[{"bbox": [96, 120, 1135, 361], "category": "Text", "text": "The second specific objective intends to strengthen the rule of law by supporting institutional transparency and fighting against corruption in the Bolivian Police. According to the Transparency International corruption perception index for 2021, Bolivia had a score of 30/100 (ranking 128 out of 180 countries), which has remained relatively stable over the past years. Perception of corruption is especially high with regards to the police, where trust rates are among the lowest in the region. The 2021 concluding observations of the UN Human Rights Committee for Bolivia urges to \"take prompt and forceful measures to prevent, combat and punish acts of corruption, especially among judicial and police officials, with appropriate penalties\". Furthermore, recent corruption scandals in the Bolivian Police Special Force on Fight against Drug Trafficking (FELCN) have gained attention in the past months with two cases of key political relevance."}, {"bbox": [96, 371, 1135, 609], "category": "Text", "text": "Against this background, this component aims at supporting the Bolivian Police Special Force on Fight against Drug Trafficking (FELCN) in strengthening measures to prevent corruption, provide effective access to public information, enhance risk management, improving internal controls and punishing acts of corruption. The FELCN has the mandate to combat illicit drug trafficking, including the detection, investigation and dismantling of laboratories or facilities dedicated to the manufacture or refining of illicit drugs, and related crimes through specialised investigative and intelligence tools and techniques. In recent years, the involvement of police officers in corruption cases or cases linked to drug trafficking has affected their credibility. The Action intends to positively impact institutional transparency, ethics, and integrity in the Bolivian Police while increasing general population's trust in this institution."}, {"bbox": [96, 622, 1135, 836], "category": "Text", "text": "Support will focus on implementing a comprehensive corruption risk management system, strengthening ethics and integrity among police staff, and reinforcing investigative, prosecution and sanction mechanisms. The Action seeks to influence the prevention of corruption through promoting police integrity, but at the same time promoting capacities and inter-institutional cooperation to enhance prosecution and reduce impunity. It complements ongoing EU sector budget support and technical assistance in the fight against illicit drug trafficking. It has been conceived as a pilot phase of two years, targeting the FELCN General Command and selected directorates in four Bolivian departments. The activities and good practices could be replicated in other regions and police units at a further stage."}, {"bbox": [96, 847, 1135, 1034], "category": "Text", "text": "The proposed Action will contribute to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and 5 (gender equality); to MIP Priority Area 2 “Governance and Human Rights”, SO 2.1 “Strengthen the Rule of Law and Democracy in Bolivia, and support the implementation of the recommendations of the 2019 and 2020 EU Electoral Expert Missions” and 2.3 “Support the Bolivian strategy and institutional framework for the fight against corruption and illicit drug trafficking”; and to strategic objective 2 of the Joint European Strategy 2022-2025. It is aligned with the European Consensus for Development, to the EU Action plan on Human Rights and Democracy for 2020-2024 and the Human Rights and Democracy Country Strategy for Bolivia for 2021-2024."}, {"bbox": [96, 1045, 1135, 1312], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action is complementary to other initiatives under different financing instruments. For Specific Objective 2, to projects supporting governance and the peace process, such as the foreseen support to the OHCHR under the NDICI Rapid Response Pillar or the mobilisation of mediation experts under the FPI ERMES and transitional justice facilities. It is also complementary to direct support to civil society platforms for monitoring electoral and democratic processes under the CSO programme³, and to an EIDHR project implemented by OXFAM in support of women's political participation in political parties and of the fight against political violence⁴. Regarding specific objective 2, it complements the ongoing Sector Reform Policy Contract on fight against illicit drug trafficking and EU-funded technical assistance to the Bolivian Police and criminal justice operators implemented by UNODC and FIAPP. It is also complementary to the bilateral project on Justice Reform implemented by UNODC and AECID⁵, and regional programs such as El PACcTO and COPOLAD."}, {"bbox": [85, 1433, 1144, 1477], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ \"Participación Ciudadana para la Agenda de Derechos Humanos y de Acceso Igualitario a la Justicia en Bolivia - fase 2\" (CSO-LA/2021/429-284, EUR 0,8M)."}, {"bbox": [85, 1488, 1144, 1600], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ \"Fortalecimiento de la Democracia Paritaria intercultural en Bolivia- segunda fase\" (EIDHR/2022/434-194, EUR 1M): Regarding the latter, the implementing partner -Oxfam- will also work with two electoral departmental courts on preventing and addressing political violence, where coordination with UNDP and UNWOMEN (associated UN agency) will be of upmost importance. This will be ensured through regular coordination meetings, both bilateral and in the framework of ad hoc participation of Oxfam at the Steering Committee or the donor-coordination group on Governance and Democracy."}, {"bbox": [85, 1610, 683, 1633], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ \"Access to Justice for All and System Reform\" (LA/2018/40117, EUR 3M)."}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 25"}]