Seven murders of LGBTI + persons in Brazil in the last two weeks

Seven murders of LGBTI + persons in Brazil in the last two weeks

In the last two weeks, from April 6th until April 19th, there were at least seven LGBTI + deaths in Brazil. Among the seven deaths, six of them were trans people. The first of these occurred on April 7th: a trans person´s body was found charred  in Franca, a city in the state of São Paulo. There was no news in the media about this murder, which was only discovered by the National Association of Transsexuals of Brazil (ANTRA) because local informants passed on information about the case.

On April 9th, the trans woman Marqueza, 51, was shot dead in her home in the city of Campina Grande, Paraiba, while she was asleep. Media reports on the case identified the trans person as a homosexual man and referred to her with the name she was registered with at birth and not the name she identified with.

On April 12th, a 38-year-old cross-dresser was stabbed to death by a man she was talking to outside a bar in the town of Sapezal, Mato Grosso. According to witnesses, she had been beaten before she was murdered. The news treated her as a male and referred to her only by the name she was registered with at birth.

On the same day, in the city of Boa Vista, in Roraima, the trans woman Sandrielly Vasconcelos, 24, was found dead with her hands and feet tied, a deep cut on her neck, and part of her back burned, which shows that Sandrielly was tortured before she was murdered.

On April 13th, the trans woman Sabrina was shot dead in João Pessoa, Paraíba. Residents of the area called the police when they heard the shots, but Sabrina had already died.

On the same day, Alessandro Fraga, a 33-year-old gay man, was found dead 100 meters from his car in the city of Lauro de Freitas. His body was found with gunshot wounds, strangulation marks, and bruises on the head. Alex, as he was known, was former the president and founder of the Gay Group of Lauro de Feitas and also worked coordinating the Center for Testing and Counseling, advocating for patients to receive counseling and diagnosis of infections such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis.

On March 17, the trans woman Eliana Pascolar was murdered in Rio de Janeiro downtown. Her body was found tied to a tree, with marks of physical aggressions.

These deaths are a picture of the grave situation facing LGBTI + people in Brazil: extremely violent deaths accompanied by torture, with reporting in the media that does not respect the gender identity of the victims. According to the Dossier of Assassinations and Violence against Cross-Dressers and Transexuals in Brazil in 2018, almost 40% of the reports of murders of trans people did not respect the gender identity of the victim, which reveals that trans people have their stories deleted, their names ignored, and their gender identities contested even after their deaths.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Race and Equality is committed to its struggle for equality and calls on the Brazilian State to ensure that all people can express their sexual orientation and gender identity freely in Brazil without the context of violence and threats to which they are currently subjected, as well to seriously investigate the deaths of all LGBTI + persons that occur in an intense way in the country.

Sete assassinatos de LGBTI+ no Brasil nas duas últimas semanas

Leia aqui artigo em português

Image Gallery 2

Sobre el Autor:
Isaac Porto – Consultar LGBTI para Raza e Igualdad en Brasil

Race and Equality Recognizing the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Message from Carlos Quesada – Executive Director Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights

Today, March 21st, we again commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In observing what is happening in the world and in our continent, I can only think about how discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and intolerance are gaining ground. They are highly present in the media, in politics, in our societies and in our daily lives. Fighting for the elimination of all forms of discrimination, xenophobia, homophobia, and intolerance is one of the fundamental pillars to promote social cohesion, the right to live, and diversity.

I want to call attention to the fact that in our continent, only three countries have ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Intolerance: Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Antigua and Barbuda. It is imperative that the rest of the States in the region truly assume the commitment to combat, punish, and eliminate this scourge that eats away at our societies. We urge States to sign and ratify this important Inter-American instrument, especially as a part of the Action Plans they should develop during the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015 – 2024).

We cannot allow Afro-descendants in the Americas to continue being the most marginalized populations and the most affected by the structural racism that is reflected in few state investments, high rates of illiteracy, under-representation in decision-making bodies, and under-representation within the system of administration of justice. Young Afro-descendants continue to be victims of racial profiling and police brutality. Afro-descendant women continue to have little access to health and education, which perpetuates high levels of poverty.

