Community Law
Since the December 2005 election of President Evo Morales and his MAS party to power indigenous groups, traditionally the marginalized and dispossessed throughout Latin America, have become an important political and legislative force. With the indigenization of Bolivian ministries and newly focused policies, international aid agencies and foreign governments working with state authorities on judicial and other reforms in Bolivia must change their respective approaches.
In many poor or rural areas of Bolivia, residents’ lack of faith in the country’s judicial system has lead to a reliance on community justice. The lack of trust in the courts is the result of a slow, corrupt, and a sometimes impossible to access judicial system. Thus, many Bolivians take justice into their own hands by allowing indigenous leaders to administer justice.
The New Political Constitution of the State of Bolivia (Nueva Constitución Política del Estado de Bolivia), approved by national referendum on January 29, 2009, provides for many more rights for indigenous groups, sovereignty over the country’s natural resources, and education and social services in their respective traditional languages.
A new justice system, based on communitarian law, is also part of the new Constitution. After hundreds of years of oppression, and control by judicial procedures that are far different from their ancient problem solving methodologies, it is little surprise that the three major indigenous peoples of Bolivia – the Aymará, Quechua and Guaraní-have long resisted the judicial reforms introduced to the region.
This presented Proyecto ACCESO with an opportunity to ensure that indigenous peoples are no longer excluded from the political process. The ACCESO team has spent many years building bridges between traditional indigenous problem-solving mechanisms (non-violent forms of dispute resolution) and criminal procedure reforms.
Here is our Proyecto ACCESO Plan Bolivia Video:
Recent Stories on Bolivia
Cries For Grearter Civil Court Involvment
In 2012, after the Bolivian Constitutional Court ruled that a civilian court should have jurisdiction over a case of a conscript who died in a military exercise, the court urged lawmakers to reform Bolivia’s military justice code to give civil courts jurisdiction on all human rights violations.
Protections For Women
In April 2013, Bolivia ratified the Domestic Workers Convention, making is the second International Labour Organization member state. The convention provides protections for millions of domestic workers, particularly women and girls, who work in households.
