The creation of a truth, justice and reconciliation commission for human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the military regimes (1964-1982) remained pending. There were allegations of a failure to seek the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples on oil exploration projects in the Amazon. There was some progress in protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and sexual and reproductive rights. Concerns remained about conditions in the penitentiary system.

Background

In August, Deputy Minister of the Interior Rodolfo Illanes was killed during miners’ protests. Protesters were opposing the enactment of an amendment to the Cooperatives Act, which grants the right to unionization.

Impunity

Bolivia still had not created the truth, justice and reconciliation commission on crimes committed during the military governments promised at a March 2015 public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Rights of people with disabilities

In September, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its report on Bolivia. Among its recommendations, the Committee urged Bolivia to improve and adapt mechanisms and proceedings to ensure access to justice for people with disabilities and to abolish the practice of sterilizing people with disabilities without their free, prior and informed consent.

Freedom of assembly

In June, peaceful protests by people with disabilities demanding a monthly disability allowance were suppressed by police using tear gas. In August, allegations of excessive use of force to repress the protests were reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which urged the Bolivian authorities to carry out a thorough and impartial investigation into the incident.

Indigenous Peoples’ rights

In March, leaders of Amazonian Indigenous Peoples and the Centre for Documentation and Information of Bolivia (CEDIB) denounced the failure to ensure prior, free and informed consent for oil exploration projects taking place on Indigenous territories.

Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people

In May, the lower house of the Congress passed the Gender Identity Law, which established administrative procedures for transgender people over 18 to legally change their name, sex and image data on official documents.

In September, the Ombudsman endorsed a bill that would allow same-sex civil marriage and enable LGBTI people to enjoy the same health care and social security rights and guarantees as other couples. The bill was due to be submitted to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly later in the year.

Sexual and reproductive rights

In August, the Ministry of Health and the University of San Andrés launched the first Observatory of Maternal and Neonatal Mortality to monitor and reduce the high rates of maternal and infant mortality in the country. The Ministry of Health also announced the development of a bill to guarantee timely access to family planning.

Freedom of association

In July, a petition that two articles of the Law Granting Legal Personality and its regulations were unconstitutional was rejected by the Constitutional Court. The petition had been presented by the Ombudsman on the grounds that the law could violate the right to freedom of association to establish NGOs or foundations. In October, four NGOs filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the law.

Prison conditions

In June, the Ombudsman published a report highlighting the serious problem of overcrowding and corruption in the penitentiary system and persistent human rights violations against those deprived of their liberty.