The Ombudsman’s Office, through the Departmental Ombudsman Delegation of Santa Cruz, presented the ombudsman’s report “Interrupted Dreams”, which exposes the human rights violations of girls and adolescent women as a result of Early and Forced Infant Marriages and Unions (MUITF) and Forced Infant Pregnancies (EIF).
The Santa Cruz Ombudsman’s Delegate, Sheila Gómez Santiváñez, during her speech at the presentation of the report, highlighted the need to make visible and denounce a reality that violates the fundamental rights of girls and adolescents, “in view of the data obtained for the preparation of this ombudsman’s report, we as servants of the different public institutions have the task of working on this issue that threatens the life projects of girls, adolescents and women who were violated and see beyond the punitive and influence prevention, an aspect that may take us more time and more effort but is certainly of utmost importance in the fight against violence of the most vulnerable populations.
The report “Interrupted Dreams”, is divided into two important axes, the first; Marriages and Early and Forced Infant Unions (MUITF), which highlight according to data from the Civic Registration Service (SERECI) the registration of 4,804 marriages of adolescents between 16 and 17 years of age, during the management 2014 to 2023 in Bolivia, of which 1,322 occurred in the department of Santa Cruz.
On the other hand, the axis of Forced Childhood Pregnancies ( EIF), according to data from the Ministry of Health and Sports, in Bolivia from 2015 to September 2023, a total of 458,246 pregnancies of girls and female adolescents were registered; of which 28,408 (6.20%) are girls aged 10 to 14 years and 429,838 (93.80%) are female adolescents aged 15 to 19 years.
In this same line, the department of Santa Cruz, only in 2022, registered a total of 79,197 pregnancies of girls/adolescents, of which the highest figures are found in the Municipality of Santa Cruz de la Sierra with (428) Montero with (46), followed by San Ignacio de Velasco (36), Warnes (31), Yapacaní (30), figures that equal or exceed capital cities such as Cobija, La Paz, Tarija, Sucre and Oruro.
The presentation of the report in the department of Santa Cruz took place in the presence of the authorities of the Departmental Electoral Tribunal (TED), the Civic Registry Service (SERECI), the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents (DNA), the Departmental Service for Social Policies (SEDEPOS), organized civil organizations, among others.