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/
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IMMIGRATION AND DETENTION-RELATED STATISTICS
Total number of immigration detainees by year
Number of immigration detainees on a given day
Top nationalities of detainees
Number of persons granted alternatives to immigration detention
Number of detained asylum seekers
Total number of detained minors
Number of detained unaccompanied minors
Number of detained accompanied minors
Number of detained stateless persons
Number of apprehensions of non-citizens
Immigration detainees as a percentage of total international migrant population
Estimated total immigration detention capacity
Number of dedicated long-term immigration detention centres
Estimated capacity of dedicated long-term immigration detention centres
Number of dedicated medium-term immigration detention centres
Number of immigration offices
Number of transit facilities
Number of criminal facilities
Number of ad hoc facilities
Number of persons removed/returned (voluntary returns and deportations)
Number of deportations/forced returns only
Percentage of persons removed in relation to total number of people placed in removal procedures
Estimated number of undocumented migrants
SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Remittances from the country
Unemployment rate amongst migrants
Detention for deterrence
Immigration Index Score
World Bank Rule of Law Index
Domestic Opinion Polls on Immigration
DOMESTIC LAWS AND POLICIES
Constitutional guarantees?
Regulations, standards, guidelines
Immigration-status-related grounds
Non-immigration-status-related grounds providing for administrative detention in immigration legislation.
Does the country provide specific criminal penalties for immigration-related violations?
Grounds for criminal immigration-related detention/incarceration and maximum potential duration of incarceration
Has the country decriminalized immigration-related violations?
Maximum length for administrative immigration detention in law.
Longest recorded instance of immigration detention.
Maximum length of time in custody prior to issuance of a detention order
Average length of detention
Maximum length of detention for asylum-seekers
Maximum length of detention for persons detained upon arrival at ports of entry
Provision of basic procedural standards
Types of non-custodial measures
Impact of alternatives
Is the detention of vulnerable persons provided in law? Are they detained in practice?
Mandatory detention
Expedited/fast track removal
Re-entry ban
INTERNATIONAL LAW
International treaties
Ratification Year
2012
2009
2006
2006
Individual complaints procedure
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
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
Regional legal instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
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
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
International treaty reservations
Treaty bodies decisions on individual complaints
Regional treaty reservations
Regional judicial decisions on individual complaints
Recommendations issued by regional human rights mechanisms
Bilateral/multilateral agreements linked to readmission
Relevant recommendations by UN Special Procedures
INSTITUTIONAL INDICATORS
Federal or centralized governing system
Centralized or decentralized immigration authority
Custodial authority
Apprehending authorities
Detention Facility Management
Formally designated detention estate?
Types of detention facilities used in practice
Authorized monitoring institutions
Is the national human rights institution (NHRI) recognized as independent?
Does NHRI carry out visits?
Does NHRI have capacity to receive complaints?
Does NHRI publicly release reports on immigration detention?
Does national preventive mechanism (NPM) carry out visits?
Does NPM have capacity to receive complaints?
Does NPM publicly release reports on immigration detention?
Do NGOs carry out visits?
NGO capacity to receive complaints?
Do NGOs publish reports on immigration detention?
Do parliamentary organs carry out visits?
Do parliamentary organs have capacity to receive complaints?
Do parliamentary organs publicly report on their detention findings?
Do internal inspection agencies (IIAs) carry out visits?
Do IIAs have capacity to receive complaints?
Do IIAs publicly report their findings from detention inspections?
Do international and/or regional bodies (IRBs) visit immigration-related detention facilities?
Do IRBs publicly report their findings from inspections?
Types of privatisation/outsourcing
Detention contractors and other non-state entities
Estimated annual budget for detention operations
Estimated annual budgets for particular detention-related activities
Estimated cost per detainees day (in USD)
Estimated annual budget for non-custodial measures (in USD)
Estimated costs of non-custodial measures (in USD)
Does the country receive external sources of funding?
Description of foreign assistance
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
