Council of Ministers banned all activities by student associations on campuses. In November, the High Authority of Audiovisual Communication made the arbitrary decision to close seven private media outlets. UNLAWFUL KILLINGS In January, Corporal Mohamed Dangou was shot dead by a member of the security services in a military camp in Cotonou. According to an eyewitness he was unarmed. Mohamed Dangou was due to be arrested as part of an investigation into a protest held with other military personnel serving in Côte d’Ivoire calling for the payment of allowances. In July, the Constitutional Court ruled that the armed forces had violated Mohamed Dangou’s right to life. PRISON CONDITIONS The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture made an unannounced visit to Benin in January. It concluded that detention centres were “overcrowded and lacked adequate staffing and other resources”. As of September, Cotonou prison held 1,137 detainees, despite a maximum capacity of 500. In June, the National Assembly adopted a law on community service which could be used to reduce prison overcrowding by replacing detention with non-custodial sentences. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS In February, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its concluding observations on Benin, expressing concerns about the infanticide of children born with disabilities and the persistence of harmful practices, including the rise of female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage. The Committee highlighted the high rates of girls dying from illegal abortion and urged that girls’ rights to education, information and access to quality contraceptive products be guaranteed. DEATH PENALTY In January, the Constitutional Court abolished the death penalty in a ruling stating that “no one can now be sentenced to capital punishment”. The government had yet to adopt laws removing the death penalty from national legislation. BOLIVIA Plurinational State of Bolivia Head of state and government: Evo Morales Ayma The creation of a truth, justice and reconciliation commission for human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the military regimes (1964-1982) remained pending. There were allegations of a failure to seek the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples on oil exploration projects in the Amazon. There was some progress in protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and sexual and reproductive rights. Concerns remained about conditions in the penitentiary system. BACKGROUND In August, Deputy Minister of the Interior Rodolfo Illanes was killed during miners’ protests. Protesters were opposing the enactment of an amendment to the Cooperatives Act, which grants the right to unionization. IMPUNITY Bolivia still had not created the truth, justice and reconciliation commission on crimes committed during the military governments promised at a March 2015 public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES In September, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its 86 Amnesty International Report 2016/17