IACHR Press Office
Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) plans to conduct an on-site visit to the Plurinational State of Bolivia over the period March 27–31, to observe the situation of human rights in the country. The Commission—which plans to visit La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, and Sucre—thanks the State for its openness and its willingness to host the visit.
The IACHR delegation is to be led by Commission President Margarette May Macaulay and will also include Commissioner Joel Hernández (IACHR country rapporteur for Bolivia); Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño (the IACHR's First Vice-President and Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples); Commissioner Julissa Mantilla Falcón (Rapporteur on the Rights of Women); and Commissioner Stuardo Ralón Orellana (Rapporteur for Persons Deprived of Liberty).
During the visit, the Commission is set to observe the situation of human rights in Bolivia, focusing on the country's democratic institutions and particularly on relations between the different branches of government; challenges in access to justice and judicial guarantees; economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights; and structural discrimination (particularly based on gender and on ethnic-racial background) against vulnerable groups.
In the exercise of its mandate, the IACHR will publish its observations and conclusions from this visit and make recommendations to the Bolivian State in a country report. The Commission stresses that the scope of this visit differs from the work that is being done by the Special Monitoring Mechanism for Bolivia concerning the violence that erupted there in 2019.
Anyone interested in providing information ahead of this visit should email [email protected] (subject: 2023 IACHR Visit to Bolivia). Please note that only information received at this email address will be taken into consideration. All new requests for petitions or precautionary measures must be filed through the applicable online portal (for technical support concerning the IACHR Portal, please email [email protected]).
The IACHR will provide platforms where civil society organizations, activists, and human rights defenders can be heard and will announce these platforms in due course.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
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