20 August 2020
United Nations, “Los Migrantes Tienen Derecho a Regresar a su País Durante la Pandemia del Coronavirus,” 15 April 2020, https://news.un.org/es/story/2020/04/1472872
Bolivia has been strongly affected by the Covid-19 crisis. By 31 July, Bolivia had more than 75,000 cases of Covid-19 and 2,894 deaths related to the disease. Faced with the pandemic, the government took several measures including declaring a state of emergency, closing borders, imposing fines and detaining people who do not respect quarantine or confinement measures. Bolivia has also imposed restrictions on citizens wishing to return from abroad. Bolivians in Chile, for instance, must spend 14 days in quarantine prior to returning. Some 1,300 Bolivian nationals--including pregnant women, elderly persons, and children--have been stranded in Chile and hundreds of them have been forced to sleep in freezing conditions with little food and water. For its part, by April the Chilean government had transported approximately 1,000 Bolivian nationals to Colchane, a town near the border, where they were accommodated in schools, with sanitary and basic services.
- EFE, “Bolivia Endurece las Medidas Contra el Covid-19 y Declara la Emergencia Sanitaria,” 26 March 2020, https://www.efe.com/efe/america/sociedad/bolivia-endurece-las-medidas-contra-el-covid-19-y-declara-emergencia-sanitaria/20000013-4205066
- United Nations, “Los Migrantes Tienen Derecho a Regresar a su País Durante la Pandemia del Coronavirus,” 15 April 2020, https://news.un.org/es/story/2020/04/1472872
- WorldOmeter, “Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic,” accessed on 31 July 2020, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Last updated:
ENFORCEMENT DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
B. Attitudes and Perceptions
MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
GROUNDS FOR MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION
LENGTH OF MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION
MIGRATION-RELATED DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
DETENTION MONITORS
TRANSPARENCY
READMISSION/RETURN/EXTRADITION AGREEMENTS
COVID-19
HEALTH CARE
COVID-19 DATA
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
OP ICESCR, Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
2012
2018
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2009
2009
ICPED, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
2008
2008
OPCAT, Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
2006
2006
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2006
2006
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1999
1999
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 18/19
Individual Complaints Procedures
Acceptance Year
CRC, [Third] Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child establishing a communications procedure, 2011
2013
2013
ICESCR, Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2008
2012
2012
CEDAW, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1999
2000
2000
Relevant Recommendations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
19. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Develop, as a matter of priority and within a specific time frame, a strategy to prevent violence against women, with the participation of various stakeholders, including high-level government officials, and considering the special situations of risk to indigenous and Afro-Bolivian women, women with disabilities, migrant and refugee women and women in detention;
2015
2015
Committee on Migrant Workers
§31. The Committee recommends that the State party should take the necessary steps to ensure that its consular services respond more effectively to protect and promote the rights of Bolivian migrant workers and members of their families where necessary and that, in particular, they provide the necessary assistance to any of them who are in detention or subject to an expulsion order.
2013
2013
Committee on Migrant Workers
§26. The Committee recommends that the State party ensures that migrants or members of their families when detained for violation of provisions relating to migration are deprived of their liberty for as short a time as possible and that it take steps to guarantee that they are held separately from convicted persons or persons detained pending trial, in accordance with article 17, paragraph 3, of the Convention.
2008
2008
NON-TREATY-BASED INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Observation Date
APACHR, Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
2006
2006
CBDP, Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belem do Para)
1994
1994
Government Agencies
- Ministro de Gobierno
- mingobierno@mingobierno.gob.bo
- (591-2) 2440466
- Dirección General de Migración
- Migracion-comunicacion@gmail.com
- (591)-2-2110960
International Organisations
- IOM Bolivia
- iomlapaz@iom.int
- +59.12 236 90 44
- UNHCR Bolivia
NGOs and Research Institutions
- Diakonia
- Amnesty Bolivia
- https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/bolivia/report-bolivia/
- Americas Media Manager, duncan.tucker@amnesty.org
- Ombudsman (Defensoría del Pueblo)
- +591 211 3600
- tsubieta@defensoria.gob.bo
Media
- Los Tiempos Bolivia
