On International Women’s Day, Race and Equality Honors the Work of Women Human Rights Defenders

On International Women’s Day, Race and Equality Honors the Work of Women Human Rights Defenders

To mark March 8, International Women’s Day, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) wishes to highlight the fundamental role played by women human rights defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. In a region where rates of sexual and gender-based violence against women are extremely high and multiple forms of discrimination are entrenched, women human rights defenders are key in the fight for the defense of women’s human rights. Likewise, they are at the vanguard of promoting and protecting the rights of others.

Although the vast majority of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),[1] women in the region continue to suffer inequalities that negatively impact their full enjoyment of human rights. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), more than 3,800 women in 33 countries in the region were murdered because of their gender in 2019.[2] This violence stems from structural inequalities which profoundly affect all women, but especially women members of historically marginalized groups like Afro-descendants and the LGBTI community. For example, according to the Network of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women, Afro-descendant women are victims of multiple forms of violence, which is often racialized. Likewise, the current discourse on gender ideology in the region, driven by in large part by conservative religious groups, has led to more discrimination against lesbian, bi-sexual, and trans women, as well as more hate crimes and murders. Finally, poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, as in other regions in the world, has a feminine face, as women are less likely to have access to higher education and work outside of the home than their male counterparts. When women do work outside of the home, they are paid, on average, 17% less than men.[3] All of these factors make the work of women human rights defenders of utmost importance. But, they are also facing some grave challenges.

In Colombia, where the post-Peace Accord reality for human rights defenders is startlingly alarming due to the high rate of murders of defenders and impunity for those murders, women human rights defenders are among the most vulnerable. As the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently documented, the number of women human rights defenders killed in Colombia in 2019 increased by 50% over the 2018 number.[4] Afro-descendant and rural women defenders are at generally greater risk, just as they suffer greater vulnerabilities in terms of overall enjoyment of their human rights.

In Cuba, independent women activists are facing an increase in repression and de facto house arrests, as well as reprisals and threats against themselves and their family members. Travel restrictions arbitrarily imposed by the Cuban government routinely prevent independent activists from participating in advocacy activities outside of the island and the application of these against women continues to grow. Furthermore, Cuban women are clamoring for an Integral Law against Gender Violence – a proposal which has been rejected by the National Assembly – and they continue to face difficulties in accessing decent, well-paying jobs.

In Nicaragua, the crisis that began in April 2018 has had a profound impact on women. Women human rights defenders, such as the Mothers of April, have played an important role in the opposition movement, as many have lost their children to the violence of the crisis. There has also been an overall increase in violence against women and femicides, as a result of the crisis. Furthermore, women in Nicaragua also face disproportionate economic consequences due to the crisis, as many have been left as heads of households, with male family members killed, imprisoned, or fired from their jobs because of their political ties.

In Brazil, the situation of violence against women is extremely concerning, especially against Afro-descendant and trans women. Our partners have documented that in the first two months of the year 38 trans women have been killed in the country.[5] This high level of violence makes the work of women human rights defenders – especially those working on behalf of diverse communities of women – all the more difficult and important.

Race and Equality calls on all Latin American and Caribbean States to honor the human rights commitments they have made under CEDAW and other applicable international human rights treaties, to respect and protect the rights of women. We likewise reiterate our support for women human rights defenders, especially those of our partner organizations and in the countries where we work, who so courageously and tirelessly fight to promote and defend the rights of women and others in the region on a daily basis. We thank you and assure you that you are not alone in your work towards a safer, more just, and equitable society for all.

[1] OHCHR. Status of Ratification Interactive Dashboard: CEDAW, https://indicators.ohchr.org/ (last accessed Mar. 4, 2020).

[2] ECLAC. Measuring femicide: challenges and efforts to bolster the process in Latin America and the Caribbean, Nov. 2019, available at: https://oig.cepal.org/sites/default/files/femicide_web.pdf.

[3] UN News. More women in Latin America are working, but gender gap persists, new UN figures show, Oct. 28, 2019, available at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/10/1050121.

[4] UN News. Colombia: ‘Staggering number’ of human rights defenders killed in 2019, Jan. 14, 2020, available at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055272.

