A/HRC/23/56/Add.1 B. Demographic and ethnic composition 7. One of the main characteristics of Bolivia is its ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity. It has the largest number of indigenous communities and population in South America. According to the 2001 national population and housing census, about 66.4 per cent of the country’s population belong to indigenous ethnic groups.1 The main indigenous ethnic groups are the Quechua, about 2.53 million people; the Aymara, about 20 million; the Chiquitano 181,900; the Guaraní, 126,160; and the Mojeño, around 68,800. About 124,000 people belong to smaller indigenous groups. 2 The community of Bolivians of African descent was not included in the census of 2001. German, Croatian, Serbian, Asian, Middle Eastern and other minorities also live in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. 8. A national census was scheduled for November 2012; the results of the census had not been published at the time of writing. The new questionnaire for the population and housing census will allow respondents to self-identify as belonging to any nationality, indigenous peoples or the community of Bolivians of African descent. III. Legal and institutional framework A. International human rights legal instruments 9. At the international level, Bolivia is a State party to most United Nations human rights treaties. It has not yet ratified the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty or the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. 10. At the regional level, Bolivia has ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, the Andean Charter for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the InterAmerican Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty, the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women, the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Young People. B. Constitutional provisions and legislative reforms 11. The Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia 2009 provides that the objective and essential function of the State is “to establish a just and harmonious society, founded on decolonization, without discrimination or exploitation, with social justice, to strengthen the plurinational identities.” Its article 14, paragraph II, provides that: the State prohibits and punishes all forms of discrimination based on sex, colour, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, origin, culture, nationality, citizenship, language, religious creed, ideology, political or philosophical affiliation, marital 1 2 4 “Los pueblos indígenas de Bolivia: diagnóstico sociodemográfico a partir del censo del 2001”. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (available from www.eclac.org/publicaciones/xml/3/23263/bolivia.pdf), p. 42. Ibid., p. 47.