Amnesty International Report 2017/18

94

Amnesty International Report 2017/18

BOLIVIA



Plurinational State of Bolivia

Head of state and government: President Evo Morales 

Ayma

A Truth Commission was created to 

investigate serious human rights violations 

committed under military governments 

(1964-1982). Progress was made in 

protecting the rights of transgender people. 

Concerns remained regarding threats 

against and harassment of human rights 

organizations, and Indigenous Peoples’ 

rights.

BACKGROUND

In November, the Constitutional Court ruled 

to lift the limits on candidates standing in 

presidential re-elections thereby allowing 

President Morales to stand for a fourth 

consecutive term in 2019.

The country office of the UN High 

Commissioner for Human Rights closed 

down on 31 December after the government 

decided not to renew its mandate.

IMPUNITY

In August, a Truth Commission was 

established to investigate serious human 

rights violations committed under the military 

governments between 1964 and1982. It is 

due to submit a report in two years. The 

armed forces created a working group 

composed of military officers to provide 

support for the Commission, including by 

granting access to their archives.

PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

In August, the Plurinational Legislative 

Assembly passed a law to facilitate the 

inclusion in the labour market of people with 

disabilities and the provision of financial 

assistance for people with severe disabilities. 

For years, disability rights activists have 

called for a monthly disability allowance 

which has yet to be granted.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS

In August, the President promulgated Law 

969, allowing the construction of a road that 

will cut across the Isiboro Sécure National 

Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), one 

of the country’s main water reserves and 

home to approximately 14,000 people, 

mainly from Indigenous communities. This 

Law repealed legislation under which the 

TIPNIS was a protected area, raising 

concerns about possible development of 

other infrastructure and extractive projects in 

the area.

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, 

TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE

In June, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal 

granted civil marriage rights to people who 

had legally changed their gender. 

Nevertheless, same-sex marriage remained 

officially unrecognized. In the same month, 

the Ombudsman proposed an amendment to 

the Criminal Code to make hate crimes 

against LGBTI people a criminal offence. In 

the past decade, the authorities had failed to 

hold perpetrators accountable for the killings 

of LGBTI people.

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Unsafe abortions continued to be one of the 

main causes of maternal mortality.

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

On 6 February, leaders of the Federation of 

Bolivian Mineworkers took over the 

Permanent Human Rights Assembly for 

several hours in the capital, La Paz, and 

demanded the removal of its president. 

Meanwhile, human rights organizations and 

Indigenous leaders held a press conference 

at the Assembly, where they announced that 

the Inter-American Commission on Human 

Rights had asked the government to provide 

information on their request for precautionary 

measures. The organizations had submitted 

the request on behalf of Indigenous Peoples 

in voluntary isolation whose survival they 

alleged would be at risk due to proposed oil 

extraction in their territories.

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In March, the Bolivian Documentation and 

Information Centre (CEDIB), an NGO based 

at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, a 

public university in Cochabamba, reported 

that the Dean of the university had harassed 

them and threatened them with eviction. 

Despite the CEDIB director’s request that 

safety guarantees be provided to his staff and 

archives, he received no response from the 

authorities. In November, CEDIB reported 

that its bank accounts were frozen as a result 

of a judicial administrative procedure which 

had been filed by the Dean.

BOSNIA AND 

HERZEGOVINA

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Head of state: Rotating presidency – Bakir Izetbegović, 

Dragan Čović, Mladen Ivanić

Head of government: Denis Zvizdić

Minorities continued to face widespread 

discrimination. Threats and attacks against 

journalists and media freedom persisted. 

Access to justice and reparations for civilian 

victims of war remained limited.

DISCRIMINATION

Social exclusion and discrimination – in 

particular of Roma; lesbian, gay, bisexual, 

transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people; 

and of people with disabilities – remained 

widespread, despite the adoption of a 

progressive Law on Prevention of 

Discrimination in 2016.

Efforts continued to reduce the number of 

Roma without identity documents and to 

increase the number of Roma children 

enrolled in primary schools. However, Roma 

continued to face systemic barriers to 

education, housing, health services and 

employment. In July, the Council of Ministers 

adopted a new three-year Action Plan for 

Roma Integration specifically aimed at 

improving employment opportunities and 

easing access to housing and health services. 

The Plan’s implementation was hampered 

after the Council of Ministers removed a 

portion of its funding for the second 

consecutive year.

Police failures to thoroughly investigate acts 

of violence and discrimination against LGBTI 

people continued. No indictments were 

issued against those suspected of criminal 

responsibility for the 2014 attack on the 

organizers of the Merlinka Queer Film 

Festival, or the 2016 incident in Sarajevo, the 

capital, in which a group of young men 

harassed and physically threatened visitors of 

a café and cinema popular with the LGBTI 

community. In May, a planned public 

gathering to mark the International Day 

against Homophobia and Transphobia could 

not take place as Sarajevo Canton Ministry of 

Traffic failed to provide the necessary permits 

in time, although it received a formal 

application in advance.

People with disabilities, in particular women 

and children, continued to face systemic 

social exclusion, including severely limited 

access to health services and mainstream 

education. According to legislation, people 

with disabilities whose impairment was not a 

consequence of war were treated differently 

and received lower allowances and social 

benefits than war veterans and civilian 

victims of war.

The 2009 judgment of the European Court 

of Human Rights in Sejdić-Finci v. Bosnia 

and Herzegovina which found the power-

sharing arrangements set out in the 

Constitution to be discriminatory, remained 

unimplemented. Under the arrangements, 

citizens who would not declare themselves as 

belonging to one of the three main 

constituent peoples of the country (Bosniaks, 

Croats and Serbs) were still excluded from 

running for legislative and executive office.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

The pattern of threats, political pressure and 

attacks against journalists continued. In July 

and August, Dragan Bursać, a journalist with 

Al Jazeera Balkans, received a series of 

death threats after publishing a piece in 

which he condemned public gatherings in 

Banja Luka city in support of a charged war 

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