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 LATINAMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS

CLADEM - BOLIVIA

 

 

  Madela Sainz Meschwitz

Carmen Elena Sanabria

 

  

 

ALTERNATIVE REPORT ON CHILDREN – BOLIVIA

 

  

OCTOBER 2004

 

 

 


 

ALTERNATIVE REPORT ON CHILDREN – BOLIVIA

 

 

INTRODUCTION

PRESENT CONTEXT OF BOLIVIA

INSTITUTIONAL PANORAMA AND NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK

 

1.  PROTECTION OF THE CHILD AGAINST ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION

     (Article 32 of the Convention on the children’s rights)

 

1.       International Instruments

2.       Internal Legislation

3.       The reality of child labour and girls in domestic service

 

11. PROTECTION OF THE CHILD AGAINST ALL FORMS OF PREJUDICE OR PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL OR SEXUAL ABUSE

      (Articles 6 and 19 of the Convention on children’s rights)

 

  1. International instruments

  2. Internal legislation

  3. The reality of violence against young girls and adolescents

 

III.   HEALTH (ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY; DEATHS DUE TO UNSAFE ABORTION)

 

1.    Protected Principles and Rights

2.    Legislation:

1)         International instruments

2)         Internal Legislation

3)         Analysis of Reality

 

IV.         EDUCATION (SEXIST SCHOOL CURRICULA; CAUSES OF SCHOOL DROPOUTS, ETC.)

 

1.    Protected Principles and Rights

2.    Legislation:

1)         International instruments

2)         Internal legislation

3)         Analysis of Reality

 

V. PROTECTION OF THE CHILD AGAINST ALL FORMS OF SEXUAL

    EXPLOITATION

    (Articles 34 and 36 of the Convention on Children’s Rights)

 

1.       International instruments

2.       Internal Legislation

3.       The reality of commercial sexual exploitation of young girls and adolescents

 

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


 

 

ALTERNATIVE REPORT ON YOUNG GIRLS – BOLIVIA

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

PRESENT CONTEXT OF BOLIVIA

Bolivia is a multiethnic country which, according to the last National Census of Population and Housing, 2001, has a population of 8,274,325 inhabitants and an annual population growth of 2.2%. It is estimated that the indigenous population constitutes about 50% of the total.

 

According to the data of DNI (2003), at the level of age groups, 47% of the population (3,908,462) is between 0 and 18 years, of whom 40%(1,544,506) live in rural zones while another 40% (2,364,956) live in urban areas. Of the population under 18 years, women constitute 49%.

 

The sector of the population of boys and girls younger than 9 years represents about 28%; in the urban area this population group represents 16.85%, while in the rural area it is 11.01%. The population pyramid shows that Bolivia has a young population due to the high rates of fertility that prevail in the country, established at 4.14% and the average age of fertility is 28.93 years (DNI 2001:14)

 

As a result of the growing process of impoverishment and of the search for opportunities, in the past 20 years, an accelerated process of migration of the rural population has taken place with the consequent urbanization, which has transformed Bolivia from a predominantly rural population into an urban one. In 1992, the urban population represented 57% of the total population; in 1997, the percentage had increased, reaching 63%.

 

Bolivia is a low income country with a GNP per capita of around US$1,000 dollars for 1999 and with one of the highest poverty indices of Latin America. Although official data show slight discrepancies, in general terms, it is estimated that 70% of the population lives in conditions of poverty with low levels of education, health and nutrition. The breakdown of the poor population by age groups verifies that 54% of boys, girls and adolescents under 18 live in a situation of poverty (DNI 2001), which affects rural areas to a greater extent.

 

The high levels of social inequality and unemployment allow us to understand the high level of poverty in Bolivia. In the 1990’s, when employment suffered serious deterioration, the participation of the family sector and the informal economy increased, affecting women, children and adolescents. In this context, there emerged what has been called “the infantilization of poverty” which refers to the significant number of young boys/girls and adolescents who were drastically effected by the reigning conditions of poverty. Among the most relevant indicators are the early insertion into the labor market, precarious labor conditions, school desertion and low levels of health (DNI 2001:19-20).