States are preparing to begin a new census round (2020) where we hope not only to have quanitifiable data on how many Afro-descendants there are, but also on the socioeconomic conditions of these populations. States must use this data to make a better use of their resources and invest in the most impoverished areas, which coincide with the areas in which Afro-descendants live.

In this second decade of the 21st century, it has become clear that Afro-descendants, thanks to their resilience, expect more than good intentions: they expect real structural changes. More Afro-descendant academics, politicians, professionals, and businesspeople have demonstrated not only the contributions they have made to their countries, but also that they are part of, have built, and will continue to build the identities of the countries where they live, from Canada to Argentina. This is true whether they are called black, African-Americans, Afro-latinos, palenqueros, raizales, o pretos!

From Race and Equality, we will continue to make visible, combat, and denounce the scourge of racial discrimination and other related forms of intolerance together with our partners in the hemisphere, who with their experience and struggle have made progress at both the national and international level.

Two LGBTI+ people were murdered in Brazil this week

Por:  Isaac Porto – Consultor LGBTI de Race & Equality para Brasil

Brazil registered the deaths of at least two LGBTI+ people in the same week as the 1-year anniversary of the politically-inclined murder of Marielle Franco, an Afrodescendant bisexual woman and human rights activist who was raised in the Favela da Maré and worked as a councilwoman in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The killed individuals were Fabio Silva, a 34-year old gay student whose body was burned and found alongside his motorcycle last Sunday in the city of São Félix do Xingu, and a 21-year old Trans woman named Pâmela, who was shot 3 times in the head in Santa Luzia do Pará. Both cases took place in inner cities, making it very difficult to obtain specific information on the circumstances of the crimes. According to data from Grupo Gay da Bahia (Gay Group of Bahia), Pará was the State with the 7th highest number of reported LGBTI+ deaths in 2018.

The two deaths, besides being of individuals identified as LGBTI also share in common a high degree of violence employed. The report, “Killings and Violence Against Transgender and Transsexual People in Brazil in 2018”, prepared by the Associação Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais do Brasil (ANTRA) and the Instituto Brasileiro Trans de Educação (IBTE) details how the deaths of LGBTI people are marked by high numbers of shootings, burnings, and torture practices, thus confirming the hate towards LGBTI+ people still existing in Brazil.

According to Janaina Oliveira, Coordinator of the Rede Afro LGBT (Afro LGBT Network), attacks against LGBTI+ people have been even more violent in Brazil in the past years. She believes that, in addition to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, hate speech has increasingly encouraged criminal acts to occur with more brutality. To make matters worse, a lingering sense of impunity encourages violent acts, so much that crimes such as threats, assaults, rape, dismemberment and burning people are read as naturalized processes. Janaina also notes how much President Bolsonaro’s rhetoric legitimizes violence to LGBTI:

“A President who begins his administration by saying that politically correctness will no longer exist in Brazil is stimulating and contributing to the violence. We live a time in which the country is led by conservative sectors, which in the name of “morality and good manners” forget the fundamentals; Guaranteeing every Brazilian citizen’s right to life. And when it comes to protecting lives, the LGBT population also needs to be protected”.

In a country that records the highest number of killings of Trans people in the world, the priority should not be so much as to just identify the motives of the killers, but rather to which extent are the lives of LGBTI+ people in Brazil marked by a context of extreme violence, and whether or not the Brazilian State guarantees the lives of these people, and under which conditions. The biggest challenge for LGBTI+ people is to simply stay alive.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) will continue to fight for equality and calls on the Brazilian State to investigate the deaths of LGBTI+ people in the country and, above all, to ensure that all people can freely express their sexual orientation and gender identity in Brazil.

Download text in portuguese

Descargue versão da nota em português

March 14th: One year anniversary of Marielle Franco’s assassination

Brazil, March 14 2019.  Exactly one year ago today, on March 14, 2018, Marielle Franco, a city councilwoman from Rio de Janeiro, was murdered. Woman, black, bisexual, and raised in Favela da Maré, her presence challenged and frightened a political system that has always been white, masculine, and heteronormative. For this reason, she was the expression of everything that the extremely conservative wave that has grown in Brazil during the past years wants to destroy.

