A/HRC/14/7
54.
The Ministry of Justice, together with the municipal legal services and women’s
organizations, had harmonized, organized and standardized statistics on domestic violence.
Bolivia intended to work with the judiciary to expand the coverage of State services
providing attention and protection to crime victims. The Ministry of Justice had also
developed a proposal to adapt and enrich norms, protocols and procedures concerning
attention to victims of sexual violence, as well as a communication strategy for the
prevention of gender violence, entitled “No to Violence against Women”. Bolivia planned
to reach rural areas, in coordination with municipal governments.
55.
Bolivia was working on drafts to modify the Law on Intra-Family Violence and the
Law on the Protection of Victims of Crimes against Sexual Freedom, as well as on the
revision of the Penal Code and the Family Code, following recommendations made by the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Plan of
Sexual and Reproductive Health for 2009-2015 is being implemented to respond to the
needs of the population, especially women. Bolivia had strengthened its integral healthcare,
including the provision of information and services related to contraception, sexually
transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.
56.
Bolivia had four Government organs - executive, legislative, judiciary and electoral that carried out their work on the basis of independence, separation, coordination and
cooperation. The new Constitution had incorporated new mechanisms for ensuring an
independent judiciary, including the election of magistrates by direct vote. However, that
had required transitional measures that would address the current institutional crisis of the
judiciary, which had resulted from the previous, highly politicized system. Bolivia had draft
laws for the judiciary, the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal, the Magistrate Council and
the organic law of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Publico). Those institutions
would carry out a new administration of justice.
57.
Freedom of speech, opinion and information were fully recognized in the
Constitution. The rights of rectification and reply were also recognized. All were
guaranteed through any channel and without prior censorship. Bolivia had 9 television
networks, 19 newspapers and hundreds of radio stations and Internet media, all privately
owned. However, some private media had abused their role, transmitting content inciting
violence, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of hate. In order to prevent
excesses, which had been widely verified by national and international bodies, Bolivia had
carried out an awareness-raising campaign with journalists. It had condemned all
aggression against the press, independently of their affiliation, and had required the Public
Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary to investigate and prosecute such cases. Measures to
be taken to prevent such abuses were being considered with all stakeholders and would be
in keeping with international standards and the new Constitution regarding working
conditions for the press, ethics and self-regulation.
58.
Bolivia regretted the fact some human rights defenders had been the victims of
attacks and aggression carried out by racist groups in opposition to the current Government,
as national and international reports had observed. In compliance with preventive measures
set out by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, meetings had been organized
between the executive and the judiciary branches at which it had been requested that the
investigation be carried out expeditiously. Unfortunately, those processes had been delayed,
but the Ministry of the Interior had augmented police protection.
59.
In a pluricultural and multilingual country such as Bolivia, action to eliminate all
forms of racial discrimination was a necessity. Bolivia had actively participated in the
Durban Review Conference. The Ministry of Justice had prepared the report to the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which had been widely circulated
and had included input from civil society. The Constitution forbade all forms of
discrimination, and, in that context, Bolivia had considered classifying that crime for
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