Indigenous people and International Law practice in Chile: New horizons before the weakening of the authoritarian legacies

International law, since the 1990s has come to recognize indigenous peoples’ demands. Since then, indigenous people have acquired the status of international legal subject. For Chile, this should have marked a significant departure. The 1990s inaugurated not only the end of the cold war and thus the renewed relevance of international law, but also the return to democratic rule. Following global trends, Chile started to confront the violation of human rights occurring during the dictatorship. But Chile’s colonial past and the demands of indigenous peoples continue to be ignored. We argue that the legacies of authoritarianism in the Chilean practice of international law, explain in part the inability to respond to these demands. We conclude exploring the possibility of disciplinary renewal in in light of the end of the political consensus that marked the Chilean transition to democracy. It remains to be seen if these shifts will render Chilean international lawyers more receptive to indigenous peoples’ demands