Age of consent bolivia / perh / brazil
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Executive summary
Bolivia, Peru and Brazil currently report legal ages of sexual consent at 14 in multiple legal summaries and NGOs’ country profiles (see Bolivia: age 14 [1]; Peru: age 14 [2]; Brazil: age 14 [3]). These ages coexist with separate laws on marriage, parental exceptions, and criminal definitions—Bolivia and Peru have allowed marriage under 18 with parental or judicial consent in practice [4] [5], and Bolivia’s criminal code and advocacy groups highlight distinct rules such as the crime of “estupro” that treat sexual relations with adolescents differently from rape [6] [7].
1. What the number “14” actually means in each country
The cited country legal summaries and child-protection reports state the age of consent for sexual activity as 14 for Bolivia, Peru and Brazil (Bolivia: “appears to be 14 years of age” [1]; Peru: “legal age of consent…14 years” [2]; Brazil: “age of consent…14 years old” p3_s2). Those sources treat 14 as the threshold below which sexual activity is criminalized or treated as abuse; they do not necessarily equate that threshold to every legal consequence or to family-law exceptions [1] [2] [3].
2. Marriage law and parental exceptions complicate the picture
National marriage rules and exceptions differ from age-of-consent statutes. Bolivia’s Family Code historically allowed marriage at 16 with parental or judicial consent and recent legislative moves seek to raise minimum marriage age to 18 with no exceptions (reports describe permitting marriage from 16 with parental consent and a 2024–2025 bill to close that loophole) [4] [8]. Peru’s marriage rules similarly have provisions for minors marrying with parental or judicial authorization [5]. These marriage exceptions mean that being legally able to marry at a younger age has in practice intersected with sexual-rights issues even when the criminal-age threshold is nominally 14 [4] [5].
3. Criminal-law distinctions: rape, estupro and “lack of consent” debates
Bolivia’s criminal-law framework has separate concepts: the criminal code punishes sex with children under 14, while other provisions—such as “estupro”—apply to relations with adolescents over the age of consent but under 18; human-rights groups and courts have pushed Bolivia to shift to a consent-based rape definition and to eliminate discriminatory provisions like estupro [7] [6]. Equality Now and legal filings before inter‑American bodies argue these distinctions reduce protections for adolescent victims and create legal loopholes [6] [7].
4. Close-in-age rules, enforcement and reporting vary across sources
Some summaries mention close-in-age exceptions for adolescents (Bolivia’s summaries note possible close-in-age carve-outs down to 12 in interpretation) while others and several NGO reports highlight that formal close-in-age protections may be absent or inconsistently applied [1]. Global legal digests emphasize that the mere statutory age does not reveal enforcement patterns: census and NGO data in Bolivia show high rates of adolescent unions and early pregnancies—evidence that law on paper and lived reality diverge [9].
5. Public debate and advocacy: who wants change, and why
Medical associations and child-rights advocates have historically opposed lowering ages of consent and stressed risks of exploitation—Peruvian medical and civic groups argued in earlier debates that lowering the threshold to 14 would increase abuse risk [10] [11]. Conversely, some recent legislative efforts focus on aligning marriage law and criminal law with international child-rights standards—e.g., Bolivia’s parliamentary moves to raise legal marriage age to 18 aim to eliminate parental exceptions [4]. These competing agendas reflect a tension between protecting adolescents and recognizing adolescent autonomy; reporting shows civil-society groups pressing for stricter protections while some lawmakers have at times lowered or clarified age thresholds [11] [4].
6. What the sources do not say (important limits)
Available sources do not mention detailed, current text of the criminal codes in each country in full, nor do they provide every recent amendment or court ruling after the cited publications; they do not establish uniformity of enforcement or how prosecutors apply close‑in‑age or authority-based exemptions in day-to-day practice (not found in current reporting). For up-to-date statutory texts or case law after these summaries, consult official government legal codes or recent judicial decisions.
7. Takeaway for readers weighing the “age of consent” claim
Reporting from legal summaries and child-protection NGOs consistently lists 14 as the statutory age of consent in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil [1] [2] [3]. That figure must be read alongside separate marriage rules, nuanced criminal definitions (e.g., estupro), close-in-age practices, and active advocacy to raise protections—especially in Bolivia where reform campaigns and IACHR-related rulings have pressed for changes [6] [7] [4]. To understand real-world legal protection for adolescents, consult the specific penal and family‑law articles and watchdog reports cited above rather than the raw number alone [1] [5] [3].