Colombian civil society reveals the vulnerability of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, campesinas, and social leaders victimized by the armed conflict

Colombian civil society reveals the vulnerability of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, campesinas, and social leaders victimized by the armed conflict

Bogotá, October 5, 2020.- At a thematic hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Colombian civil society organizations presented reports on the vulnerability of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, campesinas, and social leaders who were previously victimized by Colombia’s armed conflict to human rights violations. The presenting organizations asked to IACHR to deepen its efforts to support the implementation of the Colombian Peace Accords, especially Chapter 6.2 on ethnic minority groups, known as the “Ethnic Chapter,” and the Collective Reparations Program established by Law 1448 (2011) and Decree 4635 (2011).

The hearing, entitled “Reports of vulnerability among Colombian armed conflict victims: indigenous, Afro-descendant, and campesino communities and social leaders,” was requested by a coalition of organizations, including the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). Representatives from the State of Colombia also took part in the hearing.

The Ethnic Chapter at risk

Together with Race and Equality, the Ethnic Commission for Peace and Defense of Territorial Rights presented an analysis on Colombia’s failure to implement the Ethnic Chapter, emphasizing that serious human rights violations have resulted from this failure. “The current government has been sabotaging the implementation of the Peace Accords and preventing the consolidation of peace and territorial rights to which ethnic groups are entitled,” stated Pedro León Cortés, an advisor to the Race and Equality office in Colombia.

Participants pointed out that, according to a recent report by the Kroc Institute (an international organization monitoring the Peace Accords’ implementation), barely 8% of the Ethnic Chapter’s commitments have been implemented, while other guarantees in the Accord, including mechanisms for protecting ancestral territories, have seen backsliding.

The organizations denounced disputes between illegal armed groups for control of land that rightfully belongs to Afro-descendant, indigenous, and campesino communities. These disputes, which the authorities have been unable to check, have resulted in the forced displacement of 30,000 people between November 2019 and June 2020. “Regarding the National Program for Substituting Illicit Crops, there is evidence of a strategy to undermine the voluntary eradication and crop substitution programs,” they added.

For Colombian civil society, these delays and omissions represent a failure to act on the fundamental principal of the Ethnic Chapter: the right to free, prior, and informed consent. However, they applauded efforts to apply an ethnic-sensitive approach in some areas of the peace process, particularly the Truth Commission and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (the transitional justice mechanism trying conflict-related abuses).

Collective Reparations

Luz Marina Becerra, secretary general of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) and president of the Coordination of Displaced Afro-Colombian Women’s Resistance (Las Comadres), brought up official data on the implementation of the Collective Reparation Program established by Law 1448 (known as the Victims’ Law) in 2011. She pointed out that as of March 2020, 755 approved recipients of collective reparations were recorded in the official registry, of which 482 were ethnic communities. Despite this predominance of ethnic minorities among conflict victims, however, 78% of ethnic communities who have applied for recognition are still in the initial phases of the process and only 10% have actually begun to have their reparations implemented.

“To date, no applicant from an ethnic community has completed the process of reparations. We consider this lack of implementation to be a grave problem that is compromising the effective enjoyment of conflict victims’ rights,” she said.

Becerra mentioned weaknesses in inter-agency and federal-local cooperation, technical delays in developing reparations plans, long delays, and budgetary shortfalls as institutional barriers to reparations. In the post-conflict period, she stated, 392 cases of forced displacement affecting 130,079 people have taken place. 47% of these victims belong to ethnic communities. Meanwhile, 1,203 attacks against social leaders have taken place.

Crisis in Chocó

The Afro-descendant rights defender Luis Ernesto Olave submitted a report on the humanitarian crisis in Chocó department, reporting that President Iván Duque’s Peace and Legality program “has impeded the search for peaceful coexistence and a negotiated end to the conflict, allowing dissident FARC members to continue illegal activity while the ELN [an armed rebel group] and the Gaitanista Self-Defense Group [a paramilitary group] also remain present.”

Olave stressed that in Chocó’s Afro-descendant and indigenous communities, illegal groups confine people to their homes, forcibly displace them, and recruit young people through forced recruitment or promised rewards. Illicit coca cultivation and trafficking in drugs, weapons, and people are all on the rise, as are murders of social leaders. This year alone, 350 families have been forcibly displaced from the community of Alto Baudó, 66 from Medio Baudó, and 10 from Baja Baudó.

Recommendations

Implementation of the Ethnic Chapter

The organizations recommended that the State of Colombia immediately take steps to ensure the effective implementation of the Ethnic Chapter. These steps include strengthening the High-Level Special Board of Ethnic Peoples (a body made up of community representatives that coordinates with the government) and complying with pending Constitutional Court orders to respond to violence in ethnic territories. They also recommended that the IACHR prioritize efforts to monitor implementation of the Peace Accords.

Collective reparations

Participants recommended that the government develop a comprehensive plan to strengthen the  Collective Reparations Program, expand its capacity, increase the speed of its processes, and counteract existing barriers. They also called for mechanisms to supervise development policies and ensure their compliance with the Reparations Program and with the territorial rights of minority communities. Finally, they recommended developing a special strategy to accompany conflict victims and ensure that they benefit from post-pandemic economic stimulus efforts.

The participants requested that the IACHR dedicate some of its monitoring efforts in Colombia specifically to the monitoring of the right to reparations for conflict victims.

Regarding the situation in Chocó

Participants asked the IACHR to pressure Colombia to increase state presence in Chocó; re-start peace talks with the ELN; develop a humanitarian response incorporating all stakeholders, including armed groups; hasten responses to requests for protection by vulnerable people and groups; and investigate situations of vulnerability to rights violations. They also demanded full compliance with the Chocó ceasefire agreement of 2007 and with the court order of case T622 in 2016, protecting the vital Atrato river from degradation.

