AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

eport on Bolivia. Among its
recommendations, the Committee urged
Bolivia to improve and adapt mechanisms
and proceedings to ensure access to justice
for people with disabilities and to abolish
the practice of sterilizing people with
disabilities without their free, prior and
informed consent.
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
In June, peaceful protests by people with
disabilities demanding a monthly disability
allowance were suppressed by police using
tear gas. In August, allegations of excessive
use of force to repress the protests were
reported to the UN Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, which urged the
Bolivian authorities to carry out a thorough
and impartial investigation into the incident.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
In March, leaders of Amazonian Indigenous
Peoples and the Centre for Documentation
and Information of Bolivia (CEDIB)
denounced the failure to ensure prior, free
and informed consent for oil exploration
projects taking place on Indigenous
territories.
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE
In May, the lower house of the Congress
passed the Gender Identity Law, which
established administrative procedures for
transgender people over 18 to legally change
their name, sex and image data on official
documents.
In September, the Ombudsman endorsed
a bill that would allow same-sex civil marriage
and enable LGBTI people to enjoy the same
health care and social security rights and
guarantees as other couples. The bill was
due to be submitted to the Plurinational
Legislative Assembly later in the year.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In August, the Ministry of Health and the
University of San Andrés launched the first
Observatory of Maternal and Neonatal
Mortality to monitor and reduce the high
rates of maternal and infant mortality in the
country. The Ministry of Health also
announced the development of a bill to
guarantee timely access to family planning.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
In July, a petition that two articles of the Law
Granting Legal Personality and its regulations
were unconstitutional was rejected by the
Constitutional Court. The petition had been
presented by the Ombudsman on the
grounds that the law could violate the right to
freedom of association to establish NGOs or
foundations. In October, four NGOs filed a
petition with the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights regarding the law.
PRISON CONDITIONS
In June, the Ombudsman published a report
highlighting the serious problem of
overcrowding and corruption in the
penitentiary system and persistent human
rights violations against those deprived of
their liberty.
BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Head of state: Rotating presidency – Bakir Izetbegović,
Dragan Čović, Mladen Ivanić
Head of government: Denis Zvizdić
Despite the adoption of progressive new
anti-discrimination legislation, vulnerable
minorities faced widespread discrimination.
Threats and attacks against journalists and
media freedom continued. The International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) issued verdicts in relation to crimes
committed during the 1992-1995 conflict;
at the domestic level, access to justice and
reparations for civilian victims of war
remained limited.
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