Bolivia is a multi-party democracy with an elected President and bicameral legislature. The country has separate executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The Attorney General is independent of all three. The national government is elected every 5 years on the basis of universal suffrage, and the elections were deemed fair by observers, though some 400,000 citizens of voting age lack the necessary identity documents to vote. During a recent crisis the elected President resigned, and when this did not restore public order Congress then accepted the resignation of his successor, the former Vice-President. According to the Constitutional line of succession, the elected President is succeeded by the Vice-President, then by President of the Senate and then by the President of the Chamber of Deputies. Both declined the position. In this hiatus, the Supreme Court President assumed a transitional role until elections could be held, and in 2005 a new President was elected with the largest margin in recent history.

New legislation permits citizens groups and indigenous groups that meet certain criteria to register as political parties. Every third candidate appearing on a political party's slate must be female. However, only 24% of women hold public office. Female politicians report that official candidates who met the requirement were pressured to resign before the elections. Now 28 of 157 deputies are women, as are 3 of 18 Cabinet ministers. Indigenous designation is self-declared, and 1 indigenous member serves in the Cabinet. The judiciary is independent in law but is accused of corruption and inefficiency; poor pay and working conditions make judges susceptible to bribes.

Discrimination based on race, sex, language, political opinion, origin or economic or social condition is illegal, but discrimination is directed against women, indigenous people and the small Afro-Bolivian minority. Police and the military are accused of using excessive force, extortion and unwarranted arrests. Allegations persist that military officers mistreat conscripts. Some 65% of the population lives below the poverty line. Many citizens are barely linked to the cash economy.

Freedom of speech and of the press are legally guaranteed, and radio and television stations operate freely. But journalists are threatened by individuals or groups. Defamation of public officials is cause for imprisonment. Roman Catholicism is the official religion, and the Catholic Church receives government support. Concern has been raised over dissemination anti-Semitic materials.

Bolivia is a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation. Children are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation, forced mining and agricultural labour.

The Code for Boys, Girls and Adolescents establishes the rights of children, though it has yet to be fully implemented. 5 years of free, universal primary school is available. In rural areas enforcement of the education law is lax, and more than half of the primary schools offer only 3 of 8 grades. An estimated 50% of children complete primary school, and 26% graduate from high school. Girls drop out at a higher rate than boys, particularly in rural areas.

Some progress has been made in the provision of birth certificates and identity documents to children, because they are needed to secure social benefits including education. Many children live on the streets of major cities. Corporal punishment and verbal abuse are common in schools.

ECE begins at age 4 and lasts for 2 years. The Net Enrolment Rate is 39% (49% female). 5,529 teachers (92% female) are employed in ECE, and 79% are trained. 23% of ECE is private. The pupil/teacher ratio (PTR) is high at 41 : 1.

Primary education begins at the age 6 and continues to age 11. The NER is 95% (49% female). Of students who enrol in Grade 1, 83% enter the last grade of primary school. 2% of students repeat grades. 64,603 teachers (61% female) are employed in primary schools. The PTR is 24 : 1.

Entrance to secondary school begins at age 12 and continues for 6 years. The NER is 74%. 3% of students repeat a grade level in secondary education. There are 45,457 secondary teachers, 19,346 (61% female) in lower secondary and 26,111 (47% female) in upper secondary schools. The PTR is 24 : 1.

There are 346,056 students and 17,759 teaching staff in Bolivian tertiary institutions. 1,142 foreign students come to study from other Latin American or Caribbean countries (1090), East Asia (39) and North America or Western Europe (5). There are 3,497 Bolivians studying abroad, mainly in the USA (1,004), Argentina (563), Cuba (468), Chile (371) and Germany (219).

Legally there is no discrimination against persons with disabilities in education or in other state services, but social discrimination keeps many disabled persons at home. A National Committee for Incapacitated Persons is charged with implementing special needs policy, but there are questions about its effectiveness. 4% of the government's new employees should be persons with disabilities.

Rehabilitation programmes for incarcerated juveniles are virtually non-existent. On the orders of a social worker, and without judicial review, children aged 11 to 16 may be detained indefinitely in children's centres for suspected offences or for their protection.

The government has ratified the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and has established a system for providing protection to refugees. Information is not available on the extent of education provided to refugee children.

In areas with little or no central government presence, indigenous communities impose punishment, including the death penalty, for members who violate traditional laws or rules. The death penalty is legally forbidden. Social discrimination is common against the Afro-Bolivian minority, who are at the low end of the socio-economic scale. Discrimination extends to education, resulting in low income, literacy and employment rates. The issue agrarian reform is a continuing source of protest by indigenous people.

Legally there is no restriction on academic freedom, but there are limitations on freedom of speech. Persons can be charged with insulting, defaming or slandering public officials. This tends to lead to self-censorship, which curtails academic freedom. Internet access is not restricted.

Women do not have a social status equal to that of men. Traditional prejudice is an obstacle to equality, notably in women's inheriting land. The minimum wage law treats men and women equally, but women still earn less than men for the same work. The gender gap in hiring is widest in the higher education brackets. Women in urban areas work in the informal economy. In rural areas the vast majority of economically active women work in agriculture. Young girls often leave school early to work at home or in the informal economy.

Violence against women is a pervasive problem. Trafficking for the purpose of prostitution and forced labour is common. Some government officials reportedly take bribes to facilitate the illegal movement of people. The government has removed at least 19 immigration officials on suspicion of corruption.

The law prohibits work for payment by children under the age 14, but it is not enforced, and school completion requirements are ignored. Approximately 25% of children aged 7 to 14 are employed in some way. A range of dangerous work for minors under the age of 18 is prohibited. Apprenticeships under poor conditions for children aged 12 to 14 have been criticised by the ILO.

Children are trafficked to neighbouring countries for forced labour and trafficked within the country for prostitution or to work in mines, domestic service or agriculture. Forced or compulsory labour is illegal, but child apprenticeship and agricultural servitude by indigenous workers continues. Entire families work in these activities, and children must be fed with the single wage paid to the family. Approximately 10,000 rural migrant children worked in the sugar cane fields. An ILO/UNICEF study of the sugar cane harvest termed it one of the worst forms of child labour; 90% of the children harvesting sugar cane do not attend school and work up to 12 hours a day. 800,000 children aged 7 to 19 are engaged in some type of work, but not in the formal sector. Narcotics traffickers use children to transport drugs.

The traditional practice of criadito persists, in which indigenous boys and girls aged 10 to 12 are indentured by their parents to middle- and upper-class families to perform household work in exchange for education, clothing and room and board. Such work is illegal, but no controls exist over the treatment of these children.

Government workers can form trade unions. Some 25% of workers in the formal economy are union members. An estimated 70% of the work force is employed in micro or small enterprises with fewer than 20 employees without the right to unionise.

Collective bargaining between employers and workers without government participation is limited. Mediation is required before a strike or lockout begins. Strikes in public services are banned but do occur, most commonly strikes by teachers, health care and transportation workers. Labour law applies in the 7 special duty-free zones. The minimum wage for the public and private sectors is established by decree.

The wage of US$ 55 (440 bolivianos) a month plus bonuses and fringe benefits does not increase annually and does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most formal sector workers earn more, but many in the informal sector earn less. An 8-hour workday and a maximum work week of 48 hours are set by law.