IACHR Reaction

The IACHR’s commissioners expressed concern at the slow pace of implementation; the violation of the right to free, prior, and informed consent; rural violence; attacks on social leaders; and the lack of federal-department-local coordination to address these crises.

Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay emphasized the continuity of violence that minority communities have faced during the armed conflict, transitional peace period, and today the COVID-19 pandemic. She also emphasized the need for the State to offer clear and specific information about the impacts of violence on Afro-descendant communities and about the reasons for delays in implementing the peace framework.

Interim Executive Secretary María Claudia Pulido stated that follow-up on peace implementation will be included in the section on Colombia of the IACHR’s 2020 annual report. The week before, she said, the IACHR had sent an official communication informing the State of this intention and requesting information.

The State’s response

On behalf of the State of Colombia, Ambassador to the OAS Alejandro Ordoñez referred to President Duque’s Peace and Legality program rather than respond directly to the issues being raised. When asked by IACHR President Joel Hernández about the issue of recruitment of minors by illegal armed groups, Ambassador Ordoñez declined to answer, stating that the question was outside the topic of the hearing.

Emilio Archila, Adviser on Stabilization and Consolidation, offered information about the Territorial Development Plans, an official instrument to prioritize state projects in areas most affected by violence and poverty. The Plans are currently active in 170 municipalities across the country.

Three more representatives from the Victims’ Unit, the Ministry of the Interior, and the National Protection Unit presented information about several governmental activities, but without explaining them in terms of their contributions to preventing human rights violations.

Race and Equality urges concrete government action to combat the alarming increase in violence against LGBTI Colombians

Bogota, October 6, 2020.– The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) is deeply concerned at the rising rates of violence and discrimination against the LGBTI population of Colombia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Race and Equality calls upon the Colombian government to take concrete actions to prevent, investigate, and respond to attacks and killings motivated by anti-LGBTI prejudice.

Although LGBTI Colombians have achieved important recent victories in securing their human rights, including a court ruling that the LGBTI population of the city of El Carmen (Bolívar department) was eligible to receive reparations for abuses during Colombia’s armed conflict as a collective body and another allowing a trans woman to receive women’s pension benefits, the numbers of killings, threats, and cases of harassment continue to grow exponentially.

As of September 15th, the national Ombudsman’s Office had reported 63 murders of LGBTI persons and 388 cases of violence motivated by anti-LGBTI bias. The Office stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, “prejudice and discrimination have been exacerbated, obstacles to accessing justice by reporting crimes have increased, and so have other barriers created by a lack of empathy among officials charged with assisting the population.” To date, Race and Equality has documented 61 attacks against LGBTI persons, among them discrimination in public spaces, denial of rights to health and to nutrition, physical attacks including those with weapons, harassment, threats, and murders.

On September 5th, a man aggressively accosted Bogotá mayor Claudia López, a lesbian woman, and accused her of “teaching improper things to children.” This homophobic act, which the man said he did “in the name of Jesus Christ,” reveals that a climate of discrimination and social exclusion goes beyond official institutions. Despite formal progress, there is still not widespread tolerance for sexual diversity in Colombian society, preventing true recognition and inclusion from taking root.

Alarming numbers of attacks

From January-September 2020, Race and Equality has documented 30 cases in which LGBTI people were killed or severely wounded. Most recently, the killing of Juliana, a trans woman, from gunshots fired by a soldier put the violence facing LGBTI Colombians, especially trans people, into the spotlight. Throughout the country, indicators of violence are on the rise: in Armenia (Quindío department), the Ombudsman’s office issued an official alert about dangers facing the LGBTI population on August 25th. On September 1st, the LGBTI Network in Boyacá department denounced increasing police abuses of sex workers, particularly trans women, on social media. Caribe Afirmativo (Affirmative Caribbean) recently published an open letter to the authorities in the Caribbean region demanding a response to increased murders and attacks against LGBTI people, which have doubled compared to the same period in 2019.

LGBTI leaders face particular risks

Attacks against the leaders of LGBTI organizations indicate the fierce desire by LGBTI-phobic elements to repress pro-LGBTI initiatives across the country. To date, Race and Equality has documented 8 cases of attacks, threats, and murders of LGBTI leaders.

A dramatic example took place when Aurora Iglesias, popularly known as “Zunga,” a trans leader in Florencia (Caquetá department), was threatened with a firearm in her own home and warned to stop her work in the community. On September 17th, a burned LGBTI pride flag was found in front of a leader’s home in Armenia. The home of a gay leader in El Roble (Sucre department) was burned on August 25th. In addition to the direct impacts upon the targeted victims, these acts send a threatening message designed to tamp down LGBTI activism. Incidents such as the murder of Mateo, a trans community leader, and the attempted murder of John Restrepo, a leader in LGBTI conflict victims’ activism, both of which took place in public in broad daylight, underscore the risk facing LGBTI leaders.

Police abuse of sex workers

As Colombia experiences a tense climate of protest and debate about abuses by security forces, serious rights violations committed by the police against LGBTI persons have come to light. Race and Equality has documented 12 cases in which members of the National Police were denounced for attacking trans sex workers. These cases include physical aggression, unjustified seizures of property, and attacks using police service weapons. A common pattern is for police to threaten sex workers with arrest or fines (including arrests or fines for violating quarantine), demand payment, and physically and psychologically abuse those who do not pay, as has taken place in Medellín, Caldas, and Bogotá.

In another highly concerning incident, a young gay man named Juan Luis Guzmán was found dead in a police station under suspicious circumstances. He had been brought to the station after being arrested for breaking the curfew imposed due to COVID-19.

As civil society has consistently documented, police and military forces in Colombia play a major role in reproducing patterns of discrimination and exclusion against LGBTI people. When LGBTI people seek justice by reporting the abuses they suffer, they face greater vulnerability due to a lack of LGBTI-sensitive and gender-sensitive approaches in complaint offices, police retaliations, and/or institutional cover-ups.

