The law grants financial aid and comprehensive protection to minors who lost their mothers to gender-based violence.

On Wednesday, Bolivia’s Senate approved the Law for Comprehensive Protection and Reparation for Daughters and Sons Orphaned by Femicide and Other Crimes Against Life and sent it to President Luis Arce for enactment in the official register.

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For the past two years, the law had been promoted by the “Alliance for Children Orphaned by Femicide in Bolivia,” which includes organizations such as the Voces Libres Foundation and the Human Rights Community of Bolivia.

“This regulation represents a fundamental step toward guaranteeing the rights of girls, boys and adolescents who lost their mothers to femicidal violence,” the Human Rights Community of Bolivia posted on social media. The group also highlighted the “sustained work” carried out by the alliance to achieve this goal.

Mercedes Cortez, national coordinator of Voces Libres and one of the alliance’s representatives, said the law’s approval was achieved “with the strength that comes from love” for the children they have “seen suffer” from losing their mothers and for the “sisters who are no longer here because they were murdered.”

The Women’s Coordinator, a network of more than 30 organizations advocating for gender equality, emphasized that passing the law is “a fundamental step toward justice, reparation and the guarantee of a dignified life” for minors “who have lost their mothers to machista violence.”

The text reads, “The Alliance for Orphans of Femicide in Bolivia asks the Lower House to prioritize the treatment of the bill for Comprehensive Protection and Reparation for Orphaned Daughters and Sons Victims of Femicide.”

These organizations urged President Arce to enact the law to make effective the comprehensive protection and reparation that these children and adolescents deserve.

The new law aims to guarantee comprehensive care, social protection and reparation for minors orphaned as a result of femicide, the killing of a woman by her partner or ex-partner, and murder-suicides in contexts of domestic violence.

Among other measures, the law establishes a monthly benefit no less than 20% of the national minimum wage for the guardian or legal representative of the minors. Since Bolivia’s minimum wage is about US$395, the benefit should amount to at least US$79.

The aid will have two modalities: a provisional payment, to be granted from the start of the investigation, and a definitive one, to be consolidated once a final conviction is issued against the perpetrator.

The law also includes measures such as state guarantees for education, health care and psychological support for the beneficiaries, as well as a food subsidy for children under 5 years old. Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 10, Bolivia’s Attorney General’s Office reported 62 cases of femicide nationwide.

The Observatory for the Enforcement of Women’s Rights counted 73 children and adolescents who were orphaned as a result of femicides in the first eight months of the year.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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