 

Although other sources raise this figure, UNICEF estimates at around 600,000 boy/girl and adolescent workers (Nat’s) who, for the most part, are not registered and do not have identification documents which makes entrance to school difficult, thereby, limiting their educational and technical possibilities.

 

 

 

Another sector which faces hard conditions of life are the boys and girls who live in the streets of the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Sucre. UNICEF data, in 1998, estimate that there are around 4,000 who confront situations of poverty, uprooting, family violence, bad treatment and sexual abuse. In recent years, the age range of this population has grown and, in particular, the situation of young women between the ages of 16 and 19 who frequently become pregnant, suffer sexual violence and manifest a high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases is worrying.

 

At the political-institutional level, from the State, Bolivia has implemented since 1985 a model of structural adjustment which, far from generating economic growth and reducing poverty and social inequity, has sunk the country in an economic and political crisis.

 

The second wave of state reforms, at the beginning of 1990 (Law of Educational Reform, Law of Popular Participation, Law of Administrative Decentralization, Strategy of the Fight against Poverty, reforms of the health sector, among others) which aspired to compensating for the processes of privitization and state deregulation and to alleviate the social costs, has managed to achieve some focalised progress in the modernization of the State and improvements in health and education. Nevertheless, great social and economic inequality subsist between urban and rural areas, gender gaps, exclusion of the indigenous population and deterioration in the situation of Bolivian children and adolescents.

 

The great majority of the public policies of the State have concentrated on the promulgation of legal instruments and compensatory programmes of a social character and focalised on situations of greater vulnerability. In reality, the limited availability of resources has not allowed the implementation of actions which effectively tackle the problem of poverty and social exclusion. State weakness to respond to the undertakings that arise from the ratification of international agreements and to carry out the policies and legal norms is notorious.

 

The combination of these factors, along with the aggravation of historical structural problems concerning the formation of the Bolivian State and the social exclusion, have generated the situation where the country is, currently, passing through a moment of serious institutional crisis and the delegitimization of the political system as a whole.

 

INSTITUTIONAL PANORAMA AND NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK

 

In general terms, it can be said that the Bolivian State does have an institutional framework, with norms, legislative measures and public policies aimed at the protection of children and adolescents.

 

The Political Constitution of the State, in the Family Regulations, through Articles 193 and 199, indicates the obligation of the state to protect the family and maternity (art. 193). It also establishes that the state should assume the protection of the physical and mental health of children and the rights of children to family protection and education.It expresses that a special code will regulate the protection of minors in harmony with the general legislation (art. 199).

 

It is necessary to point out that Bolivia was one of the first States to ratify the Convention on Children’s Rights in the year 1990 and it was incorporated into its internal legislation by means of Law No. 1152, promulgated in the same year. Among other international instruments which the country has ratified are those emerging from the OIT relating to protection from child and adolescent labor.

 

The principle norm that regulates this subject is the Code of Young Boys, Girls and Adolescents, in force since 1999, by which the State assumes one of the undertakings arising from the Convention on the rights of children, taking as its focal point the integral protection of the child and adolescent and their consideration as subjects of law.

 

There exist other laws and politics where the rights of children and adolescents in different aspects are recognised, such as, Law 1551 of Popular Participation of 20th April, 1994, which extends municipal competence, giving rise to the creation of the Offices for the Defense of Children and Adolescents as a technical, municipal instance for the promotion of the defense, protection and fulfilment of the rights of children and adolescents; Law 1654 of Administrative Decentralization, of 28th July, 1995; and the Law of Municipalities, No. 2028, of 28th October, 1999, which regulate municipal competence to organise and regulate the Offices of the Defense of Children and Adolescents with regard to the operative entities of services in defense and legal and administrative protection.

 

At the level of State institutionality, the normative, executive entity of public policies for children and adolescents is the Vice-ministry of Youth, Childhood and the Third Age, dependant on the Ministry for Sustainable Development.In the area of sectorial policies, one might name, as the most significant and as having had a relative impact, the SUMI in health and in education, some of the programs and plans carried out within the framework of the Law of Educational Reform.

