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

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.

UN Independent Expert on SOGI calls for global ban on “Conversion Therapy”

Washington D.C. July 17, 2020. – On July 14, the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IE SOGI), Victor Madrigal-Borloz, launched his report on practices of so-called “conversion therapy” in an interactive online event in Spanish and Portuguese, following his presentation to the Human Rights Council on July 7-9, where he explained the severity of these practices, and the need for a global ban to protect LGBTI people.

The event included the participation of the UN Resident Coordinator in Honduras, Alice Shackelford, and Andrés Sánchez Thorin, Deputy Representative and Officer-in-Charge of the Regional Office for Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to the report, “conversion therapy” is used as an umbrella term to describe interventions of a wide-ranging nature, all of which have in common the belief that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity can and should be changed. Such practices aim (or claim to aim) at changing people from gay, lesbian, or bisexual to heterosexual and from trans or gender diverse to cisgender.

In the report, Madrigal-Borloz provided examples of interventions applied to attempt conversion which include acts of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse; electrocution and forced medication; and isolation and confinement, as well as verbal abuse and humiliation. It also shows that conversion therapy puts LGBTI people through many forms of physical and mental abuse, which constitutes inhumane, cruel, and degrading treatment and can amount to torture depending on the severity of pain and suffering inflicted.  “All practices which attempt forms of conversion are inherently humiliating, degrading, and discriminatory,” he explains.

The report also examines the perpetrators, promoters, and economics surrounding these practices, showing that they are oftentimes a lucrative business for different providers worldwide.  It notes that in some places, such as Ecuador, the average monthly cost for internment in these centers can be estimated to be around $500 per month.

Leading up to this event, Madrigal-Borloz carried out a series of consultations and received inputs from different regions around the world on these practices. This included an expert meeting held at Harvard University, where over 30 experts and activists from various countries came together to discuss this important topic. The meeting, supported by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, opened dialogue on the subject which was vital for the elaboration of the report.

During the event, the IE SOGI highlighted that “there have been norms on what is considered sexual orientation and gender identity, and those who fall outside of those norms, such as LGBTI people, suffer stigma and discrimination.”

UN Deputy Representative Andrés Sánchez confirmed that, “The report reveals that these conversion therapies are carried out in all regions of the world and by a wide range of actors and include the active participation of family members and community members. It also highlights how children are vulnerable to these practices that cause serious and irreversible damage to their well-being.”

He continued by explaining that “the description of the pain and suffering of people who have undergone these so-called conversion therapies should deeply concern the entire population and the States to ensure that there is respect and guarantees of their human rights.”

The event was livestreamed through Facebook and attendees from various countries in Latin America joined. Attendees expressed their questions, concerns, and gratitude, and acknowledged the importance of these findings for their communities and how they are the first steps towards change.

Based on the findings in his report, the Independent Expert calls for a global ban on such practices and issues the following recommendations to States:

  1. Take urgent measures to protect children and young people from practices of “conversion therapy.”
  2. Carry out campaigns to raise awareness among parents, families and communities about the invalidity and ineffectiveness of and the damage caused by practices of “conversion therapy.”
  3. Adopt and facilitate healthcare and other services related to the exploration, free development, and/or affirmation of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
  4. Foster dialogue with key stakeholders, including medical and health professional organizations, faith-based organizations, educational institutions, and community-based organizations to raise awareness about the human rights violations connected to practices of “conversion therapy.”

Race and Equality continues to support the work of the Mandate of the Independent Expert on SOGI and joins the call for a global ban on practices of “conversion therapy.”

To learn more about the report and watch this presentation, please follow the links below:

Summary: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/ConversionTherapyReport.pdf

Full Report: https://undocs.org/A/HRC/44/53

On July 10, there was another launch event in English. Watch the English presentation here:

https://www.facebook.com/IESOGI/videos/278885676780658/?v=278885676780658

#EndConversionTherapy

Pride Month: A Time to Celebrate and Resist

This year marks fifty-one years since the Stonewall Inn riots. This year we celebrate in isolation or with social distancing measures in place; nevertheless, we celebrate and we resist. The Stonewall Inn riots empowered generations to come and galvanized the LGBTI movement around the world, it became a symbolic call to arms. Stonewall said enough is enough and the personal became political.

Fifty-one years later we have a lot to celebrate. Many countries around the world have recognized the existence of LGBTI people and have passed laws prohibiting discrimination due to sexual orientation and gender identity. Transgender people also have more rights now and can legally change their names in many countries. In addition, in many countries, LGBTI can marry the person they love regardless of their sex or gender. In fifty-one years, the LGBTI movement has accomplished many things that were only dreamed of pre-Stonewall riots.

