Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for the Chilean National Congress to reject a proposed package of constitutional amendments addressing “national security” questions being pushed by President José Antonio Kast. HRW charged that the amendment, supposedly aimed at fighting organized crime, would undermine due process and human rights protections.

Multiple committees in both houses of Congress will deliberate on the amendments. In the Senate, the Public Security Committee and National Defense Committee have been tasked with reviewing the proposals, while the Chamber of Deputies has referred the bill to its relevant committees for parallel review. Terms of the amendments would allow for a 240-day state of emergency without legislative approval. They also allow the president to suspend the right of assembly and other personal freedoms. Additionally, measures allow for the seizure of personal property without normal due process.

HRW criticized the proposed amendments as  in direct contravention of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), both of which Chile is a state party to.

Article 4 of the ICCPR allows for parties to deviate from the convention in certain emergency situations. Article 27 of the ACHR requires “war, public danger, or other emergency that threatens the independence or security of a State Party” for suspension the Convention’s delineated rights. In a speech given by President Kast in April, he listed the surge in organized crime as a national emergency. After reviewing the facts on the ground, HRW determined that the situation does not meet the thresholds required under international human rights law for suspension of basic rights.

Last year, the US State Department considered Chile a high threat for crime, an assessment that is reflected in the US travel advisory for the country. The advisory finds that violent crime has been on the rise in the past 10 years, and urges American tourists to exercise caution when visiting.

However, a prominent constitutional law professor at the University of Chile, Benjamín Alemparte, disagreed with Kast’s assessment of the situation in the country. He noted that Chile is far from institutional collapse, despite Kast depicting the government as incapable of maintaining order under ordinary powers. Alemparte warned against using security issues as a pretext for centralizing power.

To amend the Chilean Constitution, both houses of the legislature need to pass the bill with special majorities—either two-thirds or three-fifths, depending on the nature of the measure. Then they must be signed by the president. If vetoed, Congress may override the veto with a super-majority.