101
obtain the informed consent of all patients. The Commission also requested that the State adopt
laws, public policies, programs and directives to ensure that the right of everyone to be informed
and counseled in matters relating to their health is respected, as well as the right not to be subjected
to procedures or treatments without having given their informed consent, when this is applicable.
These measures should give special consideration to the particular needs of those who are in a
situation of vulnerability owing to the intersection of factors such as their sex, race, economic
situation, or immigrant status.
338. The representative asked the Court to order Bolivia to prepare, through the Ministry of
Health, a publication of general scope on the prohibition of forced sterilization and the rights of
women, as well as on the relevant national and international mechanisms of protection.
339. The State argued that the requests for guarantees of non-repetition were inadmissible
because Bolivia had laws and public policies to counteract any manifestation of discrimination against
women and immigrants. The State indicated that these measures included the promulgation of the
“Law against racism and all forms of discrimination” and The National Strategic Plan on Reproductive
Health 2009-2015. In this regard, the State considered that it had complied fully with its obligations
with regard the right to non-discrimination for reasons of sex or national origin, both in the treatment
accorded to I.V. since she arrive in Bolivia, in the operating theater where the caesarean section and
the tubal ligation were performed, and in the protection afforded by the laws of Bolivia.
340. The Court has already verified the impact on I.V.’s right to personal integrity produced by the
tubal ligation without her prior, free, full and informed consent (supra Chapters VIII-1 and VIII-2).
Bearing in mind that the State has a legal framework that may prevent the repetition of situations
such as those of this case,407 the Court considers that it is important to put in practice the obligation
of active transparency in relation to the sexual and reproductive health care services to which women
in Bolivia have a right. This imposes on the State the obligation to officially provide the public with
the maximum amount of information, including the information required to access such services.
This information should be complete, comprehensible, current, and provided in an accessible
language. In addition, since important sectors of the population do not have access to the new
technologies and since many of their rights may depend on such sectors having information on how
to make those rights effective, the State must identify effective ways in which to comply with the
obligation for active transparency in these circumstances. 408
341. Consequently, the Court considers that, in the context of implementation of the Bolivian laws
that regulate access to sexual and reproductive health care, the State must adopt the necessary
measures to ensure that, in all public and private hospitals, the prior, free, full and informed consent
of women is obtained in the case of procedures that involve sterilization. To this end, the Court, as
in another case,409 finds it pertinent to order the State to produce a publication or leaflet that sets
out in a synthetic, clear and accessible form, the rights of women in relation to their sexual and
reproductive health established in the international standards, and those established in this
judgment and in the domestic laws of Bolivia, as well as the obligations of medical personnel when
providing care in the area of sexual and reproductive health. This publication should specifically
mention the need for prior, free, full and informed consent. It must be available in all Bolivian public
Cf. Ministerial Resolution No.789 of December 2003 “Manual of technical contraception techniques”; Law 3131 of
August 8, 2005, on the exercise of the medical profession; Ministerial Resolution No. 090 of February 26, 2008, adopting the
technical document on “Obtaining informed consent”; Ministerial Resolution No. 1 of January 5, 2010, adopting the
“Contraception standards, rules, protocols and procedures”; Ministerial Resolution No. 579 of May 7, 2013, issuing the
“National standards for clinical care”; Ministerial Resolution No. 47 of 2004, issuing the “Bolivian Code of Medical Ethics and
Deontology.”
407
408
Cf. Case of Furlan and family v. Argentina, supra, para. 294.
409
Cf. Case of Furlan and family v. Argentina, supra, para. 295.