In Latin America, this month we celebrate Costa Rica’s legalization of same-sex marriage in compliance with the Inter-American Court`s Advisory Opinion 24/17. We also celebrate Brazil’s Supreme Court decision to allow gay men and bisexual men to donate blood. The decision; however, did not include travesties and transgender women. The last decade has seen many Latin American countries pass legislation in favor of LGBTI rights. There are now seven countries in Latin America that recognize same-sex marriages or unions[1], eight countries that allow transgender people to legally change their name[2], and countless others have anti-discrimination laws in place.

However, the sexual orientation and gender identity of LGBTI people in the region is constantly questioned. The rise of fundamentalist groups and hate speech has meant our lives and achievements are also threatened. The murders of LGBTI persons exhibit a profound hate, a sort of macabre scenario, just because we deviate from the binary. LGBTI people have also not been included in any government’s response to COVID-19, even though they represent one of the most vulnerable populations and are more likely to work in the informal sector and are therefore more vulnerable. Other countries in the region implemented gender-based measures which meant transgender people and gender diverse people were discriminated against. In Brazil, in the middle of COVID-19, murders against transsexual women and travesties continue to increase[3]. The fact is that we continue to live in a cis-heteronormative, machista society that continues to silence LGBTI voices, but we resist.

Pride Month is also a month to celebrate the historical memory of the LGBTI movement around the world. We must not forget the LGBTI lives lost during war. Latin America is also a region that continues to deal with the legacy of armed conflict and LGBTI victims. In Peru, May 31 is recognized at the national day against hate crimes and is a day where the LGBTI community commemorates the LGBTI lives lost during the armed internal conflict. To this day, the exact number of people who were killed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is unknown, this was never a part of the Truth Commission’s mandate.[4] However, the armed forces and guerilla groups both instituted “cleansing campaigns” which looked to eliminate the LGBTI population in the country. The signing of the Peace Agreement in Colombia presents an opportunity to learn from Peru’s errors and include LGBTI voices in the historical memory of the armed conflict and build a post conflict society that breaks the cycle of violence against LGBTI people.

This month is a time to celebrate but also to reflect on the achievements we have made and the coming struggles. We are living in a unique moment where the structural inequalities and historical marginalization of the LGBTI community is more apparent than ever, COVID-19 is proof of that.

A post-COVID-19 world must include the LGBTI community, promote tolerance, and education –  but what does that look like for a region that is so unequal, carries a legacy of colonization, and condemns whoever is “different”?

At Race and Equality, we make the following recommendations to States:

First, States must educate the population on sexual orientation and gender identity. Many of the prejudices against the LGBTI community come from a place of ignorance and informing the population is a way to combat this. States can incorporate an LGBTI program in their public tv channels.

Second, there is an urgent need to train all public authorities, not only on sexual orientation and gender identity, but also on LGBTI rights as well. States should mandate that all public authorities receive a course on these issues and current international jurisprudence on LGBTI rights.

Third, a gender identity law is crucial for the recognition of the rights of transgender people. It opens the door to other rights, allowing them to register under their social name at the bank or school and avoid the stigma their biological name carries.

Fourthly, all States should sign and ratify the Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance[5].

Finally, States need to collect disaggregated data on LGBTI people. Public policies will only work if we know where the gaps are.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-52803210

[2] https://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/latinoamerica/trans-en-america-latina-una-poblacion-en-constante-riesgo-480934

[3] https://antrabrasil.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/boletim-2-2020-assassinatos-antra-1.pdf

[4] https://idehpucp.pucp.edu.pe/analisis/31-de-mayo-recordando-los-crimenes-de-odio-durante-el-conflicto-armado-por-ariana-jauregui/

[5] http://www.oas.org/en/sla/dil/inter_american_treaties_A-69_discrimination_intolerance.asp

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/

Urgent Debate on the “current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protest”

June 17, 2020

43rd Human Rights Council Session

Statement by the International Lesbian and Gay Association

Madam President,

Black Lives Matter.

This statement is submitted by ILGA-World together with the International Institute for Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). It draws the attention to the situation of racial injustice and police brutality that affects people of African descent including those persons within these communities with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) worldwide.

The murder of George Floyd[1] has sparked an outcry that has highlighted the structural and systemic racism that permeates the United States and has reverberated and been taken up by other communities around the world. The militarized-like response to these protests has curtailed the right to freedom of assembly and expression while repeated incidents of police brutality have continued to be denounced and reported.