 

It should be noted that the Code of Children and Adolescents establishes a series of mechanisms for launching it. At a departmental level, there is a Commission for Childhood and Adolescence as the proposing and controlling instance of the policies and services of attention, with the participation of the civil community. At the municipal level, there exist Municipal Commissions of Childhood and Adolescence with proposing, control and protection and defense of children and adolescents functions, by means of the services of the Offices for the Defense of Childhood and Adolescence as promoting agencies for the protection and fulfilment of the rights of young boys, girls and adolescents established by the Code and other legal provisions.

 

In legal matters, as from the application of the Code of Children and Adolescents, a specific jurisdiction is created, expressed in the Child and Adolescent Courts.

 

 

1.      PROTECTION OF THE YOUNG BOY/GIRL AGAINST ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION

      (Article 32 of the Convention on the rights of the child)

 

The principles protected in the matter of child labor and the rights of childhood and adolescence against economic exploitation are found regulated in different international instruments ratified by Bolivia and in its internal legislation.

 

1.      International Instruments

 

Among the different international instruments, Bolivia has ratified Convention 138 regarding the minimum age for admission to employment, defined as 14 years on 11th June, 1997. Likewise, it has ratified Convention 182 regarding the worst forms of child labor on 6th June, 2003, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor which in Bolivia are identified as sexual exploitation, salaried domestic labor, work in agro-forestry production (sugar-cane and nut harvesting) and small mining.

 

2.  Internal Legislation

 

The Boy, Girl and Adolescent Code defines the adolescent worker[1] and establishes general principles and rights (articles 124-135). Article 126 establishes the minimum working age as 14 years[2] in activities which should not damage the health or physical or mental integrity or the rights to an education, culture or professionalization of the child. Article 129 establishes that the salary should be based on existing norms and should not be less than the national minimum salary. Furthermore, the right to legal benefits should be recognised.

 

Article 136 regulates and defines domestic labor, including the activities of adolescents who work continuously in a dependant way for a sole employer in exchange for economic remuneration. The rights and guarantees are those of prevention, health, education, sports and recreation, including a special working timetable, periodic medical examinations, access to and attendance at school, the individual rights of liberty, respect and dignity (Art. 137)

 

The maximum working day is 8 hours daily with an obligatory rest of two days per week. (Art.142). Night work, payment in species, the reduction or retention of salaries for rent, consumption of electrical energy, medical attention, etc., are prohibited. Article 145 fixes the right to an annual vacation at 15 work days,

 

The General Labour Law contains some provisions concerning child and adolescent labor which have recently been modified with the Law Regulating Salaried Domestic Workers. Among the norms revoked are those of registration with the police for this sector of workers and others relating to dismissal, notice, vacation time, etc., which did not receive the same treatment as other workers. Also Article 39, which regulated the working schedule and established the right to daily rest of 8 hours and to 6 hours one day of each week, was modified.

 

In one provision, which has not been revoked, this norm prohibits the work of minors under 14 years, except in the case of apprentices (Article 58). In this case, the employer undertakes the apprenticeship of a job or industry, using the work of the person who is learning, with or without retribution, for a period of time of not more than 2 years. The only rights of the “apprentice” are: to have the necessary to attend school.

 

The Law Regulating Salaried Domestic Labor (Law 2450 of 30th April, 2003) constitutes a historical vindication for the rights of this sector, which have been declared unwaivable, placing them in the same conditions as other workers. This norm introduces the term “salaried domestic worker” and defines its characteristics precisely, revoking Articles 36 to 40 of the General Labor Law and other legal provisions contrary to the same.

 

Article 5 regulates the work of minors, establishing that every boy, girl or adolescent who renders a salaried service in a house is subject to the Child and Adolescent Code (working day, rest days, vacations, etc,.), the General Labor Law and related norms.

 

Among the protected rights are: the payment of salaries, indemnization for years of service, compensation for unjustified dismissal, Christmas bonus, vacations, union membership, affiliation to the public health system (Art. 8). The working day is fixed at 10 hours of effective work for those who live in the workplace and 8 hours a day for those who do not enter into that category[3]. It is stipulated that this work will be remunerated monthly, part payment or payment in species being prohibited, and the salary shall not be inferior to the national minimum salary when a complete working day is considered.

