This joint submission details our concerns with regard to laws related to rape and other forms of sexual violence and procedures and practices which effectively deny access to justice for survivors of sexual violence. Bolivia’s legal system continues to provide a number of opportunities for perpetrators to escape criminal liability or punishment, namely through the way sexual violence crimes are defined and allowing for the direct release of a perpetrator from liability or punishment in certain circumstances, including with respect to adolescent girls.
Submitted by: Equality Now, The Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM), The Legal Office of Women (La Oficina Jurídica de la Mujer), The Human Rights Community (Comunidad de Derechos Humanos), and Centro Una Brisa de Esperanza from Breeze of Hope.