[5] See www.antrabrasil.org.

Cuban Institute for Radio and Televsion censors same-sex kiss

On February 29, the Cuban TV program Pensando en 3D (Thinking in 3D) showed the film Love, Simon, which tells the story of a gay teenager who falls in love with a classmate. Over the course of the film, Simon learns to accept his sexual orientation and comes out as gay to his friends and family. Despite the film’s core message of acceptance, Pensando en 3D censored the climactic scene in which Simon, played by Nick Robinson, shares a kiss with Bram (Josh Duhamel).

Across social media, the Cuban LGBTI community expressed shock and indignation at this censorship. Activsts called for a public protest in front of the Cuban Institute for Radio and Television (ICRT, in Spanish), located in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, on Sunday, March 1st. The “kiss-in” protest aimed to reject this stigmatization of LGBTI love, call for an apology from the Institute and demand another showing of the film without censorship.

Yadiel Cepero, an activist from Matanzas province, led the charge for the kiss-in and told Race and Equality that debate about the censorship and the LGBTI community’s demands took place across Cuban social media. As March 1st approached, several activists received threats of harm if they attended the protest. Despite these threats, and knowing that Cuban State Security would seek to break up the protest, LGBTI activists set out to assemble in front of the Institute.

Jancel Moreno, who planned to report on the kiss-in for Cuba’s independent media, was intercepted by two officers on the road to Havana. According to Moreno, “two men calling themselves Lieutenants Alejandro and David told me to come with them. They held me in a building off the road between Matanzas and Bacunayagua bridge for several hours to prevent me from reaching Havana.”

Also on Sunday, the activist and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who was also preparing to attend, posted on social media: “I am surrounded by political police trying to prevent me from going to the kiss-in outside ICRT, but I’ll see everyone there!” His partner, the activist Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, was struck by police officers as she tried to prevent them from detaining Luis Manuel.

The same day, the ICRT posted a statement on their website apologizing for the censorship:

“In response to this mistake, a review was conducted with the employees who edited the scene. The omission of the scene did not stem from any homophobic positions on the part of the ICRT or the leadership of Cuban Television, as some have implied on social media.”

TheICRT also decided to re-broadcast the film next Saturday, with the kiss scene included. Energy for the kiss-in dispersed after the apology, but some activists chose to persist, stating that the protest was about more than the particular scene.

As the protest grew closer, LGBTI activist and director of the independent outlet Tremenda Nota Maykel González Vivero received a threat from a social media user calling himself Elpidio Valdés. The message read, “let’s see if you can even make it out of your cheap house.”

González Vivero, another independent journalist, wrote on his Facebook page that the kiss-in had been cancelled due to the ICRT’s apology, but others stated that ICRT leadership should be pushed to disseminate the apology over the airwaves. Around twenty activists eventually assembled in Vedado, where State Security and police officers were already waiting. Local buildings had also been decoated with Cuban flags and posters with Revolutionary imagery.

Cuba’s LGBTI community remains outraged at the censorship, which is merely the latest incident of Cuban TV programming giving offense to LGBTI people and members of racial minorities. We call upon the Cuban state to respect its internatinoal commitments to cease discrimination against LGBTI people among public officials and to educate all Cubans about the human rights of LGBTI persons.

UN Independent Expert visits Brazil on promotional mission co-organized by Race and Equality

Race and Equality co-organized a promotional visit of the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal, to Brazil on January 20-25, to speak with leaders, activists, and members of LGBTI civil society groups about his work, better understand their realities, and strengthen means of communication between them and the mandate.

During the visit, the Independent Expert participated in conversations with around 40 local LGBTI organizations, including over 100 different activists, between three different cities, and two public events.  The visit took place in the cities of Brasília, Salvador, and Rio de Janeiro.

Within the meetings with civil society organizations in Brasília, activists expressed their different concerns facing LGBTI populations, in particular, highlighting the difficulties faced due to the invisibilization of LGBTI people under the current government, and the lack of discourse on this topic in federal spaces.  Lesbian activists from the groups Coturno de Vênus and the Brazilian Lesbian Association also brought attention to specific issues such as family-organized violence and cases of “forced intercourse” that are commonly practiced throughout Brazil, as well as the increased violence against Afro-Brazilian women.    

