and gender perspectives, in recognizing that violence against women stems from historically unequal relations between men and women, and in acknowledging the need, from the human rights perspective, to provide special protection to certain groups of the population who face specific vulnerabilities to their rights, such as living a life free of violence.

27.It is important to note that the presidential message on the draft law highlighted the intersecting nature of violence and discrimination. It was pointed out that “violence against women is not a new phenomenon in our country. On the contrary, it is perhaps the harshest reflection of a discriminatory culture that validates historically asymmetrical relations between men and women”. It was also mentioned that the “most extreme form of violence against women, evidence of the discrimination that they have historically suffered, is femicide”. The same message sought to “make it clear that this is not a problem between individuals, but rather a reflection of a social and cultural structure that discriminates against women”.