PDF (Lessons learned in drug abuse prevention: a global review)

NATIONAL
Protecting Child and Adolescent Rights, and Preventing
the Undue Use of Drugs
REGION:
South America
COUNTRY: Bolivia
Organisation: Viceministerio
de Asuntos de Genero,
Generacionales y Familia
(Vice Ministry of Gender,
Generations and Family)
TARGET GROUPS:
● Children (1-18 years)
SETTINGS:
● Private and public institutions
(mostly at the municipal level)
working with children and
adolescents
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IMPLEMENTING AGENTS:
● Municipal Child Ombudsmen
Offices
● Organisations working with
young people
PROJECT PURPOSE:
To defend and to promote the
rights of children, through
strengthening and building the
capacity of Municipal Child
Ombudsmen Offices
COST: US $1,094,630 over 5
years
DURATION: 5 years
Training workshop.
Background:
Over the last 10 years the Bolivian Government has undertaken a series of social policy
reforms in education, social security and the decentralisation of the Government. In
1994, the Bolivian Government approved the Popular Participation Law and the
Decentralisation Law, enabling local governments (prefectures and municipalities) to
assume full responsibility for the human and economic development of the communities
under their jurisdiction. In this context, Article 7 of the extension of the Popular
Participation Law determines that local municipalities are obliged to create Municipal
Child Ombudsmen Offices (Defensorías Municipales) with the mandate of promoting
and protecting children and adolescents' rights. This is highly relevant in Bolivia, where
49.7 % of the country's population is under 18 years of age.
In Bolivia, children up to 18 years old have limited access to education, health services
and drug abuse prevention programmes. A large proportion of young people are the
victims of a social inequity that prevents them from attaining adequate individual
development. Thus, these young people constitute a group with an increased risk of
drug abuse. According to the available official data, in 1998 265,300 Bolivian children
were part of the national labour force, earning a low income and having very little
opportunity to live a 'normal' childhood. An estimated 40 % of children in the school
age are forced to work to help support their families and their studies.
In addition, many children and youngsters in Bolivia are confronted with violence and
discrimination, both at home and in the workplace, thus feeding a seemingly unbreakable
cycle of poverty and inertia.
In 1999, a new Code for Children and Adolescents, based on the International
Convention on Childrens’ Rights, was passed in order to enforce adherence to the
obligations of the convention. This code now serves as a powerful legal instrument for
the protection of the rights of minors in the country.
In less than a decade, Bolivia has gone from being a drug-producing country to a drugconsuming
one. According to studies carried out by the Centro Latinoamericano de
Investigación Científica (CELIN) in 2000, there has been a clear and rapid increase in