Bolivia's constitution and laws technically guarantee a wide range of human rights, but in practice these rights very often fail to be respected and enforced. “The result of perpetual rights violations by the Bolivian government against its people,” according to the Foundation for Sustainable Development, “has fueled a palpable sense of desperation and anger throughout the country.”
The country's chief human-rights problems, according to a 2010 U.S. State Department report, are “killings and torture by security forces; harsh prison conditions; allegations of arbitrary arrest and detention; an ineffective, overburdened, and corrupt judiciary; a 'partly free' media; corruption and a lack of transparency in the government; trafficking in persons; child labor; forced or coerced labor; and harsh working conditions in the mining sector.” According to a Human Rights Watch report, the administration of President Evo Morales has created a hostile environment for human rights defenders that undermines their ability to work independently. Threats to judicial independence, violence against women, and child labor are other major concerns.Bolivia With regard to the report of The Economist dated December 1, 2017, in February 2016 Bolivia's left-wing president, Evo Morales, asked voters through a referendum whether he should be allowed to run for a fourth term in office in 2019. They said no. But on November 28 this year the country's constitutional court gave him what the voters would not, ruling that a clause in the constitution limiting presidents (and other directly elected officials) to two terms can be ignored.Evo Morales finds a way to run for re-election
A 2001 report by the UN Committee against Torture praised new legislation and other efforts by the Bolivian government to improve human rights; but the report also expressed concern about the “continuing complaints of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, resulting on many occasions in death, both in police stations and in prisons and military barracks”; the “impunity accorded to human rights violations...resulting from the lack of any investigation of complaints and the slow pace and inadequacy of such investigations”; the lack of enforcement of laws setting maximum detention periods; prison conditions; the sometimes deadly “disciplinary measures” inflicted on soldiers; the “excessive and disproportionate use of force and firearms by the National Police and the armed forces in suppressing mass demonstrations”; the harassment of human-rights activists; and the return to Peru of refugees “without complying with procedural formalities.”
Basic freedoms
Although Bolivian law technically guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, the relationship between the government and the news media is hostile, and the government has been charged with “taking actions designed to restrict independent media or to encourage self-censorship.” While there are a variety of news media that operate without restriction, including many that are critical of the government, people living in some rural regions have no source of news other than government radio. Also, insulting public officials is a crime punishable by a jail term of up to three years; an independent Press Tribunal has the power to sanction journalists. A 2010 report by Freedom House described the Bolivian press as “partly free” and increasingly unfree. In 2010, there were 60 cases of reported physical aggression or verbal threats directed at 111 journalists.
A group of masked men broke into the radio studio of journalist Fernando Vidal in October 2012 while he was on the air and set him on fire, apparently in reprisal for Vidal's criticism of local smugglers and/or government officials.
Despite all the challenges to free expression that exist in Bolivia, Human Rights Watch describes the country as enjoying “vibrant public debate, with a variety of critical and pro-government media outlets,” although it acknowledges that the national atmosphere is “politically polarized.”
Bolivians enjoy free access to the Internet, academic freedom, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. They also enjoy freedom of movement within the country, the right to travel abroad, and the right to move abroad and repatriate. In practice, however, protesters frequently make movement within the country difficult by blockading major thoroughfares. Also, the fact that many Bolivians have no identity documents makes it difficult for them to obtain passports.
Elections are free and fair, although the above-mentioned fact that many Bolivians do not have identity documents can prevent them from voting.
While corruption is technically supposed to be punished, it occurs routinely in all branches of the Bolivian government.
Bolivian law does not provide for public access to government information.
Political rights
Bolivians enjoy the right to vote in regular political elections and to assemble for political protests. Often, however, political protests have devolved into violence, and military and police forces have used violent measures to restore order. Bolivian political parties range from far-right to far-left, and citizens are unrestricted in joining the political party of their choice.
Workers' rights
Most workers in companies with 20 or more employees are technically allowed to unionize, provided a majority of the employees want to belong to a union, although this right is not always honored in practice. Board members of unions must be native-born Bolivians, and unions are not allowed to join international organizations. Before striking, unions are obliged to seek official mediation; moreover, the government may force workers and employers to enter into arbitration to conclude a strike.
