[1] CONADI's main goal is to promote, coordinate and execute the state's work to support the development of the indigenous peoples of Chile.

CONADI was founded as a result recommendations made by the Special Commission on Indigenous Peoples or "Comisión Especial de Pueblos Indígenas" (CEPI) which ran from 1990 to 1995 was created by decree No.

Following the return to democracy, Patricio Aylwin's government established the Special Commission of Indigenous People (Comisión Especial de Pueblos indígenas or CEPI), whose report provided the intellectual framework of the Indigenous Law Ley Indígena or law n° 19 253, promulgated on September 28, 1993, by President Aylwin.

Approximately half of the self-identified indigenous population remained separated from the rest of society, largely due to historical, cultural, educational, and geographical factors.

In November 2009, a court decision in Chile, considered to be a landmark in indigenous rights concerns, made use of the ILO convention 169.