On January 22, these conversations continued when Madrigal traveled to Salvador de Bahia where he participated in a public event organized by Race and Equality.  The event titled “Afro-LGBTI Resistance: Intersectional perspectives for the fight for human rights,” opened a space for different Afro-Brazilian LGBTI activists from Salvador to speak on the realities they face, not only the city, but in the Brazilian state of Bahia due to the intersectionality of race, sexual orientation, and gender identity.  It is also important to note that Bahia contains the highest population of self-declared Afro-Brazilians out of any of the Brazilian states.

In this event, he presented the characteristics and scope of his mandate, indicating: “My mandate is designed to work with intersectionality. No person suffers discrimination from a single place as a gay man or woman, there are a number of identities that we gather in our body and there are multiple ways to express them. ” Likewise, he stated that the social structures that give people roles according to their genital configurations deny the individual freedom and identity of a human being.

“The mandate is not interested in the word gender, we are interested in the recognition that within societies exist structures that grant roles to people according to genital settings, and those roles are creating the denial of individual freedom,” added Victor Madrigal

Likewise, Madrigal also held conversations with activists and members of Afro-LGBTI civil society organizations in Salvador, gaining a deeper understanding of the reality of Afro-LGBTI people in this region.  Throughout the country, the Afro-LGBTI population is overrepresented in many statistics on violence, murder, homelessness, and HIV infections. Activist Kukua Dada affirmed this, explaining that a blonde, white trans woman is more “passable” than any black trans woman, thus having a lower probability of suffering from violence.

In Bahia, faith communities from African religions, which historically have welcomed the LGBTI community, have also suffered from increased religious intolerance.  Meetings were held with religious leaders Washington Dias of the National Afro-LGBTI Network and Afro-trans activist Thiffany Odara, who reported difficulties in maintaining their places of religious practice, called “terreiros,” and pointed out discrimination from public officials who did not give support to communities led by LGBTI people as they did for other “terreiros.”

The visit was concluded in Rio de Janeiro, where, in light of Brazil’s Trans Visibility month, more focus was given to the local travesti and trans populations.  The events began on the 24th with a meeting at Casa Nem, a safehouse for trans and travesti people, living in the city.  The Independent Expert listened to the stories of how various trans men and women arrived at the house and how it has helped them since. 

Similarly, in Salvador, a meeting was held with Casa Aurora, a trans safe house that began its work within the last year.  In both of these spaces, the houses seek to provide shelter for the homeless trans population, providing different programs such as: socio-educational activities, psychological and psychiatric services, community engagement, and much more. Both houses are very actively engaged on social media and try to bring visibility to the importance of their work as much as possible.

Indianare Siqueira, leader of Casa Nem reiterated the importance of specialized shelters for the LGBTI population, which is subject to more violence and discrimination when trying to access or live in public shelters.  For this reason, the shelters try to not only provide housing, but also a space for social interaction, which aims to make residents feel more accepted, thus helping increase their self-esteem and regain their autonomy.

Later that evening, the second public event occurred with great reception by local activists and LGBTI community members. As made clear by its title, “Visibility in times of hate: Challenges for the inclusion of trans people in the multilateral human rights agenda,” the event aimed to discuss measures to remove barriers that currently exclude trans people in different spaces.

Panel participants reported that they found it difficult to access general and specific public services for transgender people, even when guaranteed by law, due to the prejudice of the responsible public agents. They also pointed out that there is bureaucratization and a considerable financial burden for the legal recognition of gender identity, which makes it difficult for many individuals to access this right. Additionally, leaders such as Alessandra Ramos from Instituto Transformar, also drew attention to the contradiction of their excessive visibility in public spaces, since the majority of the murder of trans people in the country takes place on the streets, and the way they are being made invisible by the absence of laws and public policies that address their demands.

