Onesima Riquelme Lienqueo
Children are the present and the future of our people. Because of what the Mapuche youth is constantly living through it is impossible to stay indifferent. It has been going on since many generations; racism and violence have been the protagonist. We don't want children to feel the hatred because they are indigenous, because they have a culture, a language, a history of struggle. A State that does not respect its childhood is a State that condemns its dreams and its future.
Onesima Riquelme Lienqueo is a Mapuche educator and human rights defender. She is the spokesperson of Red por la Infancia Mapuche, a network promoting the rights of Mapuche children. Onesina Riquelme Lienqueo is recognised in Araucania due to her work towards a multicultural education and the rights of Mapuche children.
One group of HRDs representing a marginalised community that continue to face difficulties are indigenous HRDs, notably from the Mapuche people, who were criminalised on several occasions on the grounds of the Chilean Anti-terrorist Act.