 

This law provides that both the police and the Public Ministry and competent authorities are qualified to receive complaints or demands with regard to abuse, physical agression, sexual harrassment by employers, children, relatives and others; an investigation should be initiated and the antecedents remitted to the Labor Department to ensure payment of salaries and social benefits but without suspension of legal actions (Art.23).

 

With regard to State policies, between the years 2001 and 2002, the Plan for the Progressive Eradication of Child Labor (2000 to 2010) was drawn up as a result of the combined work between State institutions, the civil society and cooperation organisations and the National Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor was constituted with the strategic objective of “Eradicating the worst forms of child labor by applying measures of control and penalization within the framework of the laws in force in the country and improving the quality of life of families in the context of mobilization and social participation".

 

3. The Reality of Child Labor and girls in domestic service

 

In Bolivia, child exploitation for labor manifests dramatic characteristics which have a correlation to the poverty which effects almost 80% of the population.

 

On the basis of official data from the last census, carried out in 2001, DNI (2001) estimates that the working child-adolescent population, between the ages of 7 and 18 years, constitutes around 370,993 persons, of which 55% corresponds to the urban area and 45% to the rural area. With regard to sex, 59% of the women between 7 and 18 years correspond to the urban zones, while 41 % live in the rural zones; in the case of the men between 7 and 18 years, 52% are concentrated in the urban zones and 48% in the rural.

 

The insertion in the labor market of the population under 15 years, following the data of the 1992 census, represents 70% of the PEA. In almost every department, the level of participation of young boys and girls in the PEA is greater in the rural area. In the urban zones, the greatest concentration is in the main cities: 65% of the infantile PEA lives in La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz (DNI 2001: 20-23).

 

The economic crisis situation of the majority of Bolivian families, to which the migration from the country to the city must be added, forces young boys and girls to carry out work that affects their integral development and exposes them to different forms of discrimination and exploitation.

 

Young girls and adolescents in salaried domestic work

 

In Bolivia, Salaried Domestic Work is very common and it is a sector which, in the vast majority of cases, experiences daily abuse of their labor and human dignity where ethnic, class and gender discrimination are also found. This involves a migrant population or people coming from families settled in rural zones.

 

The research of the International Office for the Defense of the Child, “From Maid to Worker” (DNI 2004:13-16) shows the socio-demographic characteristics, indicating that in Bolivia there exist 144,865 people involved in service to homes and domestic work[4]. The department of Santa Cruz concentrates 53,883 people, that is to say 37.20% of the population, a high percentage in comparison to La Paz and Cochabamba.

 

About 84% of Salaried domestic workers are concentrated in urban zones of the country, while the rural area receives 16%, with a massive presence in the main cities which function as poles of attraction for the labor force. With regard to sex, this activity is culturally defined as a feminine sphere and arounf 95.49% are women which responds to social and historical conditioning.

 

According to age groups, the greatest concentration is between 10 and 29 years (65.26%) and the group from 10 to 18 years constitutes about 28.47%. From the point of view of the employers, it is normal to consider that the young girl or adolescent “is easier to mould since she does not claim her rights as an adult”, criteria which are of prime importance in contracting or not. The percentage of boys and girls of up to 12 years reaches 9.28% (3,899) of the population under 18 years, while that of the adolescent reaches 90.72% (38,123). The age group between 17 and 18 years represents between 29.01% (40,022) of the national population involved in this activity (DNI 2004:16).

 

The results of DNI research, based on 300 questionnaires in 4 municipalities in the department of Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz city, El Torno, Montero and Gutierrez) show that around 90% do not have a written work contract and the verbal ones do not mention labor rights (Christmas bonus, indemnization, compensation and vacations). This implies informality and exploitation of young girls and adolescents.

 

For the “living-in” type of work, the working timetable is not clearly defined and the weekend rest is confined basically to Sunday. For the “living-out” type of work, there is, generally speaking, greater clarity regarding times of entry and leaving. There is a more formal labor relationship. In general, the working week tends to be up to 6 days and more than 8 hours a day.