Around the world, during this International Decade for the People of African Descent, afro descendant LGBTI people are killed[2] and their deaths are ignored because they are People of African Descent and have diverse SOGIESC. State actors such as the police are among the perpetrators of violence and murder of these people These actors fail in their duty to protect human rights. And in cases in which state actors are not among the perpetrators of such violence, such crimes are often not properly investigated, persecuted and punished. This leads to impunity of the perpetrators.

International human rights law must be the framework that guides States in response to acts such as these. States should look at how the administration of justice is applied and how people of African descent, including LGBTI people are disproportionally impacted by an unfair judicial system which is a direct legacy of centuries of colonialism and slavery. We welcome the letter of the UNSR on Racism and we call upon States and stakeholders alike to address the root causes of racial violence, discrimination and stigma and its intersections with SOGIESC.

Thus, we urge States to support the creation of two independent international mechanisms of inquiry on Systemic Racism and Law Enforcement in the United States of America and on the Systemic Racism in Law Enforcement, Related to Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism and we urge these mechanisms to assess how these issues intersects and are amplified due to other grounds, such as SOGIESC and gender.

I thank you, Madam President.

[1] New York Times. 8 Minutes and 46 seconds: How George Floyd was Killed in Police Custody. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html

[2] Time Magazine. Two Black Trans Women Were Killed in the Past week as Trump Revokes Discrimination. https://time.com/5853325/black-trans-women-killed-riah-milton-dominique-remmie-fells-trump/. NBC News. Black transgender man fatally shot by Florida police <https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/black-transgender-man-fatally-shot-florida-police-n1218156>. National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals (ANTRA). Murders and Violence against Travestis and Trans People in Brazil – 2018. <https://antrabrasil.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/murders-and-violence-against-travestis-and-trans-people-in-brazil-2018.pdf>. TGEU. <https://transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-trans-day-of-remembrance-2019/>,

LGBTI Pride Month 2020

Each year in the month of June, we come together to celebrate and recognize the lives of LGBTI people and the impact they have had around the world.  This month, known as “Pride,” was chosen to commemorate the uprising at the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York City.  These six days of protests were a turning point for the LGBTI movement not only in the United States, but the entire world, leading the LGBTI community to demand equal rights for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

This year, at Race and Equality, we celebrate the fifth year of our LGBTI Program, working with our partners in Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Peru to revindicate their rights and give visibility to the struggle for LGBTI rights in the region. Since the revolt at the Stonewall Inn, the LGBTI movement has seen many victories around the world. Recently, Brazil’s Supreme Court overturned a law that prevented gay and bisexual men from donating blood and Costa Rica became the first country in Central America to legalize same-sex marriage. Although progress has been made, we continue to live in a heteronormative world which continues to deny the existence of the LGBTI population.

This Pride Month, we would like to remind everyone that this is not only a time of celebration, but now, more than ever, it is a time to demand equal rights for LGBTI people as well as give visibility to their struggles and victories. Amid the ongoing protests in the United States and police brutality against the Black community, we would also like to remind everyone that the Stonewall riots began, in part, by gender diverse black people, and in order to prosper, the LGBTI movement must be intersectional.

With this in mind, Race and Equality would like to amplify the voices of different activists around Latin America that continue to suffer various human rights violations which continue to be institutionally legitimized in many States due to the lack of public policies that sanction them.

Race and Equality organized a webinar with activists to discuss the role of the IACHR in the crisis generated by COVID-19 with the Special Rapporteur for LGBTI Rights of the IACHR

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) held a webinar with the Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans and Intersex Persons (LGBTI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Flavia Piovesan, as well as LGBTI activists and civil society members from Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Nicaragua to discuss the role of the IACHR and the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of LGBTI people in Latin America.

The event entitled, “The role of the IACHR in the crisis generated by COVID-19: Threats to the rights of LGBTI people in Latin America” was held on Thursday, May 21. It began with a statement by Flavia Piovesan, who focused her speech on understanding the impact of the pandemic from a human rights view, its specific threats to LGBTI people and the IACHR strategies to confront them.

