E/2010/43
E/C.19/2010/15
58. For its part, the representatives of the country team said that the mission report
of the Permanent Forum had had a positive impact. They described the initiatives
and activities of the United Nations agencies and programmes aimed at
implementation of the respective recommendations and explained how the country
team planned to facilitate coordination among the various parties involved in
situations of servitude in the Chaco region.
59. Last, the representatives of the Government responded by stating that they
shared the concerns expressed by the representatives of APG and that they would
continue implementing the recommendations in accordance with the Constitution
and all the relevant statutes that were already in effect throughout the country,
prioritizing dialogue and consensus-building.
Recommendations
60. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia
should speed up implementation of the constitutional provisions regarding the
freeing of individuals, families and communities in the light of the fact that forced
labour and servitude are serious human rights violations that must be addressed with
great urgency.
61. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia
should consider implementing the resolutions of the National Agrarian Reform
Institute regarding the revocation of land titles on grounds of servitude in all matters
affecting not only the freedom of individuals, but also the recovery of land for
communities, thereby preventing legal proceedings from stalling a reform process
that defends, promotes and protects human rights.
62. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia
should continue to link its policies for the freeing of individuals and the recovery of
lands in the Chaco region with a view to the territorial reconstitution of the Guaraní
people, which both the Government and APG consider the ultimate objective.
63. The Permanent Forum recommends that the Plurinational State of Bolivia
continue the implementation of specific policies in the areas of housing, health and
education in order to benefit the freed communities, paying particular attention to
those who have been subjected to servitude, and especially children and adolescents.
64. The Permanent Forum welcomes the inclusion of the Office of the Deputy
Minister for Decolonization, together with other competent institutions, in the
Government’s implementation of measures designed to eliminate servitude and
contemporary forms of slavery. Its cooperation will ensure a broader and more
comprehensive and effective strategy.
65. The Permanent Forum calls on the Office of the Attorney General and the
district prosecutors’ offices in the Departments of Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz and Tarija
to conduct criminal investigations into the events described by the Plurinational
State of Bolivia in its report to this session of the Forum and in the subsequent
report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
66. The Permanent Forum encourages APG to continue to give priority to its
endeavours to eliminate the servitude and contemporary forms of slavery to which
families and communities in Santa Cruz, especially in Alto Parapetí, and in
Chuquisaca, are subjected. The Permanent Forum encourages APG, as the
10-36959
11