admin – Race and Equality

02Apr 2020 by admin No Comments

Melkis Faure Hechavarria: A Story of one of Cuba’s Female Political Prisoners

Cuba, Cuba, English, Español, Uncategorized

On the day that she was detained, Melkis Faure Hechavarria did not yet know that she was pregnant. On August 6, 2016, she set out to take part in a protest organized by the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), marching peacefully down Calle Monte in Old Havana. When police approached the group, she fell to the ground and refused to fight back, inspired by the philosophy of Mahatma Ghandi. Melkis has not returned to her home since that day. The police took Melkis to the Sanja police station and then to El Vivac prison, where she was held for 46 days without being charged with any crime. According to her husband Freddie Michel, Melkis realized that she was pregnant during this period, but suffered a miscarriage in prison. She was…

30Mar 2020 by admin No Comments

Race and Equality calls on Latin American States for more inclusive measures to be taken for transgender people

Brazil, Brazil, Colombia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, English, Español, LGBTI, LGBTI-en, Mexico, Mexico, Nicaragua, nicaragua, Panama, Panama, Peru

Washington D.C., March 31st 2020. Today we commemorate the International Transgender Visibility Day, a day to celebrate transgender lives and raise awareness about the discrimination this population faces. On this day, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), wants to give visibility to the issues transgender people face throughout Latin America. All over the world, racism and other forms of discrimination marginalize and ostracize the trans population. This makes access to health services, education, work, and housing extremely difficult. Unfortunately, States limited disaggregated data on the situation of trans people rendering them invisible from groups targeted for public policies designated to support vulnerable situations, especially in Latin America. Combined, these factors place them in vulnerable situations where they are more susceptible to different illnesses, addictions,…

30Mar 2020 by admin No Comments

States across the Americas must guarantee the lives and right to health of migrants and refugees in the face of the COVID-19 crisis

English, Español, OAS, OEA, Regional

The Americas, March 30th, 2020.- Over the past few weeks, we have seen how the measures implemented by governments calling for quarantines, shut downs, deportations, border closures and militarization to address the emergency caused by the spread of COVID-19 are disproportionately affecting migrants and petitioners for international protections. Multiple concerning situations as well as human rights violations of the migrant and refugee population have been denounced, among them, the situation of Venezuelan migrants stranded after both Colombia and Brazil closed their borders; the detention of at least 80Haitian nationals in Guatemala; the closing of the border between Mexico and the United States to asylum seekers, as well as the rise in deportations of Mexican and Central American people; the lack of sanitary and adequate conditions and the high risk of…

25Mar 2020 by admin No Comments

Colombian Afro-LGBTI organizations meet with representatives from the JEP

Colombia, Colombia, English, LGBTI-en

Leaders of Afro-LGBTI organizations from the municipalities of Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Nariño and the Colombian Caribbean explained and denounced the effects and violence Afro-descendants with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities suffered during the armed conflict before representatives of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). The event that took place on March 12 and 13 is part of a project led by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) with the support of the Canadian government. “The project seeks to make Afro-LGBTI victims of the armed conflict, as well as the causes and differential impacts that these types of violence have on people with diverse sexual identities and expressions, more visible,” said Laura Poveda, lawyer for Race and Equality. In relation to this, Pedro…

20Mar 2020 by admin No Comments

March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Brazil, Brazil, Colombia, Colombia, Cuba, English, Español, LGBTI-en, Mexico, Mexico, Nicaragua, nicaragua, Panama, Panama, Regional

https://youtu.be/kKUndod9rkg Message from Carlos Quesada, executive director of Race and Equality Washington DC, 2020, May 21st. Today we commemorate once again the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a day that we at the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), take as an opportunity to remember our universal rights to equality and non-discrimination. This message must be echoed in a context of growing intolerance, hate, and superiority speech that do not contribute to the development and well-being of our society. We have been commemorating this day since 1966, in memory of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, when police opened fire and killed 69 people who were protesting peacefully against the Apartheid Pass Laws. Since then, racial discrimination has subsided considerably in…