Ms. Franco who was 38 years old and was killed with four shots in her head, ran for the election for the first time in the 2016, when she was the fifth-most voted for candidate for the City Council in Rio de Janeiro, with 46.502 votes. Her murder took place in her car, just a few minutes after she had participated in a talk group called “Black Young Women: Moving Structures” at Casa das Pretas (Black Women’s House), a collective space for black women in Rio de Janeiro downtown. Anderson Gomes, Marielle’s driver that was with her, was also killed that night.

Before being a councilwoman, Marielle was the coordinator of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights and Citizenship of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro. In this role, she provided legal and psychological support to family members of homicide victims and police officers who were killed or injured on duty.

In the year of her death, Rio de Janeiro was under federal military intervention, which was justified as necessary to contain urban violence. Marielle warned that the intervention would mean spreading violence on the bodies of the people who lived in the favelas. She  made City Council a stage for denouncing the deaths of black youth in the favelas. A day before her death, as she denounced a homicide committed by the Rio de Janeiro Military Police against a young black man, she asked: “How many more people must die for this war to end?”

The Brazilian Committee of Human Rights Defenders has considered Marielle’s murder as the most evident expression of the violence that seeks to silence and intimidate those who defend human rights in Brazil. In fact, her death reveals not only the intimidating environment for human rights defenders, but it also expresses the political disengagement of the Brazilian State towards the black, women, and LGBTI + lives, as confirmed by the brutality with which Marielle Franco, who had little more than one year as a councilwoman, was assassinated.

This week, one year after her death, two people were arrested: a retired sergeant and a former police officer. The authorities say that there it took them three months to plan her murder and that Marielle was executed for her political convictions, that is, for daring to occupy a political space that has never been committed to the lives of black, poor, LGBTI+ people and to report the violence perpetrated against these lives. Although the arrests constitute an important step, the main question remains unanswered: Who ordered Marielle Franco’s murder? Why?

If the assassination of Marielle was an attempt to silence the voice of those who, like her, fight for freedom and equality for all the people who suffer due to the multiple consequences of racism, machismo and lgbtphobia, this attempt has failed. As the Mexican proverb says: “They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”

The Interantional Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) believes that today, one year after  her death, Marielle Franco’s struggle for freedom and equality continues to flourish. We join all those who want to build a world in which LGBTI+, black people, and women can live in dignity and prosper.

Race and Equality calls on the Brazilian State to continue advancing in the criminal investigation of Marielle’s murder, in order to prosecute not only the material perpetrators of the crime, but also the intellectual authors of the crime. Authorities must also establish the motives and interests served behind the homicide. We also request the Brazilian State to adopt measures that will make it possible to compensate the effect that this homicide had on the voices of the most excluded and violated communities of the country.

Download text in portuguese

Descargue versão da nota em português

International Women’s Day: WE ARE WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE AND ALL OF US ARE DIVERSE!

On March 8, 2019, in commemoration of International Women’s Day, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) remembers and stands with the struggle of all women throughout the world for recognition and guarantees of their rights.

Despite the many efforts and clear progress made in the area of rights to improve the state of women in Latin America and the Caribbean, especially as regards the closure of gender gaps, and guarantee women’s real and effective access to health, education, employment, and political and economic participation, the huge challenge remains of overcoming the inequities that persist in virtually all spheres, particularly  when dealing with women who are racialized, ethnic, rural, or have diverse gender identities.

According to the data provided by Michelle Bachelet, the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in an article entitled The State of Women in Latin America: 25 Years of Light and Shadows, 9,300 women die every year from causes related to pregnancy and their deficient gynecological-obstetric practices.  For every 100 men who live in poverty, 118 women live in a similar state, a figure that accounts for a systematic increase in poverty among women in the region since 1997 and up to the present day.

Despite the fact that women’s participation in the labor market has made notable strides, women continue to be a minority presence, marked by a series of “micro-aggressions” related to gender parity, the reason for which, according to CEPAL, women’s participation in the labor market has stalled at around 53%, and the 78.1% of women who work are in sectors defined by CEPAL as having low productivity, entailing worse remuneration, low social security coverage, and less contact with technology and innovation.