 

Young girls and adolescents in the “living-out” system constitute 64.29%, which may be explained by the fact that the sample includes a great number of migrants. Furthermore, they suffer discriminatory rooming conditions, since they do not usually have their own room or they are assigned reduced or inappropriate spaces like the kitchen, the living-room or a deposit.

 

Research has revealed that the majority get paid in money but payment in species still exists and it has been found that is expressed as “making them study”. 7.14% of those who “live out” do not receive remuneration in money, 73.44% receive a salary below the national minimum and only 16.40% receive a salary superior to the national minimum. In distant regions, some young girls and adolescents work for food and a roof.

 

School attendance among the “live-in” regime shows that only 47.62% attend an educational unit, while in the “live-out” regime the index rises to 62.86% since they have more advantages and more comfortable schedules for study. The majority of them take night courses, where they are exposed to certain risks (DNI 2004:34-35).

 

Research shows the role of employment agencies in the salaried work of young girls and adolescents in houses (DNI 2004: 65-72). These agencies, of which there are approximately 25 in Santa Cruz, gain their profit by acting as intermediaries between employers and workers. As they are situated in densely populated zones, they recruit young girls and adolescents, especially migrants who arrive in the city looking for work, thereby generating links of dependency and debt since the adolescent receives board and lodging which he must pay back once she begins to work. By profiting from their activity by charging commission to both workers and employers, they become accomplices to the economic and labor exploitation. The employers can – if they wish – discount this amount from the workers.

 

Some employment agencies have become involved in sexual exploitation and inducement to prostitution of adolescents and there have been accusations indicating that they contract them to undertake these activities. At present, the Office for the Defense of Youth in Santa Cruz is prosecuting 18 such agencies.

 

 
II    PROTECTION OF THE CHILD AGAINST ALL FORMS OF PREJUDICE OR    PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL OR SEXUAL ABUSE

(Articles 6 and 19 of the Convention on the rights of children)

 

The principles and rights protected with regard to the different forms of violence to young girls and adolescents are incorporated in international instruments ratified by the Bolivian State and legislated by a series of laws which have been gradually approved and modified in the country in, approximately, the past ten years.

 

1.      International instruments

 

The most important international instruments that Bolivia has ratified in the matter of violence against women and girls are the Convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Interamerican Convention for the Prevention, Sanctioning and Eradication of Violence against Women of the OAS.

 

The CEDAW was ratified by Law 1100 of 15th September, 1989, while the Interamerican Convention was incorporated into the legislation via Law 1599 of 10th September, 1994. Both instruments recognise the human rights of women, young girls and adolescents in matters, such as, equality, non-discrimination and gender violence and they emphasis the undertaking of the State to eliminate them by adopting laws and measures aimed at protecting them.

 

2. Internal Legislation

 

The Child and Adolescent Code establishes the right to respect and dignity. Respect (Art. 105) consists of the inviolability of physical, psychic and moral integrity and the preservation of the image, identity, values, opinions and spaces. In order to preserve dignity (Art. 106) we should watch out for, shelter and protect children and adolescents from all inhuman, violent or repressive treatment and denounce the maltreatment.

 

Maltreatment is defined (Art.108), as every act of violence committed by parents, people in charge, third parties, institutions through abuse, action, omission or supression which causes damage or harms their physical, mental or emotional health. Those cases of maltreatment which constitute an offense will be tried by ordinary justice in accordance with the law.

 

The Code describes some instances of bad treatment (Art. 109), such as, school discipline which does not respect dignity and integrity; deficiency and omissions in the provision of food, clothing, housing, education, health; use as an object in family conflicts; family indifference in the daily treatment; the obligation to do military service before the legal age fixed by law.

 

The obligation to denounce family members, relatives, persons who may have knowledge of, or suspect, maltreatment, and professionals or officials who may not allege professional secrets or superior orders (Art.110). The instances available are the Office of the Defense of Childhood and Adolescence, the relevant Attorney or other competent authority who will present the charges within 24 hours before the Childhood and Adolescence Judge.