According to the Rapporteur, it is necessary to bear in mind three structural challenges in the region that the pandemic aggravated and accentuated: profound inequality, historical discrimination and violence, and dilemmas related to democratic institutions. She explained that the historical statistics on poverty and extreme poverty in Latin America deepened inequality and the lack of guarantees of rights such as health, work, and housing has meant that the effects of the pandemic are differentiated for the most vulnerable populations. “The virus is not discriminatory, but its impact is,” said Commissioner Piovesan, quoting Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This situation is accentuated when the State response includes an arbitrary and abusive use of force. The Rapporteur also noted that the IACHR published resolution 1/2020 on April 20, 2020. This resolution created the Rapid and Integrated Response Coordination (SACROI COVID-19, for its acronym in Spanish), which focuses on addressing these three structural challenges “from the perspective of Inter-American standards, endorsing the language of human rights, on the one hand, that of state duties and obligations on the other.” Using a gender perspective, the IACHR invited states to guarantee access to housing, safe havens, and economic recovery for trans people. It also asked States to publish health protocols and make complaint mechanisms available for LGBTI people, as well as launch campaigns against LGBTIphobia. The Rapporteur’s intervention ended by pointing out that in face of the threats to the LGBTI population, the IACHR’s four priorities focus on: protection against discrimination; the social exclusion and historical poverty of LGBTI people; barriers in access to health and the barriers imposed by religious groups and gender based-violence, with a special focus on children. Wilson Castañeda, Director of Caribe Affirmativo, reaffirmed the importance of understanding the structural challenges the Rapporteur pointed out and emphasized that “there is a narrative that is developing which indicates that the most vulnerable people facing the pandemic are dangerous to society and among them are LGBTI people”. According to Castañeda, the state response in Colombia has been insufficient to address the job, food, housing and emotional health insecurity of LGBTI people, especially those most vulnerable, such as transgender sex workers, LGBTI migrants, people with HIV, and people deprived of liberty. Castañeda also noted his concern about the implementation of measures such as the “pico y género,” the high homicide rates and episodes of violence and discrimination against LGBTI people in the midst of the crisis. For this reason, he recommended that the IACHR strengthen its actions to monitor the situation of LGBTI people, especially in those States with measures to restrict mobility; urged governments and humanitarian agencies to have a differential and a human rights perspective in their assistance efforts and to promote follow-up meetings in the region with a broad participation of the most vulnerable populations.

In Nicaragua, the socio-political and economic crisis, ongoing since 2018, has exacerbated the consequences of the pandemic, according to Victoria Obando, a member of Deigeorsex and the Nicaraguan LGBTIQ National Board. “Our representatives are not telling the truth regarding the situation we are experiencing in the country,” says Obando, who points out that the situation is worse for the LGBTI population. For example, she presented the case of Celia Cruz, a trans woman detained in Managua with symptoms of COVID-19. The government does not allow her to have visits and prohibits family members from bringing her medical products. Victoria called on the IACHR and international organizations to put pressure on the State to tell the truth about the statistics of the pandemic in her country.

Maria Ysabel Cedano, a Peruvian lawyer representing DEMUS, focused her intervention on the discrimination and violence lesbian women and non-binary people suffer. Cedano drew attention to the high rates of violence within the home which are increasing in the face of the pandemic. She emphasized that the pandemic has exacerbated barriers in access to justice because cases have been suspended to prioritize other requests such as the release of people deprived of liberty. This has meant that cases such as that of two lesbian women fighting to be recognized as the mothers of their child are put on hold. She also highlighted that “the fear of being punished means there is no social demand,” referring to why lesbian women are left out of public policies and made invisible by a heteronormative society. In addition to this, universal family relief aid, a measure the Peruvian State took to alleviate the economic burden of the pandemic on the most vulnerable, did not have a differential approach to protect LGBTI people, especially the indigenous, Afro descendant or rural LGBTI people who were left without any aid.  Isaac Porto, Race and Equality’s Consultant in Brazil, emphasized the need to pay special attention to the situation in Brazil and recommended that the Brazilian government implement the measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to contain the pandemic. He also recommended that the State adopt a differential approach[1] to prevent infections and deaths of the Afro-Brazilian population, especially AfroLGBTI people, who are the most impacted and vulnerable. After a round of commentary and questions from different activists from around Latin America, the event was closed with Race and Equality’s commitment to continue working with the IACHR and our partners to better the lives of LGBTI people in the region. Race and Equality joined the call of the IACHR and our partner organizations to build bridges and collective strategies in the region to shed light to these violations against LGBTI people. This is a time of reinvention and transformation and a time to demand better institutional responses to the needs of people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. We must also create a post-COVID-19 agenda to ensure Afro-LGBTI and LGBTI people are included in post-COVID responses.

[1] Include programs and public policies that take into account the needs of specific groups such as afro-descendant and indigenous people in combination with other factors that will increase discrimination such as sexual orientation and gender identity. For example, economic programs that include trans workers and training for public officials on LGBTI standards and rights.

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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