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HUMAN RIGHTS SPECIAL RAPPORTEURS EXPRESS THEIR PROFOUND CONCERN OVER THE SITUATION IN BOLIVIA
16 October 2003
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The Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Theo Van Boven; the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Mrs. Asma Jahangir; the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and the Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo; the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, Rodolfo Stavenhagen; and the Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, Mrs. Hina Jilani, echo the profound concerns expressed by the Secretary General of the United Nations and by the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights about violence and loss of life during several protests in various parts of the country, particularly in the area of the Alto, where demonstrators urged the government to abandon a project of gas selling and to approve a program that would benefit the local inhabitants.
The experts of the Human Rights Commission cite allegations of excessive use of force by the army and the police in the course of their ongoing law enforcement operations, as a result of which at least fifty persons, many of them belonging to indigenous communities, have died during the last few weeks and more than a hundred have been injured. Concerns have been expressed over the possibility that new confrontations could increase the number of victims among the civil population.
The experts urge the government to take necessary measures to ensure the full protection of the human rights of the demonstrators, including the right to assemble and protest, in the light of the international norms endorsed by Bolivia. In particular, they urge the relevant Bolivian authorities to ensure that law enforcement officials engaged in those operations carry out their duties in strict compliance with human rights standards, and in particular that, the strict limits on the use of lethal force, as stipulated under the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law-enforcement Officials, are followed rigorously and without exception. They also call on the Bolivian authorities to investigate and impose adequate sanctions to any person found guilty of such crimes, irrespective of his rank or position.
The experts of the Human Rights Commission cite allegations of excessive use of force by the army and the police in the course of their ongoing law enforcement operations, as a result of which at least fifty persons, many of them belonging to indigenous communities, have died during the last few weeks and more than a hundred have been injured. Concerns have been expressed over the possibility that new confrontations could increase the number of victims among the civil population.
The experts urge the government to take necessary measures to ensure the full protection of the human rights of the demonstrators, including the right to assemble and protest, in the light of the international norms endorsed by Bolivia. In particular, they urge the relevant Bolivian authorities to ensure that law enforcement officials engaged in those operations carry out their duties in strict compliance with human rights standards, and in particular that, the strict limits on the use of lethal force, as stipulated under the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law-enforcement Officials, are followed rigorously and without exception. They also call on the Bolivian authorities to investigate and impose adequate sanctions to any person found guilty of such crimes, irrespective of his rank or position.