Race and Equality joins with Colombian civil society to denounce these violations of LGBTI people’s rights and the ongoing crisis of violence against the LGBTI population. We call upon the government to:

  1. Prioritize investigations of rights violations against LGBTI people, sanction those responsible, and combat impunity. These efforts must integrate an approach that is sensitive to sexual and gender diversity.
  2. Strengthen efforts to educate security forces, especially the National Police, on LGBTI rights; monitor their compliance with LGBTI rights; and improve internal investigations about violations of LGBTI rights to fight impunity.
  3. Ensure that LGBTI people enjoy the right to access justice without discrimination. To make this right effective, efforts to train justice sector officials on LGBTI rights, mainstream LGTBI-sensitive approaches in the justice system, and strengthen monitoring systems will be crucial.
  4. Publicly condemn acts of discrimination and violence against the LGBTI population and implement public policies to combat LGBTI-phobia among the Colombian public.

Social leaders, government representatives, and regional institutions make proposals for justice and violence prevention after the Llano Verde killings

Bogota, September 4, 2020.- The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) held a virtual roundtable discussion with social leaders, government representatives, and Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IACHR) member Margarette May Macaulay, who is the IACHR’s Rapporteur on the Rights of Afro-descendants and Against Racial Discrimination. The discussion was convened in order to discuss proposals for truth, justice, and non-repetition following the killing of five young Afro-Colombians in the Llano Verde neighborhood of Cali on August 11.

The webinar, titled Llano Verde Killings: Analysis and Proposals for Truth, Justice, Reparations, and Non-Repetition, was co-organized with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). The panelists discussed the particular experiences of Afro-Colombians in Colombia’s armed conflict and the post-conflict context, in which many Afro-Colombians have been forced to leave their ancestral territories and now reside in urban areas where they face discrimination and structural racism.

The discussion generated the following proposals to ensure that the Llano Verde massacre does not fall into impunity and that the Afro-Colombian population does not remain vulnerable to such violations in the future.

The IACHR should pressure the Colombian government to give answers

Erlendy Cuero Bravo, coordinator of the Cali chapter of the Nacional Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), asked Commissioner Macaulay to make an official visit to Llano Verde, an area that the Commissioner visited once before in October 2018 along with Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño. Such a visit would allow the Commissioner to make recommendations to the Colombian State regarding truth, reparations, and reforms to guarantee non-repetition in her official capacity. “Peace cannot be built starting at the national level – it has to be built from within Afro-Colombian territories to be in line with the communities’ needs,” said Erlendy.

Listening to Afro-Colombian youth and ensuring their right to education

Yeison Tobar, coordinator of AFRODES’ youth initiative Semillero (Seedbed), discussed the need for both the Colombian government and civil society organizations to strengthen ties with young Afro-Colombians, listen to their concerns, and involve them meaningfully in development projects. “Many times, the response is ‘young people don’t want to do anything,’ but there’s not enough effort to look into the lives of young people or their beliefs and emotions,” said Yeison.

Yeison also said that young people in Colombia need greater access to education, including higher education and technical education, along with assistance to finish their studies. According to Yeison, “the best bet for young people is education.”

Improve living conditions and ratify the Convention Against Racial Discrimination

Commissioner Macaulay expressed her willingness to accompany an official truth and justice process for the Llano Verde killings, emphasizing the need for “comprehensive reparations,” that go beyond monetary compensation and address the living conditions of Afro-Colombian communities, including schools, universities, health centers and hospitals, and public transportation.

The Commissioner also called on the government to examine all acts of violence against Afro-Colombians thoroughly and bring those responsible to justice. She reminded the government that the Colombian State is obligated to guarantee the rights of Afro-descendants and indigenous people, which includes the duty to combat discrimination against these groups. She also reminded the audience that Colombia is one of the countries which has not yet ratified the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance.

Economic opportunity and institutional presence

Cali city councilmember Fernando Tamayo stated that the Llano Verde massacre should not be viewed as an isolated incident, highlighting that community members had reported the presence of criminal groups and insecurity before the crime. For Tamayo, increased economic opportunity is a key step towards preventing such crimes. He highlighted two projects in the city’s development plan: a supply center in the eastern portion of the city and the proposed building of the District University of Cali. He also called for increased investment in institutions so that they are present and accessible throughout the city.

Respect for the Peace Accords

Luz Marina Becerra, secretary general of AFRODES, agreed with the previous speakers about the lack of educational and job opportunities that makes young Afro-Colombians “easy prey” for criminal groups, especially drug-dealing networks, and fosters violence. Luz Marina called for the Colombian Peace Accords to be fully implemented, including through improved living conditions for Afro-Colombians to reduce their vulnerability to crime. She also spoke about the importance of peace-building efforts led by Afro-Colombian women and efforts to apply traditional Afro-Colombian knowledge to healthcare and family well-being. She offered AFRODES’ Mujeres que Sanamos Mujeres project (Women Making Women Healthy) as an example.

Implementation of Law 70 and the Anti-Discrimination Law in urban areas

Alí Bantú Ashanti, an Afro-Colombian lawyer and member of the Racial Justice Collective, insisted on the need to develop specific implementation plans for Law 70 (which governs Afro-Colombians’ and indigenous people’s collectively held land) in urban areas, given that it was formulated with rural land in mind. Likewise, he argued that Law 1482, known as the Law Against Discrimination, has not had the expected impact, in part because it is not integrated with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Rejecting the efforts of some Colombian media outlets to downplay the Llano Verde killings by linking the five victims to criminal activities, Alí spoke of the role of structural racism in de-valuing Black lives: “The capitalist system has positioned Black people as subjects who can be killed, as lives that don’t matter, as mere criminals.”