Public employees are not allowed to strike, although some have done so without being penalized. Some union groups have government ties and act under government pressure. Generally speaking, Bolivian workers enjoy only a limited right to bargain collectively without government involvement. There is a National Labor Court that deals with antiunion discrimination, but it can take more than a year to issue rulings, by which time those rulings may be irrelevant.
Although forced labor is illegal, many children and indigenous workers are effectively slaves. While children under age 14 are technically not allowed to work, in practice the Ministry of Labor rarely enforces this law, and many children are employed in mining and other dangerous professions. Child prostitution is common, and the traditional practice known as “criadito,” whereby indigenous families effectively sell their children to well-off families to work as household servants, is widespread, despite its illegality.
There is a minimum wage, but it is very low, and many people earn even less. There are laws setting a maximum work week and establishing other such limits, but they are not enforced effectively. Many Bolivians die because of unsafe working conditions, especially in the mines and in construction.
Abuse of women and children
Abuse of women and children is widespread and often unreported in Bolivia. Family violence, when reported, results in only a few days in jail and a small fine. The Bolivian government, in cooperation with the United Nations, is working to curb abuse of Bolivian women and children both within Bolivia and abroad. The punishment for rape has become more severe in recent years. Those convicted of rape, including statutory rape, face significant jail time. However, a victim must press charges in order for rape to be a crime.
Women's rights
Under Bolivian law, women enjoy equal rights, but many women do not know what their rights are and are, in practice, generally treated as second-class citizens. Rape and other forms of violence against women are widespread. The Center for the Information and Development of Women (CIDEM) says that 70 percent of Bolivian women suffer abuse of some kind. Statutory rape is punishable by up to 20 years in prison; forcible rape of an adult, by up to 10 years. In 2013, Bolivia passed a new comprehensive domestic violence law, which outlaws many forms of abuse of women, including marital rape. Rural women are often denied their inheritance rights, and women in the workplace are often denied their right to equal pay. Under Bolivian law, half of the candidates in municipal elections must be women.
The abuse of women in Bolivia “is widespread and goes unreported or unpunished,” according to the Foundation for Sustainable Development. “Women's individual, economic, and social rights are inferior, severely limiting their ability to be agents for economic and social change.” A 2008 report by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called on Bolivian authorities “to take the necessary measures to ensure the full implementation of existing legislation on gender equality,” “to streamline procedures for review of the compatibility” of its laws with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and “to repeal without delay all legislation that discriminates against women, including discriminatory provisions in its criminal and civil law and to ensure the enforcement of laws prohibiting discrimination against women.”
The UN committee also called on Bolivia to take action to promote women's advancement in society, to fight gender stereotypes, to overcome the institutionalization of traditional sexual attitudes and prejudices, and to combat sexual exploitation and trafficking. It further recommended that Bolivia “ensure that all poverty eradication policies and programmes integrate a gender perspective and explicitly address the structural nature and various dimensions of poverty faced by women, in particular women living in rural areas, indigenous women, older women and women with disabilities.” Also, the committee suggested that Bolivia “strengthen its efforts to implement nationwide effective educational programmes in the areas of functional literacy, skills and income-generating training, including the provision of microfinance schemes, as a means of poverty alleviation, and adopt measures to ensure women's equal access to land, housing, healthcare and basic social services.”
Children's rights
Children born in Bolivia, other than those born to foreign diplomats, are automatically Bolivian citizens, as are children with at least one Bolivian parent.
Physical and verbal abuse of children is common in Bolivian schools. Children between ages 11 and 16 who are believed to have committed an offense have no right to trial and may instead be indefinitely detained in special centers on the orders of a social worker. Thousands of children live on city streets. There are also many child prostitutes, and many children who are trafficked to other countries to perform forced labor. A 2008 report by Pastoral de Movilidad Humana indicated that every month around ten children in southern Bolivia “disappeared and were presumed victims of trafficking.” The Defender of Children and Adolescents, a government agency that is charged with protecting children's rights, has 194 offices around the country.
Bolivia is not a signatory of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.