Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1990)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Punishment for expressing certain political views. In its previous direct request, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the application in practice of certain provisions of the Criminal Code under which sentences of imprisonment could be imposed in cases which fall within the scope of the application of Article 1(a) of the Convention, namely, sections 123 (sedition), 126 (conspiracy), 132 (criminal association), 134 (public disorder and disturbances). These provisions may be used to punish, with forced labour, acts through which persons express political views or peacefully express views opposed to the established political economic or social system, as sentences of imprisonment involve the obligation to work under section 48 of the Criminal Code and sections 181 et seq. of Act No. 2298 of 2001 on the enforcement of sentences. The Committee notes that the latest information received on the manner in which these provisions of the Criminal Code are applied in practice by the courts is from 2007. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide copies of court decisions handed down under the above provisions of the Criminal Code so that it can assess the scope.

The Committee also duly notes the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, of 20 September 2012, declaring unconstitutional section 162 of the Criminal Code, which punishes by imprisonment the slander, affront or defamation of a public servant in the exercise of their duties, with an increase in the sentence where the individual targeted is the President or Vice President of the Republic, officials of the State or of the Supreme Court, or members of Congress (Decision No. 1250/2012). The Committee also notes that, in its concluding observations concerning the third report of the Plurinational State of Bolivia on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee expresses its concern at “reports of verbal and physical violence against journalists and the increasing number of criminal proceedings being brought against them” (document CCPR/C/BOL/CO/3 of 6 December 2013). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the criminal proceedings under way against journalists, indicating the legislative provisions under which they were initiated and, where relevant, the sentences which have been imposed.