As regards women’s political participation, the challenge remains to increasing the presence of women in spaces of power to thereby transform the patriarchal structures that make it impossible for women to have a presence in governments, the management of public and private businesses, and in the development of laws.  “As long as we are not allowed to be decision-makers [or] participate in spaces of power, the possibility of leveling the playing field and building our societies under equal conditions will be a utopia,” notes the chief.  

In the area of gender-based violence, Latin America and the Caribbean continue to present the highest rate of assaults against women, ranked 14 among the 25 countries with the highest indices of femicide in the world.  Approximately 2,100 women are assassinated every year (six per day and 175 every month) for the simple fact of being women, according to what Bachelet indicated.

The foregoing provides a quick glance at the state of women’s rights in the region; nonetheless, a series of factors that run contrary to them have cross-cut the recognition of women’s diversity and the particularity of their conditions vis-à-vis the enforceability of rights; that is, rural women, Afro-descendant women, and those with diverse sexual and gender identities additionally confront other types of violence that we should make visible on this day.

According to the CEPAL report Afro-Descendant Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: Debts of Equality, the ‘visibilization’ of the historic presence of Afro-descendant women demands recognition of their concrete experience as women who live within a historical, social, and cultural context of slave-owning and racist societies.  Contexts, therefore, that deepen the inequities faced by Afro-descendant women as compared with other social groups, due to their ‘invisibilization’ as subjects of differentiated policies with particular impacts and thus, worrisome indices of poverty, little possibility to access healthcare, education, employment, and participation in decision-making spaces much lower that that of the rest of the population, further undermined by racist and discriminatory logic that is a product of the historical legacy manifested in the ways in which Afro-descendant peoples develop in society.

Something similar occurs with lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex women who throughout history have confronted physical and symbolic violence incorporated into the social group that makes it impossible for their sexual and gender identities to be recognized and thus, have their fundamental rights guaranteed.

According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA), persons who self-identify as having an identity that differs from cisgender (socially concordant with the sex assigned at birth) or are socially recognized [as such], suffer from innumerable human rights violations.  In particular, in Latin America women are the recipients of a series of violent acts on the part of male chauvinists who stigmatize and/or pigeonhole them in roles in which they are not allowed to freely express themselves and recognize their identity.  It is thus that on average, the life expectancy of trans women is no greater than 30 years; their participation in the labor market lags behind, a high percentage of them work in the informal sector or as sexual workers, and they confront violent and complex processes for accessing health [and] education services and participating in spaces of decision-making and power.

We at Race & Equality call on all of the States of Latin America and the Caribbean to continue working to ensure guarantees and recognition of women’s rights.  Unquestionably, empowered women break the cycles of violence and poverty, decisive factors in making progress in consolidating societies that are more equitable and democratic.  To ensure that result, it is essential to continue working to break historically rooted patriarchal schemas, especially as they relate to women’s participation in decision-making spaces.

We urge the States to not lose sight of plurality and diversity in the construction of what it means to be a woman, in which it is essential to undertake affirmative actions that recognize Afro-descendant [and] rural women and women with diverse sexual and gender identities, in this way breaking the barriers that historically have systematically prevented the inclusion and participation of this group of women in social life and ensured that their future generations were subject to the same vicious cycle of inequality, racism, and discrimination.

COMMUNIQUÉ: We reject discriminatory and arbitrary acts on the part of the Santa Domingo airport authorities committed against Afro-LGBT leader

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) rejects the discriminatory treatment of an Afro-Peruvian trans leader by airport authorities in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Yesterday, February 10, human rights activist and Afro transgender leader Belén Zapata of the organization Ashanti Perú was the victim of irregular and discriminatory treatment on the part of airport authorities who arbitrarily withheld the activist’s passport due to her ethnic-racial identity and gender identity.

Belén, who was to participate in the Second Afro-LGBTI Encounter organized by Race & Equality, cleared the regular immigration controls of the Las Américas Airport in Santo Domingo and then proceeded, along with all the other passengers, to customs control in order to leave the airport.  However, when she presented the required documentation and began to exit, she was intercepted by an employee of the airport who did not identify himself by name or the entity to which he belonged.  From the testimony provided by Belén, it was possible at a glance to determine that he was a police official.

