The ombudsman’s office in Bolivia has condemned threats against a 10-year-old rape victim and her family after teachers and school staff tried to prevent the arrest of the alleged rapist, a 39-year-old male headteacher, by trying to invade a local police station and scuffling with police officers.
Videos posted on social media show the group gathered outside the police station, trying to pressure the prosecutor and judge to release the alleged perpetrator.
Roxana Choque, the state public prosecutor for Potosí, reported the defendant had been charged with rape pending an investigation. She said the girl had become pregnant as a result of the assault.
“We reject all expressions that violate the rights of the victim and her family,” Bolivia’s ombudsman’s office said in a statement, following reports that the family of the victim had received threats and demonstrators had accused the girl of provoking her rapist.
“We urge the authorities to take appropriate action against those who, with mobilisations in favour of the alleged aggressor, sought to obstruct justice,” the statement added, demanding “an exhaustive and transparent investigation to identify those responsible and ensure that the act does not go unpunished”.
The alleged perpetrator is accused of intercepting the girl on her way home from school earlier this month and raping her inside a vehicle. The assault followed weeks of harassment, including via social media, it is alleged.
This case is part of a wider trend of sexual violence against minors and impunity for rapists in Bolivia. The country has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in Latin America and some of the region’s lowest reporting rates for these crimes.
One in three girls experiences sexual violence before the age of 18 in Bolivia, according to the international women’s rights organisation Equality Now.
“This case highlights the disturbingly high tolerance for violence against girls in our country,” said Mónica Bayá, technical secretary of the NGO Comunidad de Derechos Humanos Bolivia. “While the justice system has, in this case, responded appropriately, we hope it will send a resounding message to other victims.”
She added: “What concerns us deeply is that this isn’t the first instance where the facts are being justified by wrongly placing blame on the victim, in this case, a 10-year-old girl who is unjustly accused of seducing and provoking the adult man.”
Bárbara Jiménez-Santiago, Equality Now’s regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, said: “The Bolivian state must safeguard her privacy and wellbeing and ensure her protection from further victimisation.”
In January, Brisa De Angulo, a rape survivor and campaigner for child victims of sexual abuse, won a groundbreaking case against the state of Bolivia.
In a historic verdict, the inter-American court of human rights found the Bolivian government to be “internationally responsible” for violating De Angulo’s rights to justice when, aged 15, she was repeatedly raped over a period of months by a relative.
