Bolivia : diaspora and emigration policies

Abstract

Is immigration on the Bolivian political agenda? If we only analyze the official census figures and focus on laws, decrees and public policy initiatives, we should probably answer ‘no’. However, as we shall see, we have to consider another reality after integrating various statistical estimates that increase official numbers and after acknowledging the work of some governmental departments as well as non-governmental social research and advocacy organizations and Bolivian migrants associations abroad. To understand the difference in the response to migration questions in Bolivia, we now present the policy and institutional foundations on which the immigration debate is held in Bolivia. Some public policy, civil right defense and research initiatives have been proposed and established, but these initiatives would be best judged after considering how much political and economic support they will receive in future.