During the supposed “regular” protocol, according to what the police indicated to Belén, he withheld her passport for more than 40 minutes while she was forced to wait against a wall near the airport exit.  Although the Afro-Peruvian leader repeatedly requested information regarding the process that was being carried out, she never received an answer.  Belén’s passport records her legal masculine name; nonetheless, her gender identity is feminine, the reason for which on trips abroad she has suffered through these types of arbitrary airport controls with no legal justification.

“The police spoke to me using the masculine linguistic forms, but I corrected him and told him I was a woman, as he could see,” declared Belén in her denunciation.

During her time waiting at the airport exit, Belén was exposed to between 40 and 60 minutes of treatment that violated her rights to freedom of movement and to be informed regarding the processes being carrying out.  This type of violence, although it appears to be minor, is oftentimes the daily reality of trans women in general and even more so that of Afro-trans women in Peru, the Dominican Republic, and in general throughout Latin America.  Trans women are victims of the arbitrary exercise [of power] by public authorities who make them out to be criminal subjects and restrict their rights, in this case the right to freedom of movement, with no legal justification.

According to Belén’s account, after the wait, she was taken by the airport employee, along with another group of people, most of whom were Afro-descendants, to a drug-identification scanner.  Afterward, she was authorized to leave the airport without being notified at any point of the reasons or reasoning behind said protocol.

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights, Ashanti Perú-Red Peruana de Jóvenes Afrodescendientes [Peruvian Network of Afro-descendant Youth], and Trans Siempre Amigas [Trans Always Friends] (TRANSSA) call on Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI [Century XXI Dominican Airports] (Aerodom), the Cuerpo Especializado en Seguridad Aeroportuaria y de la Aviación Civil [Specialized Airport Security and Civil Aviation Corps] (CESAC), and the Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas [National Directorate for Drug Control] (DNCD) with operations in the Las Américas Aiport in Santo Domingo to investigate these incidents, issue a statement about them, publicly ask for forgiveness from the young woman who was affected, and initiate training processes for its employees on respecting Afro-trans persons.

Brazil is the country with the greatest number of assassinations of trans persons in the world

Washington, DC, January 30, 2019 – With a rate of 41% in the world ranking of assassinations of trans persons, Brazil has become the country that kills the most individuals with this gender identity, according to the 2018 Dossier on Assassinations and Violence against Transvestites and Transsexuals in Brazil, a report published this Tuesday by the Asociación Nacional de Travestis y Transexuales [National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals] (ANTRA) of Brazil and the Instituto Brasileño Trans de Educación [Brazilian Trans Institute of Education] (IBTE).

According to the report, in 2018 alone, a total of 163 trans persons violently lost their lives through assassinations related to their sexuality, 158 of whom were transvestites and transsexual women, four were trans men, and one a non-binary person.

As set forth in the report, these data are dramatically influenced by a 30% increase in the cases that have not been publicized in the national news media, an element that impacts and distorts the real situation of this population in the country.  According to what is reported in the document, at first blush it would appear that there was a decrease in cases between 2017, in which 179 homicides were reported, and 2018, when 163 were reported.  The fact is that during the first reporting year, there were only 34 cases that were not reported on, while in 2018, the number of cases that were unreported or unpublished in the national media rose to 44; as such, we are not truly talking about a decrease in assassinations but rather, a decrease in the publicizing of cases in the news media, which presupposes a direct impact on how cases are recorded, thereby leading to under-reporting in the counting of victims.

The Dossier seeks to produce a detailed analysis of the assassinations and violations against the transvestite and transsexual populations in Brazil in order to denounce the cases of human rights violations to which this population is subjected.  In this way, the civil society organizations that fight for the recognition of the Brazilian LBGTI population’s rights, especially those of trans persons, reveals the omission of the Brazilian State by ignoring the alarming indices of violence against this population in the country.  To date, the national government has not provided legal support that guarantees the removal and effective investigation of the systematic patterns that characterize these acts.