International Accompaniment

Colombian Senator Alexander López closed the webinar by stating that international accompaniment is necessary for truth, justice, and non-repetition processes, including in Llano Verde. He affirmed that Law 70, the “Ethnic Chapter” that addressed Afro-Colombians’ rights in the Peace Accords, and all other legal instruments must be respected and fully implemented in the fight against structural racism and discrimination.

Senator López mentioned the fact that 9 million conflict victims are listed in the official registry, of which 14% are Afro-Colombian. He also alluded to the controversy about the 2018 Colombian census, which counted nearly 1.4 million fewer Afro-Colombians than the 2005 census due to failures in the National Statistics Office (DANE). “This has important implications, because the more that the Afro-Colombian population is reduced in official counts, the fewer public policies and resources will be devoted to them,” he reminded the audience.

To see a full recording of the webinar, click here.

Race and Equality condemns the murder of five young Afro-Colombians in Cali and issues recommendations for ensuring truth and preventing future killings

Bogotá, August 14, 2020.- The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) condemns the killing of five young Afro-Colombians, whose families had been previously victimized by Colombia’s armed conflict, in the Llano Verde neighborhood of Cali. As an organization working to protect and promote human rights, Race and Equality expresses our solidarity with the mourning families and community. We stand alongside the community to demand that this crime not fall into impunity and that the government adopt the necessary measures to prevent such tragedies from reoccurring.

The five victims have been identified as Jean Paul Cruz Perlaza, 15; Leyder Cárdenas Hurtado, 15; Juan Manuel Montaño, 15; Álvaro José Caicedo Silva, 14; and Jair Andrés Cortez Castro, 14. The five had left their homes on the morning of Tuesday, August 11 for a community activity; their bodies were discovered at the end of the day in a nearby sugarcane field, showing signs of torture and execution-style gunshot wounds.

Just two days later, on August 13, another person was killed and fifteen more were injured in the same neighborhood when an unidentified person set off an explosive device. According to local media, the bombing was an attempt to attack the local police division.

Contextualizing the events

 Race and Equality calls for full reparation of the victims’ families and community, along with measures to ensure that such tragedies do not reoccur. To be effective and to comply with Afro-Colombians’ human rights, these measures must take into account the particular circumstances of Afro-Colombians who were displaced by the armed conflict. These communities suffered grave rights violations and the loss of their ancestral territories; today, they continue to suffer further incidents of displacement, threats, attacks, murders and assassinations, forced recruitment by illegal groups including drug traffickers, sexual exploitation, and a lack of educational and work opportunities.

“Stopping the violence against Afro-Colombian communities requires us to recognize and confront the factors that underly it: historical patterns of structural racism and racial discrimination that deny Afro-Colombians the conditions to ensure equality and to claim their rights as Afro-Colombians,” according to Pedro Cortes, Race and Equality’s advisor in Colombia who leads the organization’s work accompanying Afro-Colombian organizations in denouncing rights violations and advocating for justice before the national government and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

Race and Equality has issued a set of recommendations to Colombian authorities, designed to ensure that the government’s response to the killings take into account the victims’ experiences as Afro-Colombians, address the particular impact of violence upon young Afro-Colombians, and protect the rights and safety of the victims’ families and community.

Race and Equality has also requested that the IACHR, United Nations human rights treaty bodies, and United Nations special procedures all take action to ensure that the government’s response brings justice.

Read our statement and the recommendations here.

Activists from Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia gather to expose the issues faced by Afrodescendant women in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and to urge States to take necessary measures for their protection

Washington, D.C. July 31, 2020. – In celebration of the International Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women’s Day on July 25, women activists working to promote and defend the rights of Afro-descendants in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia gathered in a webinar to discuss key issues faced by Afro-descendant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion highlighted the multiple forms of violence and discrimination on the basis of race, socioeconomic class, and gender faced by these women.

The webinar entitled “Racism and Afrodescendant Women: Post-pandemic Projections” was moderated by Elvia Duque, Program Officer at the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). The webinar was well-attended by the public, through the Zoom platform (70 participants) and through Facebook Live on Race and Equality’s page (76 shares, 35 comments from different parts of the region.) As of Friday, the Facebook stream had reached 6,396 people, according to the platform’s statistics.

An adverse environment

Echoing the words of Brazilian professor Joana dos Passos, Dr. Elia Avendaño – a PhD in Law and researcher at the Cultural Diversity Studies Program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) – said “Racism is a permanent pandemic” and pointed out that Mexico is facing the COVID-19 pandemic under many disadvantageous situations. At the beginning of the year, the President abolished Seguro Popular, a public health insurance program which covers 52.8% of Mexico’s Afro-descendant population. Dr. Avendaño explained that the repeal was done to make way for the new Institute for Health and Well-being (INSABI), but it won’t be fully operational until the end of the year.

According to Dr. Avendaño, structural inequalities in Mexico place economically-deprived populations and those with limited access to health services at a greater risk of contracting the disease. This includes indigenous persons and Afro-descendants. “To date, we have recorded 42,645 deaths related to the pandemic, but we do not know how many of those who have died were Afro-descendants. Our health care system is supposed to treat everyone who needs help, even if they do not have a health plan. However, preference is being given to those who have a greater probability to survive, and in this case, those with a history of having suffered from inequality, marginalization, exclusion, and poverty are not included,” she said.

Sagrario Cruz Carretero, an anthropologist and investigative professor at the Universidad Veracruzana (University of Veracruz), focused her remarks on the evidence of the rich African heritage found in Mexico to counter the denial of this reality by many sectors of society today, which result in a lack of adequate policies for Afro-descendant communities. “Why is there a denial of Afro-descendant or Black identities in Mexico? This is because of racism and for fear of losing white privilege, which are tools that allow others to obtain better opportunities in life,” according to Prof. Cruz Carretero.