 

Professionals and health, education and other institutions are obliged to protect and look after the child and adolescent in case of risk or recurrence. Forensic doctors, doctors of public institutions and psychologists of accredited social services are obliged to evaluate each case, taking into account the age, physical and psychological gravity and establishing the time of impediment by means of a free certificate (Art.111).

 

As from the Belem Do Para Convention, in 1995 Bolivia passed the Law against Family or Domestic Violence (Law 1674), by which the State recognises that it is a social problem in which it should intervene, both with regard to prevention and sanctioning and protection of the victims. This law defines acts of intrafamily violence and the subjects of protection (spouses, cohabitants, ascendants, descendants, brothers and sisters etc.). It defines the different forms of violence and the legally protected possessions. It indicates a clear, swift procedure for the denouncement and processing of the facts, establishing the competence of the Family Courts with power to dictate precautionary measures to protect the victims and to apply sanctions.One of the greatest achievements of Law 1674 is that it introduces acts of family violence and agression into the public order and the acts of violence that constitute offenses classified in the Penal Code are of the exclusive competence of the penal judges.

 

Penal Legislation has incorporated some modifications in order to provide greater protection to the victims of sexual violence. By means oof Law 1768 of 10th March, 1997, the Penal Code was modified, eliminating the discriminatory term “honest woman” in crimes of defloration of a minor. The title “Crimes against good customs” has been replaced by that of “Crimes against sexual liberty”, by which it becomes clear that rape, defloration of minors and dishonest abuse are considered offenses against the integrity and liberty of the victim.

 

A second reform of the Penal Code occurs with the Law for the Protection of Victims of Crimes against Sexual Liberty (Law No. 2033 of October,1999), which modifies and amplifies crimes against sexual liberty. Article 2 redefines rape, amplifying the penal definition and the sanctions. Article 3 incorporates the rape of minors of up to 14 years into the Penal Code with a detailed typification and high sanctions; it is established that relations between consenting adolescents older than 12 years are exempt from sanctions when the difference of age is not more than 3 years and there has been no violence.

 

Law 2033 provides that crimes of rape, abuse and sexual exploitation where the victim is under 14 years, the sanction prescribes up to 4 years after the victim has reached majority.

 

This law introduces new elements to protect the rights and guarantees of the victims of crimes against sexual liberty, among which figure the right to select the instance for the denouncement; not to appear as a witness if the elements of the evidence presented are sufficient; to use a substitute name etc. (Art.15). In the case where the victim is a minor, he/she has the right to have a tutor designated and that the interrogations be carried out with social and psychological supervision.

 
The Penal Code maintains the classification of the crime of abduction and the provision that eliminates the sanction in cases in which the accused contracts marriage with the victims has not been revoked.
 
3. The Reality of violence against young girls and adolescents
 
Law 1674, and the penal norms passed in recent times, have permitted a greater visibility of the problem of intrafamily violence and of the different forms of sexual violence. Nevertheless, some studies state that only 1 in 5 cases tends to be denounced and that of these 98% do not prosper in judicial processes because they are not considered “sufficiently serious” by the prosecutors.
 
Data from the Office of the Defender of the People (2002) state that the family is the place where the majority of acts of violence are produced, while the school environment is the second place in importance for the exercising of violence against children and adolescents.
 
The most systematic study in the country on the problem of violence against children and adolescents was carried out by the Subsecretariate of Generational Affairs, a branch of the Ministry of Human Development, with the sponsorship of the UNICEF, in 1997. The survey was carried out in the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz among children between 10 and 12 years and adolescents of 13 to 18 years for the purpose of getting to know the magnitude and characteristics of maltreatment in the family and educational centers. The results of maltreatment in the family show that: 7 out of every 10 boys, girls and adolescents experience forms of psychological maltreatment in the family (reprimand, shouting, prohibition on going out, insults), while 6 out of 10 are objects of physical maltreatment (belts, ear-pulling, sticks, stones, slaps, kicks etc.)
 