The violence in figures

The states that reported the greatest number of homicides of trans persons were Río de Janeiro (16), Bahía (15), and São Paulo with 14 cases.  Keeping in mind the data reported, the average age of the victims assassinated in 2018 was 26.4 years old, which indicates a decrease of 1.3 years in relation to 2017.  In addition, the data from the latest Violence Map show an increase of 54% in the homicides of black women, while the assassinations of white women dropped by 9.8%.  All in all, 82% of the cases were identified as black persons and brown (mestizo) persons, thereby ratifying the sad datum regarding the assassinations of young black people in Brazil.

According to the report, 53% of the victims were assassinated with firearms, 21% by knives, and 19% by blows, asphyxiation, and/or strangulation.  The deaths of trans persons in Brazil are generally due to the hatred or vicious cycle of exclusion to which they are subject.  The presidents of ANTRA and IBTE noted in the letter they addressed to the readers at the end of the recently-published report that the assassinations are normally distinguished by the large number of violent blows inflicted or the cruelty of the method employed.

According to the data gathered by ANTRA, 90% of the population of transvestites and transsexuals use prostitution as a source of income and subsistence method, due to the low level of schooling resulting from the process of school exclusion, which in turn makes it more difficult for them to join the formal job market and handicaps them in terms of professional qualifications caused by social exclusion.

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) expresses extreme concern regarding the data reported in the map of assassinations of trans persons and transvestites in 2018, especially the increase in the figures, systematization of the violence against young people, trans persons, and Afro-descendants, and the ‘invisibilization’ by the State of Brazil [of these acts] faced by the entire trans population.  We join our voices to the call made by the report’s organizations, asking the national government to immediately address the human rights crisis confronted by the LGBTI population in the country.

Download here Dossier on Assassinations and Violence against Transvestites and Transsexuals in Brazil

Organizations supporting LGBTI persons’ rights issue a warning regarding the grave crisis over human rights in the country

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality), Instituto Transformar [Transform Institute] of Brazil, TRANS Siempre Amigas [TRANS Always Friends] (TRANSSA) of the Dominican Republic, Corporación Caribe Afirmativo [Affirmative Caribbean Corporation] of Colombia, Fundación Arcoiris de Tumaco [Tumaco Rainbow Foundation] of Colombia, [and] Red Peruana de Jóvenes Afrodescendientes Ashantí [Ashanti Peruvian Network of Afro-Descendant Youth] of Peru express extreme concern regarding the grave state of vulnerability of LGBTI persons’ rights in Brazil.  In light of the more than 160 recorded homicides in 2018 of LGBTI persons, the occurrence of 10 homicides due to prejudice during the first days of 2019, the majority of them Afro-descendant trans persons, is extremely concerning.  Additionally worrisome is Provisional Measure 870/19 that excludes the LGBT population as a subject for the promotion of human rights.  Likewise, the recent resignation of Congressman Jean Wyllis, the sole Afro-gay legislator in the country, who today announced he would step down from his post due to multiple threats, defamation, and acts of harassment orchestrated against him through social media.

State of LGBTI persons’ rights

According to figures reported by the Asociación Nacional de Travestis y Transexuales [National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals] (ANTRA) of Brazil, every 48 hours a trans person is assassinated in that country.  Over the last two years, approximately 332 homicides of trans persons have been recorded – acts prompted especially by hatred and imaginary negatives that deepen the ignorance regarding LGBTI persons’ rights and begin to normalize and/or legitimize the violence perpetrated against this population.

In just 2017 alone, a total of 179 trans persons violently lost their lives in assassinations related to their sexuality, 80% of whom were black or mulatto and 70% of whom were sex workers.  “Eighty-five percent of the assassinations showed a refinement of cruelty such as dismemberment, hanging, and other brutal forms of violence,” noted the organization.

Deterioration in the area of rights

The recent election of President Jair Bolsonaro represents a real danger to LGBTI persons, Afro-descendants, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, and quilombola groups [settlements established by escaped slaves], among other political minorities.  A real war was declared against these groups – or at least against the minorities – noted Alessandra Ramos, a trans female defender of LGBTI persons’ rights and a member of Congressman Jean Wyllis’ staff.  She went on to say that the cases of violence against LGBT persons by Bolsanaro’s followers have multiplied in the country.  According to a figure provided by the activist, more than 80 cases of assaults and assassinations of LGBTI persons were recorded during the current President’s campaign; she further noted that the trans population is one of experiencing the greatest state of vulnerability given that it embodies the figure and maximum expression of hatred due to its visibility and the degree of social exclusion to which it is subject.

