Case study

Bolivia is undergoing a period of transition from a strictly representative democratic model to another more decentralized model, which promotes greater direct participation from the community on public issues, and is clearly aimed towards greater social equity.

The transition challenges arise in three areas: 1) strengthening a more inclusive rule of law; 2) the pursuit for full citizenship that is capable of defending human rights through active participation in decision-making processes; and 3) the meeting between the institutional and the exercise of citizenship, where the challenge is building spaces that bring citizens closer to their institutions and vice versa.

In this sense, to have an impact on the lack of women in decision-making and the violence that they suffer when they reach public office is crucial in achieving an equitable rule of law. In recent years, the Bolivian legislation to promote political participation of women in different areas of public decision has improved. However, neither the so-called quota law of 1997, which only referred to elected officials, nor the introduction to a new quota system in 2004, which required the presence of one woman for every three candidates, proved effective solutions to the lack of women in Bolivian politics. One of the reasons was the absence of sanctions for noncompliance, even though the responsibility for ensuring this was entrusted to the National Electoral Court and the Departmental Courts. In many cases, this loophole enabled political parties and citizens' associations to mock legislation by presenting male candidates that passed as women on the lists.

Finally in 2010, after a long process, a decisive action in favour of political participation of women was passed applying the principles of equity and parity in the Political State Constitution and the current electoral law. Since then, although in Bolivia there had been significant progress in women's participation in quantitative terms, these developments brought new challenges. First, the need to carry out sustained actions to verify equal participation of women and men in electoral processes and to set clear sanctions for noncompliance was evident. Moreover, problems related to discrimination, manipulation, and political violence against a growing number of women in the public sphere became recurrent, which made it necessary to adopt policies and concrete actions to promote the political participation of women and the elimination of violence to which women are subjected.

Measures adopted by the programme sit within the strategic framework of the Political Representation of the Five-Year Plan of the Bolivian Association of Councilwomen (ACOBOL). They have developed four lines of action, each of which presents a specific strategy:

• Designing, disseminating, and updating the bill against the Harassment of and Political Violence against Women. From the beginning, a strategy was developed to forge alliances with other institutions interested in the subject carrying out a combined advocacy effort aimed at passing the law.
• Protocol design for attention of cases before the Electoral Court. A combined strategy agreement between the Supreme Electoral Court and ACOBOL was agreed upon, with the support of the programme, aimed at developing awareness processes, training, and validation of the protocol.
• Development of actions for attention of harassment and political violence cases. A decentralized intervention strategy was used that took advantage of the departmental associations of councilwomen network, for which technical advice for affected women was offered.
• The women councillors’ empowerment actions. On the one hand, awareness and training processes on this subject with different stakeholders were carried out; and, on the other hand, actions of empowerment and self-esteem building of 600 councilwomen (mainly in rural areas) were developed.

Approval of Law 243, of May 28, 2012, against the Harassment of and Political Violence against Women:

This process began in the year 2000, at a Commission of Popular Participation of the Congress of the Republic meeting, where  councilwomen publicly denounced the harassment and political violence exerted against them in different municipalities. In 2001, they carried out the first motion directed to the design of the first bill against harassment and gender-based political violence. In the following years, and on the basis of this first bill, coordinated work between various institutions to systematize and disseminate the bill continued to develop.

One of the most important results of the work done in those years was, in 2004, the creation of the Political Rights for Women Action Committee composed of representatives of different institutions working on gender issues. Since the formation of this committee, increased awareness and empowerment of women from different public institutions on the importance of harassment and political violence issues has been achieved.

Finally, Law 243, of May 28, 2012, against the Harassment of and Political Violence against women was passed, which did not limit its implementation to women in elective office, but extended its reach to women appointed or practiced political or civil services, representing a difference from the first bills presented.

This law establishes a classification of acts of harassment and political violence, distinguishing between minor, serious, and very serious offences and sets sanctions for each category, which allows clear identification of these acts and their corresponding punishments. In cases of harassment or political violence, the victim or her family, or any natural or legal person may file the complaint, verbally or in writing to the appropriate authorities. There are three channels of complaint: administrative, criminal, and constitutional. In the case of criminal proceedings, the incorporation of new criminal categories in the Bolivian penal code was an important step forward for this regulation. This channel prohibits reconciliation, in order to avoid greater pressure on victims of harassment and political violence. At the same time, a study on the problems and obstacles for women to participate in the electoral process was conducted.

Obtaining evidence and responses to cases of harassment and political violence:

The “Form for Reporting Harassment and Political Violence” was designed to record and track cases dealt with and the background to these. This form includes a section that must be completed by the specialist to evaluate the type of action, the seriousness of the case, and the recommended actions to be taken.

In 2011, the “Manual for the Systematization and Classification of Harassment and Gender-based Violence” was designed to record cases dealt with in the Departmental Associations of Councilwomen. This is an important tool to guarantee the consistency of recording information. The systematic recording of cases helped to set the terms of the Law against the Harassment of and Political Violence against Women. The main acts of harassment and political violence are associated with the use of force to oblige elected municipal officials to sign documents and/or support decisions against their will (41.37 per cent); actions intended to restrict or prevent the effective fulfilment of his/her functions (30.12 per cent) and acts of discrimination for reasons of race, culture, or social status (16.47 per cent).

• The intervention was conditioned by the socio-political environment in which it was inserted; also, being a process of support to a number of policies and institutions, which meant limitations from the point of view of the assessment of results. Despite the aforementioned, the positive elements are numerous; especially because the scope of many elements can be assessed very positively (drafting and passing of laws, development of institutional strategies, publications and dissemination of regulations, etc.)
• Hard limits still exist to achieve institutional environments that are pro-women’s rights. Despite efforts made in the assistance and treatment of harassment and political violence cases, there are still very few that resolve in women’s favour, as seven out of ten go unpunished. It is important that assistance and support agencies supervise and accompany the handling of cases up until their conclusion. If this isn’t done, there is a risk that the victim will abandon her case due to fatigue or because the reason for the complaint has worsened, leaving her in an even more vulnerable situation. This could discourage other victims to report.
• It’s necessary to work harder to strengthen the legal departments of the institutions. Technical and legal advice offered by the departmental association of councilwomen staff presented limitations of a technical nature. Not all associations have legal professionals on staff, as well as political in nature, as its officials run the risk of political pressures to abandon the attention of cases. This double threat may contribute to a decline in positive legal outcomes for victims. One of the assistance modalities analysed is to outsource this service. However, for this method to be successful, it is necessary to establish a dialogue in coordination with professional bodies and / or universities to train lawyers and give them a certificate that guarantees their additional capacity to deal with these cases and to manage the database of professionals available to victims of harassment and / or political violence.