Attacks on and harassment of human rights defenders continued. Authorities failed to fully guarantee Indigenous Peoples’ rights to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent. Judicial elections were delayed. Authorities’ actions were insufficient to combat wildfires, which reached record levels.
Background
Many people continued to face socio-economic obstacles to access their rights to health, food and water, among others.
In June, the general commander of the army led armed vehicles to the government palace in an attempted uprising and was arrested shortly afterwards, alongside other collaborators.
Human rights defenders
Authorities failed to protect human rights defenders, who continued to be stigmatized, harassed and attacked. Defenders of territory, land and the environment were at particular risk. Park rangers protecting the Madidi National Park continued to be subjected to threats and attacks. In August, human rights defender Waldo Albarracín Sánchez and his family received physical threats for their historic human rights work.
The work of the Permanent Assembly on Human Rights in Bolivia, an NGO in the capital, La Paz, continued to face serious obstacles. Its office remained occupied by groups related to political power brokers and blocked by police officers, undermining its normal casework and functions. Human rights organizations signalled the particular risk faced by women defenders, who were generally overlooked in data relating to aggressions against human rights defenders.
Indigenous Peoples’ rights
Despite being a state party to Covenant 169 of the ILO, the government failed to implement meaningful processes to guarantee the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples in relation to extractive projects that affect their territories, or to respect their right to self-determination or offer security of tenure for their land and territory. The CERD Committee expressed its “concern about the alleged violation of the constitutional right to prior consultation in the Ayllu Acre Antequera community”, an Indigenous community affected by mining activities in their territory.
Right to a fair trial
The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the OAS expressed concern for the right to independent and impartial judges, after judicial elections were delayed for more than a year. The elections were partially carried out on 15 December.
Right to a healthy environment
There were some advances by the legislative assembly in abolishing a series of laws that permitted deforestation and the expansion of industries such as cattle ranching, industrial-scale agriculture and extractive projects. Nevertheless, in contravention of Bolivia’s international commitments on carbon emissions, authorities failed to take decisive action to combat wildfires. These reached record levels during August and September, putting people’s rights to housing, health and education, among others, at risk.1
Women’s and girls’ rights
The Public Prosecutor’s Office reported that between January and December 84 feminicides had been registered.