Although the indices of violence against political minorities, particularly against LGBT persons, indicate an alarming increase during Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign promoted by the production of more than 700 million items of fake news disseminated though the principal social media, with regard to the enforceability and recognition of LGBTI persons’ rights, according to multiple denunciations made by human rights organizations in the country, the polarization [brought] by Jair Bolsonaro could already be seen before, even before the start of the campaign.  In strong speeches filled with hate, he espoused a narrative regarding corruption, the election of the Workers’ Party (PT) government, the promise of a law that would grant the right to police officers to shoot without legal repercussions, a defense of the traditional family and/or a fight against the ideology of gender, and another promise to free people to bear arms, noted Ramos during her remarks.  She further added that all of this represents a concrete threat to the lives of some political minorities and in and of itself is a risk to Brazilian democracy and the progress that has been made in the field of human rights.

It is concerning that within this framework of violence, Provisional Measure No. 870/19, adopted by President Bolsonaro on January 1, 2019, removed the LGBTI population from the list of policies and guidelines whose aim it is to promote human rights.  In addition to that, the creation of the new Ministry of Women, Family, and Human Rights, led by Pastor Damares Alves.

Persecution and harassment

“The discourse of hate cannot be downplayed!  He is possibly an assassin and has produced victims!” exclaimed Congressman Jean Wyllis from [the] PSOL [party] after announcing his resignation from office due to diverse acts of harassment, persecution, defamation, and death threats made against him recently.

The openly gay Congressman – who during his time in office had fought for the recognition of LGBTI persons’ rights – noted in various interviews with national news media that his resignation was not exclusively due to the election of Bolsonaro to the presidency but rather, the increasing level of violence since the latter’s election.  As an example, the Congressman mentioned the case of the transvestite whose heart was ripped out of her some days earlier and on whose person was left a sacred image.  All of these barbaric acts represent a threat against life.  “I need to remain alive for the future of the cause!” exclaimed the former Congressman who has protective measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Pronouncement

The aforementiond diverse human rights organizations, out of a strong state of concern and rejection issue a warning call to the Brazilian State to immediately address the grave situation produced by the violation of the fundamental rights of political minorities, especially historically marginalized groups such as Afro-descendants, indigenous peoples, and LGBTI persons.  We urge the State to be on alert for the multiple and systematic acts of barbarism committed against LGBTI persons promoted by hatred and imagined negatives that ignore people’s rights and incite and legitimize the violence committed against this population.  

We remind the country that regression in the recognition of minorities’ rights can have repercussions at the regional level.  It additionally represents a direct break with a series of international commitments adopted by Brazil by being a signatory of diverse international human rights treaties and agreements of that nature.

We urge the international community [and] human rights organizations throughout the world to take a stance in the face of the serious human rights problem that exists today in the Latin American country and requires immediate monitoring.

November 20 – International Day of Transsexual Memory

“I am convinced that the engine of change is love.  The love we were denied
is our impetus to change the world.  All of the blows and slights
I suffered cannot compare with the infinite
love that surrounds me at this time.”
– Lohana Berkins (1965-2016), transvestite activist

On the International Day of Transsexual Memory, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights honors the memory of transsexuals who have lost their lives as a result of acts of intolerance, hate, and discrimination due to their gender identity in Latin America and the Caribbean.  November 20 is also a day to celebrate the lives of transsexuals who, despite social exclusion, limits on exercising their rights, and the absence of social policies that address their basic needs, continue their fight to defend their rights and construct networks of social transformation starting from their local milieus.

Discrimination, violence, segregation against transsexuals, and diverse gender-based segregation constitute a structural aspect of society; therefore, throughout history, their rights have been subject to a vicious cycle of violence, degradation, and oppression that has made it harder for them to enjoy the guarantees of a decent and complete life.

