By: Ximena Loza – Director of Childfund in Bolivia
On this day, which should be celebrated by the rights of childhood and adolescence in Bolivia, Childfund raises its voice with deep concern: although we commemorate the advances achieved in favor of childhood, we cannot ignore the painful reality faced by thousands of children and adolescents: violence, in their different expressions. Within this gloomy panorama, sexual violence is revealed as a lacerating wound that demands more urgent attention, as well as more determined actions.
The alarming figures of the department specialized in crimes on gender and youth reasons of the State Attorney General’s Office, through a recent press release, reveal the magnitude of the problem: 3,737 complaints of sexual abuse in 2024, being sexual violence one of the most recurring and devastating ways. Of this total, 3,140 correspond to sexual violations, including 2,696 cases against infants, children or adolescents.
According to official data from the Public Ministry, on average, three out of 10 girls suffer sexual violence and the most chilling is that in almost all cases of denunciation the aggressors are nearby male relatives. Often, abuse results in pregnancy at an early age, triggering a series of violations of the rights and integrity of girls and adolescents.
UNICEF reports and other organizations that work for Bolivian childhood corroborate this alarming trend, evidencing how the physical and emotional integrity of our children and adolescents is threatened in their own homes, schools and communities.
These numbers are not mere statistics, they represent truncated lives, broken dreams and a highly compromised future. Behind each complaint, there are stories of pain, fear and vulnerability that cry for justice and protection. Sexual violence, in particular, leaves deep and lasting scars, affecting the integral development of the victims, their mental health, their relationships and their ability to build a full future.
From the work that Childfund develops in Bolivia, we are direct witnesses of the devastating consequences of violence in the life of children and their families. Together with local partners, we work day by day to strengthen protection mechanisms, provide psychosocial support and promote safe environments where they can grow and fully develop, however, our efforts, however significant, are insufficient in front of the tide of violence, pain and impunity.
On this Bolivian Childhood Day, we make an urgent and necessary call to all rights guarantors: to the State, at its different levels; to the institutions responsible for the protection of childhood, including judicial and police authorities.
It is imperative to strengthen the mechanisms of prevention, research and access to justice of all cases of violence against childhood and adolescence, with special emphasis on sexual violence. We need effective public policies, adequate resources and solid inter -institutional coordination to ensure that no child or adolescent is the victim of this terrible reality.
But responsibility does not fall solely on institutions. The society as a whole has a fundamental role to play to break the silence, denaturalize the violence and build a culture of protection where the rights of childhood are a priority this implies educating our children, adolescents about their rights and how to protect themselves, foster between them and their caregivers the complaint to any form of abuse and provide support and solidarity to the victims and their families, but we also need to promote, in a character of urgent free of violence.
It is time to put aside indifference and complacency. Violence against children is an affront to dignity and humanity, and an obstacle to the progress of our country.
On this day, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to work for a future where every boy and adolescent in Bolivia can live free of fear and violence, where their voices are heard and their rights are fully respected.
The future of Bolivia is built protecting its present: their girls, boys and adolescents. Because we need each other, it’s time to act firmly!
