[5] However, the same report stressed that the laws against torture and state violence in Bolivia remain unsatisfactory, particularly regarding the follow-up to events in Sucre and Pando in 2008, despite increased awareness and sensitivity to these issues.
[6] The National Plan of Action on Human Rights 2009-2014 "To Live Well" recognised the absence of any preventative or punitative legislation against torture and mistreatment, and established the objective of adopting a policy of prevention, vigilance and sanction of torture and cruel, inhumane, degrading or humiliating punishment and treatment, or any other form of attack on physical, psychological, moral or sexual integrity perpetrated by private persons or public functionaries.
Amnesty International, for example, is concerned that the extradition requests filed with the US government regarding former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and two former ministers, all implicated in the killings of demonstrators in El Alto in 2003, are still pending.
[9] Although legal proceedings were taken against the state officials held responsible for events in Pando 2008, both the UN and Amnesty International have expressed concerns about delays and complications in the judicial process, which has yet to be concluded.
Between 2005 and 2008 some 678 patients were attended to in ITEI's medical centres in La Paz, El Alto and Cochabamba, many of whom were involved in major acts of state violence or repression.
The department carries out surveys and interviews, records witness testimonies, launches investigations, publishes articles, provides legal consultation and hosts workshops, seminars and debates.
[14] After the events in Sucre in May 2008, for instance, ITEI initiated an emergency project to document what had occurred and produced a report on "The Return of Repression: Colonial Racism in Charcas", as well as launching a campaign in Europe to raise awareness of what had taken place.
[18] ITEI, in its explanation of the motives behind the presentation of the draft bill, insists that the current sentences in the Bolivian Penal Code for those found guilty of torture are not in proportion to the offence.