Around the world, transsexuals are subject to mockery, blackmail, physical and sexual assault, and assassination due to their diverse identities.  In addition, they are denied the opportunity to decent employment, medical care in keeping with their needs, and to be seen as subjects worthy of respect and recognition in society.  The stigma to which transsexuals are subject leads to the ‘invisibilization’ of their realities and experiences, as well as ignorance regarding the multiple challenges, barriers, and human rights violations they face.  It is thus that in the majority of countries, data on violence against transsexuals and gender-diverse persons are not systematically produced; therefore, it becomes impossible to calculate the exact number of cases.

Race & Equality observes with concern how the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean continue to have the highest rates of homicides of transsexuals due to motives of prejudice and discrimination, as well as the rationale of machismo and fundamentalist ideas that ignore the diversity, freedom, and autonomy of individuals to identify and define themselves.

Notwithstanding these adverse contexts of violence, we see throughout Latin America experiences of solidarity and leadership that transcend the margins of social exclusion and make known the social demands of transsexuals.  Transsexual leaders are the ones who have been able to impact local public policies, build support networks that have evinced the violence they experience, and above all, generate creative responses for social change from spaces of exclusion.

Race & Equality, within the framework of this commemoration, calls on the States in the region to expand spaces for social dialogue with organizations of transsexuals [and] strengthen the mechanisms for investigating the violence of which this population has been the victim, so as to overcome impunity and jointly define with transsexual leaders social policies of transformation that truly impact their most immediate needs.  We are convinced that transsexuals should continue to be remembered for their transformative acts, rather than for the unpunished violence by which they are eliminated.

#VenezuelaMigrates: Civil Society Organizations launch Plan of Action to protect migrants and refugees from Venezuela

WASHINGTON, DC. November 16, 2018.- Since the beginning of the year, The International Institute of Race, equality and Human Rights, as part of the organizations belonging to the Venezuelan Human Mobility Group, have been following the with great concern  the human rights situation of migrants and refugees forced to leave Venezuela. As a result, we called for a concerted regional response on August 22. This was followed up on September 19 with an initial blueprint that could support this work.

Despite efforts made so far, national and international spaces continue to require greater efficiency and coordination in their regional response to the crisis. To date, there is still little clarity throughout the continent on the best protocols to respond the needs of three million migrants and refugees from Venezuela, in a manner that complies with international standards for the protection of human rights and comprehensive humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, the high-risk situations of violence and discrimination that many migrants and refugees face at all stages of their journey continue to increase. Likewise, the specific needs of those migrants and refugees, particularly the needs of those belonging to groups in situations of vulnerability who are most exposed to violence and discrimination, have become more acute.

In light of this, the Venezuelan Human Mobility Group – of which The International Institute of Human Rights is a part of – developed the Civil Society Action Plan for People from Venezuela that Require National and International Protection, which establishes a road map to improve coordinated responses to this this situation.

The document addresses the specific actions required by all the actors involved, clarifies state obligations, makes recommendations to the States, establishes our commitments as civil society members and organizations, issues recommendations to other members of civil society throughout the region and provides guidelines to international organizations and allies. All of the above with respect to the following central axes:

  1. The correct legal characterization of migrants and refugees, State´s obligations regarding both, the application of the Cartagena Declaration in the Venezuelan context and the mechanisms of regular migration.
  2. Intersectional approaches  to address multiple factors of discrimination faced by different migratory groups based on their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, among others.
  3. The actions required to properly assist each step of a migrant and refugee´s journey, including long-lasting solutions that guarantee access through transit and to their destination countries, as well as guarantees of their rights in their countries of destination.
  4. Regional monitoring and advocacy strategies that brings together all the key actors involved in the development of responses to the situation of Venezuelan people facing a situation of human mobility.

We trust that this document will be useful to all actors tasked with crafting a human rights based approach in the face of this displacement crisis; as well as other current and future migrant and refugee situations that may arise in the region. Likewise, we hope that proposals that involve groups in a high state of vulnerability, such as women, children and adolescents, the LGBTI community and people of African descent, can be implemented with caution.

For more information about the Venezuelan Human Mobility Group visit: www.movhuve.org

Join Our Efforts

Help empower individuals and communities to achieve structural changes in Latin America.

Donate Contact Us