comprehensive remedy to victims of violations that have occurred. As noted by
professor and judge Antonio Augusto Cançado Trindade, although reparatio does not
change the wrong that has already been committed and the pain that has been
caused, it has a double purpose: (i) to provide reparation to the victims and their
families whose rights have been violated and (ii) restore the legal order, built on the
basis of full respect for human rights, undermined by the violations. 9 To restore the
legal order, it is necessary to guarantee that the offending behavior is not repeated,
in a movement guided by the "spirit of human solidarity." 10
3. Supported by these notions, the Court defined the following reparatory measures in
the case in question: maintaining the criminal proceedings open against E.G.A;
determining the responsibility of state officials who potentially contributed to the
commission of the violations; the publication of this judgment; holding a public act
of recognition of international responsibility; the adaptation and adoption of state
conduct protocols; the implementation of training for public officers whose work
involves issues of sexual violence and for forensic doctors; the launch of an
awareness campaign on the issue of incest; the incorporation of adequate
information on the risks, prevention and reporting of sexual violence in school
materials; the implementation of a data collection system on cases of sexual violence
against minors; and adjustments in the domestic legal system. 11
4. With the primary objective of more forcefully addressing general prevention
measures, that is, essentially aimed at unraveling the restrictions that have been
imposed on Ms. Losada in her access to justice, faced by countless people, I present
this concurrent opinion. Specifically, I think it is essential to deepen some discussions
on reparatory measures related to the modifications of Bolivian criminal legislation.
In the case in question, the Court ruled that the State must adapt its legal system
(in particular, its criminal legislation) so that: the absence of consent is central and
constitutive of the crime of rape (the coercive circumstances that nullify consent
must be taken into account), 12 that the crime of statutory rape be eliminated from
the legal system, 13 and that incestuous rape be given visibility by giving it its own
nomen juris in the Bolivian Criminal Code. 14
5. Thus, this opinion will be structured as follows: preliminary considerations on the
case being tried (I); reflections on the role of the inter-American system of human
rights ("IHR System") to ensure the adaptation of domestic laws to international
standards and on the complex interaction between the field of Human Rights and
Criminal Law (II); deepen the discussion on the necessary modification of the
offense of "rape" and the suppression of the offense of "statutory rape" to effectively
incorporate the criterion of consent as central in sexual crimes (III); and
substantiate my position that the best measure for Bolivia to adopt when adapting
its domestic legal system to give greater visibility to incestuous rape is to adopt a
specific nomen juris for incestuous rape (IV).
9
Cf. Case of Bulacio vs. Argentina. Preliminary Exceptions, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
September 18, 2003. Series C No. 100. Reasoned Opinion of Judge Cançado Trindade, para. 22.
10
Cf. Case of Bulacio vs. Argentina. Preliminary Exceptions, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
September 18, 2003. Series C No. 100. Reasoned Opinion of Judge Cançado Trindade, para. 22 (our
emphasis).
11
Cf. Judgment, para. 230.
12
Ibid., para. 198.
13
Ibid., para. 199.
14
Ibid., para. 201.
2