With regard to the cases denounced, the National Report on Gender Violence against Women, prepared by the Women’s Coordinator and the “Gregoria Apaza” Centre for the Promotion of Women (published in 1999), reveals that of the cases reported between 1994 and 1998, those concerning the killing of women had adolescents as their victims and attempted rapes and rapes were perpetrated against women between the ages of 11 and 20 years of age in 80% of the cases.
 
The study sponsored by the Defender of the People (2002a) on the Municipal Offices of Attention to Childhood and Adolescence, which covered 17 in 6 departments, revealed that there were 24.2% cases of maltreatment, including injuries, physical and psychological agression, rape, attempted rape, sexual harrassment and dishonest abuse.
 
In the first semester of 2004, the Municipal Office for the Defense of Childhood and Adolescence in Santa Cruz attended an average of 8 cases a day of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. In this period, 1.124 cases of maltreatment and 439 of sexual abuse were registered (El Deber, 5th August, 2004). The cases denounced up to the first half of this year amount to 700, minus those reported in 2003, and in the year 2002, 997 cases of maltreatment and 231 of sexual abuse were registered.
 
In the educational environment, the survey of the Sub-secretariate for Generational Affairs (1997) showed that: 9 out of every 10 boys, girls and adolescents who attend school or college have, at least on occasions, suffered some form of psychological maltreatment (reprimands, insults, ridicule or punishment). With regard to physical maltreatment: 5 out of every 10 boys, girls or adolescents are victims of physical maltreatment (slaps on the hand, ear-pulling, etc.)
 
The results of an investigation sponsored by DNI on maltreatment in schools and colleges in Bolivia, published in 1998, conclude that, “..... more than 100 sexual agressions are perpetrated daily in the schools and colleges in Bolivia, sufficient elements to lead us to think that maltreatment is one of the factors that has a bearing on school desertion” (DNI 2001: 21).
 
In the year 2002, Municipal Office for the defense of Childhood and Adolescence in Cochabamba received an average of 14 reports daily, of which 3 corresponded to cases of dishonest abuse and sexual agression in schools. And data from a national investigation, contributed by the Vice-ministry for the Affairs of Childhood and Adolescence in 2002 reveal that, in the schools of the country, 8% are subject to sexual abuse, rape and sexual harrassment.
 
The data from 17 Municipal Offices for Attention to Childhood and Adolescence (Defender of the People 2002b), show 839 reports of the vulneration of rights in educational centres through maltreatment, discrimination, improper charging, failing, omission of help and sexual harrassment.
 
Some material compiled for the 28th September Campaign in Bolivia, talks about sexual violence. In the first semester of 1998, 663 cases of rape and 153 cases of defloration were reported to the Technical Judicial Police at a national level. Of the cases of rape, 553 were committed against women under 21 years of age. In the year 2001, these reports registered, at a national level, 642 cases of rape of underage women. Therefore, it is possible to observe that sexual violence effects adolescents to a greater extent.
 
The denouncement rate is very low, bearing in mind that only 10% of rapes are reported because the victims and their family environment tend to avoid the judicial proceedings and this constitutes a new space of victimization.
 

 

III.  HEALTH (ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY; DEATHS DUE TO UNSAFE ABORTION)

 

1.         Protected Principles and Rights

 

The protected principles and rights in matters of health can be found in the State’s Political Constitution, Art. 7, as well as in other laws and decrees.

 

2.        Legislation:

 

1.    International instruments

 

Health is a right already contemplated in the Human Rights Declaration of 1948.  The most important international instruments that Bolivia has ratified in matters of health for boys, girls and adolescents are: The Convention for Children’s Rights, which was adopted and opened to signature and ratification by the General Assembly in its Resolution 44/25, on September 20, 1989 and is enforced on September 2, 1990 in Bolivia.

 

The Convention in its Article 24 says: The State Parties recognize the right of children to the enjoyment of the highest possible level of health; to services for the treatment of diseases and rehabilitation.

The State Parties shall make efforts to ensure that no child is deprived of his right to the enjoyment of those sanitary rights.

a)             Reduce infantile and childhood mortality.

b)             Ensure the rendering of medical assistance and sanitary attention.

c)             Fight diseases and malnutrition.

d)