Law Against Racism 2010

The Law Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination (Spanish: Ley 045 Contra el Racismo y Toda Forma de Discriminación; often called the Law Against Racism) is a statute passed by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia as Law 045 and promulgated by President Evo Morales into law as Law 737/2010 on 10 October 2010. The law prohibits discrimination and discriminatory aggression by public and private institutions and individuals, creates a governmental Committee Against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination, and bars the dissemination of racist and discriminatory ideas through the mass media. The provisions of the law applying to the media caused extensive controversy and were opposed by mainstream publications and media worker associations.

The first draft of the law was proposed by the Human Rights Committee of the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies on 24 May 2010, the anniversary of an incident of racist violence in Sucre in 2008.

Following approval by the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate took up consideration of the Law in October. The law was considered first by the Constitution Committee, whose chair, Senator Eduardo Maldonado (MAS-IPSP, Potosí) declared he was open to revisions in the law. On 4 October, a plenary session of the Senate replaced Maldonado with Eugenio Rojas (MAS-IPSP) as chair of the committee, assuring no changes would be made in committee. The law, unchanged from the version approved by the Deputies, was considered in plenary from 16:45 on 7 October to 05:15 on 8 October. The session was tumultuous and included frequent interruptions by opponents of the bill. Opposition lawmakers unsuccessfully proposed a revocation referendum on Articles 16 and 23. The bill was passed by the Senate by a greater than two-thirds majority.

President Evo Morales promulgated the measure into law on 8 October 2010.

Article 13 penalizes the following acts by public servants:

The internal regulations of public agencies must prohibit such acts, accept complaints about them, and must turn over criminally culpable employees for prosecution.

Article 14 penalizes the following acts in private institutions:

Private institutions must revise their internal regulations so that any of these acts by employees are considered internal faults, must share denunciations made against their employees with the Committee against Racism, and must inform prosecutors of criminal acts.

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