S&D Euro MPs Francisco Assis, spokesperson on EUROLAT, and Ana Gomes participated in the European Parliament mission to Bolivia that took place from the 18-20 April to evaluate the human rights situation in the country.
They ascertained that a number of positive achievements and significant progress have been made in Bolivia in terms of human rights conditions, but noted that there is still room for improvement, notably regarding child labour, violence against women, freedoms of expression and association, as well as prison conditions.
In a joint statement S&D MEPs Francisco Assis and Ana Gomes said:
“We warmly welcome the high level of female participation in various sectors, particularly in politics. We are, however, saddened by the high numbers of female victims of domestic violence. We thus call on the authorities of Bolivia to ensure their safety and protection and also urge them to look at introducing new proposals on sexual and reproductive health into Bolivia’s legislation.
"In addition to this, we applaud and respect the co-existing peaceful cultural diversity in Bolivia. However, we firmly believe that cultural diversity is not and cannot be used as an excuse for the present widespread use of child labour, particularly in precarious conditions. For this reason, we call on the EU to ensure labelling of goods from Bolivia."