Meanwhile, Astrid Cuero – an Afro-Colombian leader of feminist and anti-racism movements at the Grupo Lationamericano de Estudio, Formación y Acción Feminista (Latin-American Group of Feminist Study, Training, and Action – GLEFAS in Spanish) stated that “the pandemic is racialized.” In the case of Colombia, the pandemic has given way to a resurgence of violence in rural areas, and an increase of murders of Afro-Colombian and indigenous leaders, thus showing the State’s shortcomings when it comes to protecting fundamental rights.

“Many Afrodescendants don’t have stable jobs and have to live off of the informal economy. The state has not provided dignified and humane ways to allow this population to isolate themselves during the pandemic. How can you expect a poor, Black person to self-quarantine if they have no other option but to go out and work? This is how they are exposed,” says Cuero, who also emphasized that Afrodescendant populations not only are vulnerable to COVID-19 but are also susceptible to violence from paramilitary groups.

Tanya Duarte, who is Afro-Mexican and is the director of the Proyecto Afrodescendencia México (Afro-descendant Mexico Project), assessed that “being able to survive self-quarantine is a matter of privilege and social class.” For example, many families are having to withdraw their children from school because they cannot afford the cost of online classes. She also indicated that racism is strongly affecting migrant Afro-descendant populations that reside or pass through Mexico. These populations are marginalized as a result of the COVID-19 response or end up exposed to organized crime.

Urgent policy action is needed

Joanna Wheterborn, an Afro-Guatemalan member of the Advisory Council of the Network of Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino, and of the Diaspora Women (RMAAD in Spanish), indicated that isolation due to the pandemic has correlated with a disproportionate increase in levels of gender-based violence within homes. Wheterborn called attention to the need to update the statistics on the Afro-descendant population in Guatemala and in other parts of the region – “if they do not count us, they do not see us; and if they do not see us, they will not care for us.”

The panelists concluded that racism is a pandemic that plagues Afro-descendant populations, and that the responses to COVID-19 should be addressed with the understanding that Afro-descendant women are one of the priority groups to be included in the programs and plans of the State. In addition, they highlighted the need for accurate disaggregated data by population, including race/ethnicity and gender, to present adequate solutions for Afro-descendant populations.

At the end of the conversation, Elvia Duque urged the public to continue making use of regional and international mechanisms such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Afro-descendants & Against Racial Discrimination, as tools that amplify the voice of Afro-descendant women outside national dialogue – where often their voices are ignored and silenced.

Watch the webinar again here:

Race and Equality expresses its concern and calls the IACHR to publicly denounce the serious situation of violence and discrimination the LGBTI population is facing in Colombia during the COVID-19

Bogotá, june 25, 2020 – The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) addresses the honorable IACHR to express its deep concerned regarding recent incidents of violence and discrimination against LGBT people across Colombia. These incidents raise an alarm about rising human rights violations against LGBT Colombians during the COVID-19 pandemic. LGBT Colombians are suffering not only disproportionate negative impacts of the deadly disease, but also high levels of violence because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Sharp increase in violence and killings

In Colombia’s Caribbean coastal region, 15 homicides against LGBT people have already been recorded in 2020, the highest rate ever recorded by Caribe Afirmativo, a local LGBT rights organization and partner of Race & Equality.[1] Ariadna Barrios Ojeda, a trans woman living in the city of Santa Marta (Magdalena department), was discovered dead in her home on June 13th with multiple stab wounds.[2] The next day, Brandy Carolina, a trans woman in Barranquilla (Atlántico department), was also found dead with stab wounds. The neighborhood where Brandy lived had already seen the murder of Paloma, a trans woman, and Lidia Gamero, a lesbian woman, on April 16th and March 26th of this year, respectively.[3], [4]

 LGBT Colombians have also suffered many attempted murders, such as an attack on March 24th in which two sex workers in Bogotá were stabbed in an attempt to mutilate their breasts and buttocks and chased by their attackers through the streets.[5] The two women were denied assistance by the police and were later unable to obtain any public health services or police protection.[6] On April 18th, also in Bogotá, a trans woman named Daian Nikol Villalobos was attacked with a sharp weapon as she shopped for groceries.[7] This attack took place while Bogotá was under an order of pico y género, a quarantine measure that allowed women and men to leave the house on alternating days.

Increased police abuse

 Many LGBT Colombians also suffer violence at the hands of the police. On June 22nd, police officers chased and tasered a trans woman living on the street in Tunja (Boyacá department).[8] On June 20th, members of the National Police attacked a group of trans sex workers in Bogotá, insulting them verbally and brandishing their guns.[9] These episodes evidence the historic discrimination and violence perpetrated by the National Police, who have also been extorting sex workers, physically and psychologically abusing those who refused to pay during the pandemic.[10] On May 2nd, with pico y género still underway, National Police officers were also denounced for evicting a Black trans sex worker from her home; the National Police did not offer any justification for the act.[11]

Institutional violence and an insufficient state response

Although many Colombian governmental institutions have denounced anti-LGBT violence and announced initiatives to support the LGBT population, the national response to COVID-19 has revealed ongoing exclusion of LGBT Colombians. On May 29th, the Trans Community Network reported that Alejandra, a trans sex worker who had called for an ambulance due to symptoms of COVID-19, was refused ambulance service when the crew learned that she was HIV-positive and died shortly thereafter.[12] To this date, no investigation or review of the incident has been announced.