During his speech, Madrigal mentioned the paradoxes that currently prevail around the world in relation to the questioning of LGBTI lives. “I am witnessing a paradox in all parts of the world in which advances in the protection of the rights of LGBTI people are accompanied by a deluge of positions that question the lives of LGBTI people,” he comments.

He also referred to the large number of policies that criminalize and make the existence of LGBTI lives in a large number of countries in the world invisible.  Madrigal indicated that the conclusions of his work repeatedly reach the same place, and that is that structural processes in society perpetuate the notion that certain genital configurations determine the role that a person has in society, which is why, this principle of primary order has been instrumentalized through a series of mechanisms that the expert described as demonization, criminalization and pathologization or in other words “sin, crime, and disease.”

The following day the floor was given to civil society groups to express their concerns on an array of topics surrounding public health, education and labor, racial discrimination and violence, among others. 

The current government has demoted the STI and HIV prevention department, suspended funds for HIV prevention campaigns that target the LGBTI population specifically, and has started a new awareness strategy based on encouraging sexual abstinence. The government has also stopped collecting disaggregated HIV data for certain populations, such as lesbian and bisexual women and trans men.

To conclude the public event in Rio, Madrigal left audience members with these important unifying words, “The state must make this recognition and this protection…This mandate that was created in the sense by the work of thousands of grassroots organizations in more than 170 countries … every day many people around the world are killed, beaten, tortured, mistreated, excluded from health, work, housing, for being who they are, and as a result of the people they love or desire. That is the work that we jointly carry out, the work that is also important for me to be able to connect with the international mechanisms that operate at the United Nations level.”

Race and Equality fully supports the work of the current mandate, and is finishing a report on the human rights situation of Afro-LGBTI people in Brazil that will be sent to the mandate in the coming months.  We remain committed to working with our Brazilian partners on these issues and helping them bring more visibility, not only to these populations nationally, but internationally as well.  A special thanks all of the organizations in Brazil who helped make this visit a success.

For more info about the visit please check out the following links below:

Apresentação do Mandato do Especialista Independente da ONU em Orientação Sexual e Identidade de Gênero
IE SOGI Mandate
Twitter IE SOGI
Instagram IE SOGI

Race and Equality celebrates the appointment of Trans people to public office in Colombia and condemns acts of discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation

On December 26, 2019, the mayor-elect of Manizales, a city in the Colombian department of Caldas, announced that the well-known trans activist Matilda Gonzalez would lead the city’s Office of Women’s and Gender Affairs. Gonzalez holds a law degree from the University of the Andes and a Master of Laws in international law from American University. She has worked for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)’s Rapporteurship on the Rights of LGBTI People, the LGBTI rights organization Colombia Diversa and the Office of Childhood and Adolescence in the Colombian Family Welfare Institute.  In addition, she has consulted for the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) and for the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO).

In another groundbreaking appointment, the mayor-elect of Bogotá recently named Deysi Johana Olarte Navarro as the city’s Deputy Director of LGBTI Affairs. As a political scientist at the National University of Colombia, Deisy studied gender-based violence, national and international policies on transgender issues. She is also recognized for her extensive career as a grassroots activist, working with trans people in Kennedy, Ciudad Bolívar and Santa Fe, which are all among Bogotá’s most marginalized areas.

In Colombia, transgender people not only suffer daily acts of direct violence and discrimination but also face prejudices that limit their access to work, education, and health. In turn, they suffer criminalization, segregation, marginalization, and poverty. The appointments of these trans women represent breakthroughs for equity, diversity, and inclusion. As directors of important public bodies, Ms. Gonzalez and Ms. Olarte will have the power to formulate and implement public policies that seek to guarantee the rights of women and LGBTI people. Race and Equality celebrates and encourages the appointment of people with diverse gender identities to executive positions. Such appointments are an opportunity to transform society’s image of what is possible, put the human right to political participation into practice, and advance the rights of the entire LGBTI population in Colombia.

