Implementation of the Inter-American Court’s judgment in Brisa de Angulo Losada v. Bolivia, three years on

Three years after the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Brisa de Angulo Losada v. Bolivia, the standards established remain central to guaranteeing access to justice for girls and adolescent survivors of sexual violence in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sexual violence in Latin America and the Caribbean continues to face structural obstacles to effective investigation, prosecution and punishment without discrimination. In many countries, justice systems still reproduce gendered and age stereotypes, impose undue evidentiary burdens, and provide delayed or ineffective responses that result in revictimisation.

In the face of these persistent failures, the Inter-American human rights system has played a key role in developing and clarifying human rights standards that establish a minimum level of protection against sexual violence. These standards guide how States must fulfil, in practice, the international obligations they have assumed, including the prevention of violence, the investigation of crimes, the accountability of perpetrators, and the provision of comprehensive reparations to victims.

One of the most significant precedents in this process is the judgment in the case of Brisa de Angulo Losada v. Bolivia, litigated by Equality Now together with Brisa and allied organisations as part of its strategic litigation work to address the institutional failures that prevent girls and adolescents who survive sexual violence from accessing justice.

What is the Angulo Losada case about?

Brisa de Angulo Losada was 16 years old when she was subjected to sexual violence by an adult family member. After reporting the abuse, her case passed through the Bolivian justice system without an effective response. The investigation was marked by unjustified delays, the use of discriminatory gendered and age stereotypes, revictimising practices, and a lack of enhanced due diligence, resulting in impunity.

In the absence of justice at the national level, the case was brought before the Inter-American human rights system. In its judgment, the Inter-American Court concluded that the Bolivian State violated Brisa’s right of access to justice by failing to act with the enhanced due diligence required in cases of sexual violence against girls and adolescents.

Why is this judgment a key precedent for the region?

The relevance of the Angulo Losada judgment lies not only in the redress of the individual case, but in its regional impact. Based on its analysis of the structural failures of the Bolivian justice system, the Court developed standards that must guide the actions of all States Parties to the American Convention on Human Rights in responding to sexual violence against girls and adolescents.

These standards reinforce States’ obligations to investigate and prosecute these crimes without discrimination, from a gender-sensitive, child-centred and intersectional perspective, and with recognition of the power inequalities that underpin this form of violence. The judgment has become a key reference point for legal reforms, training processes, the development of investigation and adjudication protocols, and advocacy efforts in different countries across the region.

What did the Inter-American Court establish?

In its judgment, the Inter-American Court developed a broad and interconnected set of standards on access to justice in cases of sexual violence against girls and adolescents. Among other points, it established that:

• States have an obligation to guarantee access to justice in cases of sexual violence without discrimination on the basis of gender or age, and must act with enhanced due diligence when the victims are girls or adolescents.
• Investigations and judicial proceedings must be free from gendered, age or behavioural stereotypes about victims and may not impose undue evidentiary burdens or require conduct such as physical resistance, immediate reporting, or absolute consistency in testimony.
• Consent must be central to the analysis of sexual violence offences. It cannot be inferred from silence, lack of resistance, or the victim’s prior behaviour, particularly where relationships of power, authority or dependency exist.
• In contexts of power imbalance, such as those in which the perpetrator holds a position of authority or there is a significant age difference, no form of purported consent can be considered valid.
• Criminal offences such as estupro, which relativise sexual violence against adolescents by relying on notions of seduction or vitiated consent, are incompatible with international human rights standards and must be eliminated.
• States must adopt comprehensive measures of prevention, investigation, punishment and reparation, including the development of appropriate protocols, specialised and ongoing training for justice operators, and the provision of comprehensive support services for victims to prevent revictimisation.

Together, these standards constitute a precedent of regional scope that must guide the response of justice systems to sexual violence against girls and adolescents.

Implementation of the judgment: an assessment three years on

Three years after the judgment, the question is how these standards have been reflected in law and policy in practice in Bolivia and across the region. For example, at the subnational level in Mexico, the state of Oaxaca recently reformed its criminal legislation to recognise that any sexual act without consent constitutes rape, aligning the definition of rape with international human rights standards.

In Bolivia, criminal legislation has not yet been reformed to place consent at the centre of sexual violence offences, maintaining approaches that require proof of force or intimidation, in tension with international standards.

In 2026, the Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Deputies in Bolivia reopened debate on a bill aimed at reforming the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. The proposal includes amendments to the offence of rape, the elimination of the offence of estupro, the specific recognition of incestuous rape, and the removal of statutes of limitation for sexual violence offences against children and adolescents.

In parallel, the Bolivian State has developed training initiatives for judges, prosecutors and police forces, as well as for municipal survivor support services, in collaboration with civil society organisations, including Fundación Una Brisa de Esperanza (FUBE), Comunidad de Derechos Humanos and other allied organisations. These conferences and workshops have sought to promote gender-sensitive and child-sensitive approaches and to strengthen understanding of Inter-American standards and due diligence obligations in the investigation of sexual violence.

While these initiatives represent a positive step in terms of institutional awareness, they do not replace the full structural and specialised reforms required by the Inter-American Court. Transforming judicial practices rooted in discriminatory stereotypes requires normative changes, clear protocols and sustained training programmes, aimed at ensuring that girls and adolescent survivors do not face revictimisation when seeking justice.

In this same vein, the Office of the Prosecutor General has recently initiated a formal process to adapt the Ibero-American Protocol for the Investigation of Sexual Violence Cases to the Bolivian context. This process represents an opportunity to advance the incorporation of regional standards into investigative practice, backed by political will, adequate resources and effective implementation mechanisms.

The work of civil society has been crucial in driving the implementation of the standards established by the Inter-American Court beyond the jurisprudential level. Equality Now, together with allied organisations, has promoted practical uptake through the Regional Network on Access to Justice, a space that brings together survivor-led organisations, litigating lawyers, activists and justice operators from different countries across the region.

Through this coordinated work, training processes, exchanges of experience and communications tools have been developed to make visible the structural barriers survivors face when seeking justice. Initiatives such as the videopodcast JUSTAS: the journey of survivors have helped translate Inter-American standards into concrete lessons for advocacy, litigation and the transformation of judicial practices.

Three years after its notification, the judgment in the case of Brisa de Angulo Losada v. Bolivia remains a key benchmark for assessing States’ compliance with their obligations in responding to sexual violence against girls and adolescents. Its full and effective implementation is required under international human rights law and demands political will, institutional coordination and sustained civil society engagement across the region.