The neglect of LGBT Colombians is also clear in the case of Estefany, known as “Chispita,” a trans woman who lived on the street in Cartagena and was HIV-positive. A disturbing video was recorded on June 13th showing Estefany lying on the ground and calling for help as she suffered a health crisis. After four hours without help and despite several calls from neighbors to the authorities, Estefany was finally brought to a hospital, but died shortly after arriving.[13]

Colombia has also neglected people’s needs and human rights within jails and prisons. On June 8th, Daniel Osorno Márquez, a 22-year-old gay man known as “Pupileto,” was found dead in an isolated cell in Bosque detention center in Barranquilla. In announcing his death, authorities stated that Daniel had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Daniel’s family and lawyer announced that they had never been informed of this diagnosis. Daniel had repeatedly reported violence, sexual abuse, and discrimination during his incarceration.[14]

These cases illustrate the urgent need for effective measures by the Colombian government to protect the LGBT community. Race & Equality calls on the State of Colombia to:

  1. Provide additional support for civil society’s and local authorities’ human rights monitoring activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. Take the necessary actions to accelerate the investigations of violent crimes against LGBT people, particularly trans women, and accelerate the legal processing of these cases to combat impunity.
  3. Ensure that public health policies, particularly emergency medicine policies, do not stigmatize, criminalize or discriminate against LGBT people, especially trans people, LGBT sex workers and people with HIV.
  4. Strengthen measures to educate and train members of the National Police and INPEC (the national penitentiary system) on human rights, particularly LGBT rights, and ensure that all human rights complaints against these bodies are thoroughly investigated.
  5. Involve affected communities, including the LGBT population, in the design and implementation of COVID-19 response measures in order to collect necessary information, ensure buy-in, avoid unintentional harms and guarantee effectiveness.
  6. Implement public policies and COVID-19 response measures that respect diversity, acknowledge LGBT people’s self-identification and incorporate intersectional analysis. We particularly urge local authorities to explore alternatives to policies such as pico y género that separate people by gender in order to avoid the risks generated for LGBT people’s rights.

Race and Equality urgently calls on the IACHR to strengthen its monitoring mechanisms on the general situation of human rights of the LGBT population in Colombia in the context of the pandemic and asks it to reiterate to the State its obligation to respect human rights, even in emergency situations, recalling that States have an obligation guarantee the rights to life, integrity and identity of its population, especially those in the highest state of vulnerability which is intensified in emergency contexts such as the one we are experiencing.

[1] https://www.elheraldo.co/lgtbi/preocupa-aumento-en-2020-de-homicidios-de-personas-lgbt-734830

[2] https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/alerta-por-crimen-de-mujeres-trans-en-costa-caribe-pese-a-cuarentena/

[3] https://caribeafirmativo.lgbt/asesinan-mujer-trans-suroriente-barranquilla/

[4] https://caribeafirmativo.lgbt/asesinato-brandy-seis-las-personas-lgbti-asesinadas-area-metropolitana-barranquilla-marco-del-aislamiento-social/

[5] https://pares.com.co/2020/03/28/a-todos-los-que-bajen-les-damos-de-baja/

[6] https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/burlas-discriminacion-y-punaladas-la-violencia-que-revela-el-pico-y-genero-articulo-917657/

[7] https://www.colombiainforma.info/entrevista-pico-y-genero-o-la-vigilancia-del-genero/

[8] https://www.facebook.com/RedLGBTIdeBoyaca/photos/a.255356325169408/577495662955471/?type=3&theater

[9] https://twitter.com/redcomunitariat/status/1274290767964581888

[10] https://www.noticiasuno.com/politica/personas-trans-de-barrio-santa-fe-en-bogota-denuncian-crueldad-y-ataques-policiales/

[11] https://twitter.com/redcomunitariat/status/1256652501996240896

[12] http://oldrace.wp/es/espanol/raza-e-igualdad-lamenta-la-muerte-de-alejandra-monocuco-mujer-trans-trabajadora-sexual-en-colombia-y-condena-actos-de-discriminacion-y-violencia-institucioan-basados-en-su-identidad-de-genero/

[13] https://caribeafirmativo.lgbt/abandono-prejuicios-del-estado-hacia-mujeres-trans-continuan-evidenciandose-cartagena/

[14] https://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/muere-pupileto-en-barranquilla/

Afro-Colombian Day 2020: despite historical and structural adversity, Afro-Colombians show resilience

Bogota; May 21, 2020 – On Afro-Colombian Day 2020, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality) shares the following statement:

Race & Equality marks Afro-Colombian Day 2020 by honoring the work of the Afro-Colombian organizations and communities with whom we partner. We salute these groups and the whole Afro-Colombian people for the resilience they show in combatting the racism and structural racial discrimination that permeate Colombian society and the actions of the Colombian State. Despite adversity, Afro-Colombians assert their presence in the political and cultural spheres by carrying on the work of historical memory, affirming their ethnic heritage, defending their territorial claims and making invaluable contributions to the Colombian peace process.

Since last year’s celebration of Afro-Colombian Day, the human rights situation for Afro-Colombians has not improved. Violence against Afro-Colombians, especially community leaders and human rights defenders, has worsened in much of the country. The promises of the “Ethnic Chapter” in the Colombian Peace Accords have not materialized. For Afro-Colombians, the post-conflict era has brought not new opportunities, but instead new threats to their rights, autonomy and lives.

The COVID-19 crisis has dramatized the effects of racial discrimination on the lives of Afro-Colombians, who are suffering particularly negative impacts and an inadequate government response. Afro-Colombian organizations and communities have undertaken collective actions to meet their own needs, but they have not received sufficient support or resources from the State.

In late 2019, Race & Equality accompanied a coalition of Afro-Colombian organizations in presenting an alternative report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) during its review of Colombia. The CERD accepted favorably the analysis and recommendations presented by these organizations, including them in the Concluding Observations of the review. On Afro-Colombian Day 2020, Race & Equality urges the Colombian State to implement these recommendations, particularly:

  • Correcting the results of the 2018 Census, which systematically undercounted Afro-Colombians, and implementing new Census policies that reflect Colombia’s demographic realities
  • Fully implementing Law 70 (1993)
  • Fully implementing the “Ethnic Chapter” in the Final Peace Accords
  • Compliance with legislation and court rulings protecting the rights of Afro-Colombian conflict victims

Race & Equality is committed to continuing our support of Afro-Colombian organizations and communities as they protect and promote their rights. We hope to celebrate advancements in these rights throughout the next year and on Afro-Colombian Day 2021.

