Rosa Julieta Montaño Salvatierra

Rosa Julieta Montaño Salvatierra (born 1946) is a Bolivian attorney, human rights defender, woman's rights activist, feminist writer and a 2015 winner of the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award.

Early life Rosa Julieta Montaño Salvatierra was born 16 August 1946 in Quillacollo, Cochabamba, Bolivia. She completed her basic studies and then earned a Bachelor's Degree in Humanities from the Universidad Mayor de San Simón in 1965. Completing her Law Degree at the same university in 1972, Montaño earned Master's Degrees in human rights and political science at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón and University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain and went on to work on her doctorate in human rights at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain. From 1997 to 2002 she served in the Chamber of Deputies representing the Cochabamba Department. The dictatorship ended on 4 August 1981 and Montaño returned to her legal practice. Since its founding, the organization has provided legal aid for rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence to more than 30,000 women and has worked with the Bolivian legislature in drafting laws to protect women from these kinds of issues. As just one such example, in 2013, the Bolivian Government passed a femicide regulation punishing perpetrators with a maximum sentence of thirty years without the possibility of parole. It is the harshest penalty allowed under the law of the country.

Despite being jailed during the era of the Bolivian dictatorship, Montaño has continuously worked to change public policy. According to the US State Department, she has "influenced nearly every piece of legislation that advanced women’s rights over the past 30 years" in Bolivia.

Selected works Sistematización de Experiencias en Respuestas Sociales en Cuestión de Vida: Balance Regional y Desafíos sobre el Derecho de las Mujeres a una Vida sin Violencia. Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer – CLADEM, Lima. (2000) (In Spanish). "Situación Jurídica de la Mujer" en Suplemento Mujeres del Mundo: Leyes y Políticas y Afectan sus Vidas Reproductivas. Centro Legal para Derechos Reproductivos y Políticas Públicas, DEMUS – Estudio para la Defensa y los Derechos de la Mujer, Nueva York, Estados Unidos. (2000) (In Spanish). Derechos reproductivos de la mujer en Bolivia: un informe sombra. (2001) (In Spanish). "Bolivia: Ethnicity, Race and Gender" en Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Human Rights in the Americas: New Paradigm for Activism. (182–186) Washington. (2001) (In English). Women's Reproductive Rights in Bolivia: A Shadow Report. (2001) (In English). "Principio de los Derechos Humanos: Marco Legal y Normativo" en Agenda Defensorial No. 3. Defensor del Pueblo, La Paz. (2003) (In Spanish). Ley Marco sobre Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos: Principios y Jurisprudencia que la Sustentan. Oficina Jurídica para la Mujer, Cochabamba. (2004) (In Spanish). Tendencias de la jurisprudencia internacional en el ámbito de los derechos sexuales y los derechos reproductivos. (2007) (In Spanish). Ley marco sobre derechos sexuales y reproductivos : principios y jurisprudencia que la sustentan. (2009) (In Spanish).