HHR Pro Bono Team Helps Client Achieve Groundbreaking Victory in Human Rights Case Against Bolivia

January 19, 2023- HHR client Brisa De Angulo Losada obtained a sweeping victory before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) today. The judgment is the culmination of over a decade of HHR and a broad legal team’s work before multiple legal bodies to hold Bolivia accountable for its actions.

The IACtHR found that Bolivia was internationally responsible for the violation of Brisa’s human rights. In cases before the Inter-American Court, victims often request reparations in the form of individual compensation or psycho-social support. In this case, however, Brisa requested, and the IACtHR ordered, various non-repetition measures to help ensure that no other girls would experience what she suffered. Of note, the Court ordered various changes to Bolivia’s domestic laws, including revisions to the current rape statute so that lack of consent is central to the crime and consent cannot be given under certain circumstances, the elimination of the estupro statute (for being considered based on discriminatory stereotypes), and the creation of an autonomous statute for incestuous rape.
 
The IACtHR also required Bolivia to adopt protocols for investigation and action during criminal proceedings in cases of child and adolescent victims of sexual violence and training and courses for public officials who work in the justice administration system on issues of sexual violence. With this decision, the IACtHR has expanded and deepened its jurisprudence on sexual violence against children and adolescents, particularly in cases of incestuous rape.
 
Elizabeth Solander, Diego Durán de la Vega, Shayda Vance, Alyssa Johnson and Alex Bedrosyan represented De Angulo.
 
Equality Now has published a press release on the judgment, which can also viewed on YouTube.

Read the full judgment in Spanish and a summary of the judgment in English.