No more silence: Reclaiming our voice on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

Washington D.C., May 17. This May 17 marks 30 years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, a global milestone that accelerated progress in the recognition of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI). On this date, we commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, a day to draw attention to the violence and discrimination that LGBTI people still suffer in our societies.

This year the promoted theme is “breaking the silence,” inviting people from the LGBTI community to no longer be afraid to express their sexual orientation or gender identity to their family or to others in their social circles. The commemoration this year is also framed within a global health crisis generated by COVID-19, which has intensified structural discrimination and evidenced the prejudices that persist in our society.

Historically, the LGBTI population has been stigmatized by a heteronormative society that has not allowed their participation in public spaces. The commemoration of this day is vital to bring to light all the acts of discrimination that endure in our societies and to denounce violence against people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

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“To break the silence is to give a voice to those who have had theirs silenced by stigma, discrimination, social exclusion, and the constant violations of rights that remain in impunity because of States’ lack of political will. To break the silence is to shout with evidence a truth that our States, in most cases, do not want to show or do not take into account. Breaking the silence is saying we are, we exist, and we have rights.”

The fight for equality and justice is a daily job for many people.  It is not just about commemorating this day, but rather it is a fight that persists throughout every day of the year.

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Santiago Balvín Gutiérrez, explains to us the importance of being able to raise his voice as a trans person: “Breaking the silence has enabled my body to speak, my insides to speak, and my experiences speak. They do not remain silent because my life, and the lives of my trans sisters and brothers, do not deserve to be silence because they are different. Breaking the silence means to me that every feeling of oppression is also broken and seeks freedom for everyone, the same freedom that I began to feel when I chose to be myself.”

In recent weeks, we have witnessed latent and structural discrimination in the implementation of public policies by States and their institutions in response to COVID-19 that have exacerbated inequalities. The absence of public policies with a gender focus and the lack of training and awareness of public authorities has reproduced patterns of violence and acts of discrimination against LGBTI people. In many cases, the social distancing policies adopted by States did not consider the poverty, marginalization, and violence that people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identity face on a daily basis. By failing to do so, they exposed this group to harm.

The enactment of “pico y género” in different countries caused serious human rights violations, especially for the trans population. Their vulnerability is on the rise, as they face not only abuse of power by law enforcement, but also unemployment and domestic violence. Many have had to post pone name change trials, postponing a necessary step to protecting their gender identity, and others lack access to medical centers to receive hormone treatment or other medical necessities due to the pandemic.

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Today more than ever, it is necessary to take differentiated and specific actions for the LGBTI population, with forceful strategies to stop cases of abuse and systematic human rights violations of all diverse people. Franklin Quiñones, from the Fundación Arcoíris de Tumaco, believes that breaking the silence implies “making visible and / or denouncing any act of discrimination and / or violence against people with diverse sexual orientations such as the LGBTI population,” which can be achieved “by supporting us in the use of all existing legal human rights protection and communication tools.”

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Likewise, Sandra Arizabaleta, from the organization Somos Identidad in Cali in Colombia, explains that: “it is urgent to break the silence so that we use all community and legal mechanisms in order to enable the free development of the lives of LGBTI people. You can (and should) love beyond a role assignment and genitality.”

The violation of the fundamental rights of LGBTI people is heightened when the effects are combined with other scenarios and realities of the same or worse condition.

The violation of the fundamental rights of LGBTI people is heightened when the effects are combined with other scenarios and realities of the same or worse condition.

LGBTI people who are also members of other marginalized populations experience a different form of discrimination and rights violations. Examples of this are people of African descent with diverse gender identities and expressions who live with extreme violence, without support from the State, in poverty, and without access to basic health services, education, and employment. “Regions such as the Colombian Pacific, where a greater number of Afro-descendants live, are far from being protected with measures that use an intersectional approach,” adds Sandra of Somos Identidad.

The health crisis caused by COVID-19 has shown that despite advances in human rights for the LGBTI population, there are still great gaps and challenges that can only be overcome with the political action of States to guarantee human rights with a differential focus. “In times of crisis, it becomes clear who are leaders and who are not, and bad leadership will tend to exacerbate difficulties for the most vulnerable populations,” says Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.

“For thousands of people around the world, breaking the silence often means remaining silent. Shouts occur when small gestures can go unnoticed, simple looks demand light or even a weak voice hesitates to echo in certain spaces. To be heard, sometimes we need to be vigilant because there is no point in breaking the silence if there is no one to listen to us, if there are no spaces with sharp ears to capture sounds, but rather gestures, looks. The power to break the silence is only effective when there is the power to listen. Otherwise, we will spend a lifetime wanting to have ‘meaning’,” explains Mariah Rafaela, Research Coordinator at the Conexão G Group of LGBT Citizenship in Favelas in Brazil.

Race and Equality, along with the LGBTI civil society organizations with which we work, urges Latin American States to:

– Take measures to prevent violence, with a differentiated perspective that considers the historical discrimination suffered by Afro-LGBI and trans people.

– Open a dialogue for monitoring the context of violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity together with civil society.

– Provide trainings to State officials on these issues.

– Include LGBTI people in emergency health planning. LGBTI representatives and voices need to be included, as well as sex workers, in all social protection plans, especially in access to emergency income.

Finally, it is an obligation of States to join us in breaking the silence against discrimination, violence, and indifference through affirmative actions that guarantee the recognition of the rights of LGBTI people.

Race and Equality launches practical guide for requesting precautionary measures at the IACHR

Washington, DC.  May 8, 2020.  The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) has released “Precautionary Measures at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Function and Process,” a manual to assist activists and human rights defenders with the process of soliciting precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

“This educational tool can provide support to civil society organizations who face the risk of serious human rights violations when they prepare requests,” remarked Carlos Quesada, Race and Equality’s Executive Director.

