• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Bolivia: Information on the Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos de Bolivia (APDHB), on its seal and official letterhead, on its organizational structure and on whether it provides letters certifying claims for refugee status abroad

Please find attached two documents sent to the DIRB by Human Rights Internet that provide a description of the Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos de Bolivia (APDHB) and show the organization's letterhead and seal in 1988.

An officer in the protection field at the Lima-based Andean Commission of Jurists (CAJ), which often works in direct contact with the APDHB, provided the following information during a DIRB telephone interview (6 Nov. 1995).

The APDHB has no long-term permanent staff. It is staffed mostly by volunteers, many of them lawyers, and many posts are held on a rotation or availability basis. The APDHB has chapters in all, or nearly all, of Bolivia's departments. Its current president is Waldo Albarracín Sánchez, and its head office is located at Av. 20 de octubre #2019, La Paz. This address was confirmed as recently as April 1995; the source was not aware of any change in address since then. Its telephone numbers are (011-591-2) 32-7761 and 35-9605; its fax number is 37-1635. The representative in Cochabamba is Father Federico Aguiló. Federico Aguiló is named as the APDHB president in an attached page from the 29 May 1995 issue of the CAJ's Andean Newsletter.

The source stated that the APDHB occasionally reports and documents or otherwise supports cases where outside assistance may be needed. This support often takes the form of "urgent action" public appeals or direct contact with other organizations. Finally, the source stated that the APDHB or any other organization could prepare a letter certifying or supporting a case that may warrant asylum abroad; however, a letter with the seal and letterhead of the organization is no guarantee of a supporting letter's legitimacy. The source stated that cases of theft and misuse of human rights organizations' official letterhead paper have been known to occur, and suggested that the only way to verify the legitimacy of a supporting letter carrying the seal and letterhead of the APDHB is to consult directly with the APDHB.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference

Andean Commission of Jurists, Lima. 6 November 1995. Telephone interview with officer.

Attachments

Andean Newsletter [Lima]. 29 May 1995. No. 102. "Human Rights Violations in the Chaparé," p. 1.

Human Rights Internet, Ottawa. 30 October 1995. Documents received by DIRB.