Child Protection in Bolivia

The project’s objective is to respond to the main problems and challenges the country faces in the area of Child Protection. The specific objective of the project is that teens aged 14 to 18 years old who are in conflict with the law improve their access to justice, including restorative justice, in the nine states of the country.

Here are some of our 2015 highlights:

In 2015, 50 of the 110 teens living in Cometa (5 girls and 45 boys) participated in the baseline study. The project also helped 53 of Cometa’s teens improve their knowledge about their fundamental rights and duties. The findings of the baseline will allow us to gauge progress as we continue working directly with the teens who are incarcerated at Cometa.

“I kept on thinking about the question that I was asked – What are the rights you have as adolescents? – I thought that because I had committed a crime I had lost all my rights.” 15-year-old adolescent of the center Cometa who participated in the baseline study. December 2015.

Another priority is to engage parents of incarcerated teens with the proper resources that they need. Working with families is particularly challenging. For instance, only 40% of the parents visit their children, mostly on Sundays. Accordingly, we will need to develop innovative strategies to be able to reach out to them and achieve our set goals, since it is evidently very important for teens to have their families’ support so they can overcome their current situation and go on with productive lives once they have regained their freedom.

Another objective set for 2015 was to establish strategic partnerships with authorities. The project has been recognized by major organizations and authorities at the national level. Strong partnerships have been formed and project actions have been planned jointly. Moreover we are starting collaborations with the Ministry of Justice, the Plurinational Service of Public Defense, the State’s School of Judges and the Plurinational School for Public Management.

“We, the Ministry of Justice and Fundamental Rights, know that we will not be able to resolve all the problems that the justice system is currently facing alone. There are not many organizations that want to get involved in this topic. This is why we are open regarding this project to work in collaboration with Save the Children.”