The guide consists of two documents: one aimed at attorneys and legal experts, and an illustrated guide that follows four characters through the process of requesting and receiving precautionary measures, designed to explain the steps of the process to grassroots activists.

“We assembled this guide to ensure that activists who lack experience in the Inter-American legal system can access the precautionary measures process. For each step of the process, the guide provides the reader with a ‘theory review’ where the illustrated characters explain what each step implies and a ‘practical review’ that explains the steps of preparing and filling out each requirement. All the cases used as examples in the guide were created as educational examples; in no way do they correspond to real cases,” explains Christina Fetterhoff, Senior Legal Program Officer.

The guide, now available to download from Race and Equality’s website at www.raceandequality.org/publications, aims to build capacity among users of the Inter-American Human Rights System and in so doing strengthen the System as a whole.

According to Caitlin Kelly, Legal Program Officer for Latin America, “Precautionary measures are a vital tool for protecting human rights and for taking concrete steps to protect people at risk of fundamental rights violations. Race and Equality strives to make this tool and the Inter-American system as a whole more accessible to grassroots activists in the region, as part of our broader efforts to allow these activists to take the lead in demanding their own rights. We hope that it will be very useful to our partners.”

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights is an organization that works with organizations and activists in Latin America to protect and promote the human rights of marginalized populations, particularly people suffering rights violations due to their race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Race and Equality provides capacity-building to grassroots organizations so that they can become effective political actors and promote structural changes in their home countries.

Race and Equality organized a webinar for activists to share the effects of COVID-19 on the LGBTI population in Latin America with UN Independent Expert on SOGI

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) held a webinar with the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (UN IE on SOGI), Victor Madrigal, and leaders, activists, and members of LGBTI civil society groups from different Latin American countries to discuss and better understand the current conditions amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

The event, titled “The reality of the Afro-LGBI and Trans populations during the current health crisis caused by COVID-19 in Latin America,” that was held on Thursday, April 23, began with opening remarks from Mr. Madrigal, speaking about the statement on COVID-19 released by the UN Expert on March 26 and the motivations behind it. “We must have a clear understanding of when these measures have a differentiated impact on our communities and populations,” he states, explaining the need to understand the disproportionate and unequal impacts of the pandemic, as well as the importance of sharing experiences throughout communities for mutual support, and the importance of States including these communities when designing what measures should be taken.

Trans activist Santiago Balvín from Peru cited the numerous cases of violence against trans women that emerged due to the “pico y género” measure that was implemented, restricting the movement of the population based on their gender. “From the beginning of quarantine until April 10 when this policy ended, in the course of about 25 days, more than 15 transphobic cases occurred by part of the police or armed forces,” stated Balvín, also pointing out that even though the policy was repealed, in the official communication it was said to be due to the high agglomerations of women and not because of the complaints of violence and discrimination against the trans population.

Colombia has taken the same gender-based measures in different cities, using “pico y género” and leaving the movement of people in the hands of the police. As activist Victoria Daza of the LGBTI Working Table of Cartagena details, this has placed their right to food and health at risk, making it hard for the trans population to access these needs. The Ministry of the Interior promised to provide aid to LGBTI organizations in a campaign called “Colombia is with you,” but until now, no food or supplies have been received.

In other regions of the country such as the Colombian South Pacific, worries are even greater, as this region finds itself impoverished and without the necessary infrastructure to deal with a crisis of this scale.  Sandra Arizabaleta from the organization Somos Identidad in Cali states that “violence and historical State abandonment have left their marks on this part of the country.” She gives the example of Tumaco where “at this time they do not have any health services to attend to people who contract COVID-19.” The projected duration of the pandemic and delay in protection of the most vulnerable populations, such as LGBTI people, is extremely worrisome for activists in this region.

Christian King, Executive Director of TRANSSA, a trans organization in the Dominican Republic, also expressed his concern about the lack of information or specific action being taken within the current conditions. “In our country they are only sharing the numbers. They do not share any information about the population or specific sectors where these people are from.” The lack of knowledge and specific legislation to protect trans people in the Dominican Republic is even more critical during times like these.  No special measures have been taken to help the trans population, and policies such as curfews jeopardize their means of living.

While the majority of States have been implementing different plans to combat the spread of COVID-19, the unstable state of national politics in Brazil have left containment efforts up to the local government.

“Brazil, is one of the 4 countries in the world that ignored the recommendations of the health agencies in order to strengthen neoliberal policies, taking advantage of this moment of a world crisis to remove more labor rights, and to implement more negative measures,” said Bruna Benevides of the Brazilian National Association of Travestis and Transexuales, ANTRA.

She also outlined that underreporting cases has been a State policy used as justification to manipulate the population into believing that everything is fine. “Such policy directly affects the impoverished, black people, elderly, people with disabilities, women, people living with HIV, LGBTI+, indigenous people and others that have more risk factors due to the precarious nature of their lives. Black people are the majority among the dead and are more likely to have complications,” she concludes.

The event, that counted with more than 500 participants following through Zoom and Facebook live, brought to light the need for more action to aid members of the Afro and LGBTI communities throughout the current health crisis. The IE on SOGI ended the event stating that the IE SOGI Mandate is at the service of all LGBT organizations, encouraging civil society groups and activists to submit reports and information on the effects of COVID-19 in their home countries.

With our partners, Race and Equality urges States to include LGBTI representatives in emergency public health planning and actions to combat COVID-19, taking into account persons with diverse gender identities and their particular needs during these times. States should provide aggregated data on these populations in order to better serve the most vulnerable and marginalized, such as the Afro-LGBI and trans populations. With this, States should also take differentiated measures to attend to the needs of LGBTI persons in the informal labor market who find themselves at a higher risk for contraction.

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