CAT/C/BOL/CO/2
remainder is to be paid out as donations are received from the “private sector, foreign
donors and international agencies”, as provided for in article 16 (b) of Act No. 2640 (art.
14).
The State party should take the necessary steps to ensure that victims of torture or illtreatment receive redress, including fair and adequate compensation and the means
for as full a rehabilitation as possible. The Committee would like to direct the State
party’s attention to its general comment No. 3 (2012), on the implementation of article
14 of the Convention by States parties (CAT/C/GC/3), and, in particular, to
paragraphs 37 through 43, which deal with obstacles to the exercise of the right to
redress and establish that States parties have an obligation to ensure that the right to
redress is effective and that a State party may not invoke its level of development as a
justification for failing to provide a victim of torture with redress.
Violence against women
15.
While taking note of recent advances in the development of laws and regulations,
the Committee is concerned by reports regarding the persistence of gender violence in the
State party, particularly domestic and sexual violence, which in many cases goes
unreported. The Committee regrets that, while information has been provided concerning
numerous acts of gender violence, including cases of feminicide, the State party has not
furnished the requested statistics on the number of complaints filed, convictions handed
down or penalties imposed during the reporting period or on the prevalence of such
violence in respect of indigenous and Afro-Bolivian women (arts. 1, 2, 4, 12, 13 and 16).
The Committee urges the State party to:
(a)
Investigate, prosecute and punish the persons who commit such acts;
(b)
Adopt effective measures to assist victims to prepare and file complaints;
(c)
Ensure that victims receive effective protection by guaranteeing their
access to shelters and health-care services;
(d)
Expedite the creation of special investigative courts to deal with cases of
gender violence, as provided for in Comprehensive Act No. 348;
(e)
Strengthen efforts to raise awareness and educate public officials who
work directly with victims and the general public about gender violence;
(f)
Provide detailed information on the incidents of violence against women
that have occurred during the reporting period, including disaggregated data on the
number of complaints, investigations, trials, sentences and measures instituted to
provide victims with redress.
Child abuse and sexual violence against children
16.
The Committee has received reports on the severity of the problem of child abuse
and sexual violence against minors existing in Bolivian educational institutions. Although it
notes that the delegation has said that such incidents are isolated cases, the Committee is
concerned by the fact that official statistics that could be used to evaluate the situation in
this respect have not been made available. The Committee also regrets that so little
information was provided by the delegation on the obstacles that hinder victims and their
families from gaining access to justice. The Committee will be closely following the
progress of the petition submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
concerning the case of the girl child Patricia Flores (arts. 2 and 16).
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