Engaging the United Nations Following Massacres

 In 2019, the de facto Bolivian government of Jeanine Áñez deployed the military to quell popular protests. The state operations resulted in massacres in the town of Sacaba in Cochabamba and the zone of Senkata in El Alto. All victims were indigenous. The Áñez government passed an illegal decree granting soldiers immunity for the killings. Following the massacres, Áñez’s government persecuted those who supported the protesters, targeting witnesses, journalists, political opponents, and human rights defenders.

 The University Network for Human Rights joined the Center of Legal and Educational Studies (Argentina), Andean Information Network (Bolivia), and Europe – Third World Centre (Geneva) to present two submissions to the United Nations on the persecution: the first to the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary executions and the second to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Under University Network supervision, students helped draft the reports to the United Nations.