However, there is still much to do. Conservative groups in Manizales responded to Ms. Gonzalez appointment with a campaign that filed more than 2,500 petitions to the Mayor’s Office asking for her dismissal.[1] The groups claim that Matilda is not suitable for the role because she was not ‘born biologically as a woman,’ a discriminatory argument ignoring the reality that there are many different possibilities for gender identity. Women’s life experiences, including their experiences of gender, are all different, making it impossible to judge their gender based only on the sex assigned to them at birth. Several bodies, including the Colombian Constitutional Court,[2] have recognized that a person’s internal and individual experience of gender differs from biological sex and that an environment which prevents someone from expressing their gender identity violates their dignity and their right to freedom of expression.

Race and Equality rejects any form of discrimination that seeks to limit the rights of transgender people and urges national, regional, and local leaders to appoint people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities to public office, especially to the offices responsible for promoting and guaranteeing the rights of the LGBTI population.

[1] Conservative groups request the resignation of the Women’s Secretary of Manizales: https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/otras-ciudades/grupos-conservadores-piden-renuncia-de-matilda-gonzalez-en-manizales-452142

[2] See Colombian Constitutional Court decisions T-143 (2018), T-804 (2014), T-363 (2016), T-476 (2014) and T-562 (2013), among others.

Race and Equality coordinates academic visit of UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Victor Madrigal.

The UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Mr. Victor Madrigal, will make an academic visit to Brazil, which will be coordinated by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights. (Race and Equality), January 20-25, to disclose the scope of the mandate to LGBTI civil society organizations.

As part of this visit, the Independent Expert will partake in two panel discussions on the problems and difficulties of this population in relation to the international standards of human rights. These two events will include a dialogue between LGBTI leaders and the Independent Expert, who will talk about the working tools and mechanisms available to them, as well as how these tools interact with the exercise and guarantees of the fundamental rights of civil society.

Race and Equality organized these events through collaboration with LGBTI civil society organizations. 

January 22, 2020
Dialogue: “Afro-LGBTI Resistance – Intersectional Perspectives for the Human Rights Struggle”
Confirm your presence here

January 22, 2020
Dialogue: Visibility in times of hate: Challenges for trans inclusion in the multilateral human rights agenda
Confirm your presence here

Ler artigo em português

Police Violence in the Mare Favela: the daily life of a Brazilian trans leader

Photo: Favela da Maré Instagram

On the morning of November 19, Brazilian trans activist Gilmara Cunha, president of Grupo Connection G, an organization that works for the LGBTI community in the Complex of Maré (the largest favela complex in Rio de Janeiro), reported on Facebook that her house had been hit with shots at dawn.

The cause of the shooting was one of the police operations that occur in the sector under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, which has become one of the problems that has most affected the lives of the favela population in Rio de Janeiro.

According to data from the Public Security Institute, from January to August 2019 alone, there were 1,144 deaths caused by police officers[1]. The number is 18.3% higher than data for the same period last year, when there were 967 murders. An analysis by the UOL news site that considered the data for the first half of 2019, showed that of the 881 deaths recorded in police operations to date, occurring in areas controlled by drug trafficking[2].

The current governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, was elected in 2018 with a speech backed by the fight against drug trafficking. In an interview last year, before taking office, Witzel had already stated that police officers who killed drug traffickers with rifles should not be held liable “under any circumstances” in a true murder policy[3].

According to the Maré Vive site, a communication channel that the community made in collaboration with the Complex of Maré residents from different parts, and who are observers of the police operations that occur in the area, the Special Operations Command Police launched an operation at 4:50 a.m. on November 19, in the Parque Unión, Rubens Vaz, Tide Park and New Holland neighborhoods, all favelas that make up the Maré Complex and the poorest in the sector.

At 5:36 in the morning, the Maré Vive page announced that shots were heard to warn people not to leave their homes for their safety.

 A few hours later Gilmara Cunha’s publication was made, which showed images of the bullet holes in her house. In the publication, Gilmara states that she is proud to be a travesti and a resident of black neighborhoods and slums, but warns that measures must be taken on the situation of violence experienced by people in the favelas, and that it is necessary to discuss racism as a way to build security policies.

This is not the first time Gilmara Cunha has been affected by police operations. In September of this year, we denounced the case that happened during the 1st LGBTI Culture and Citizenship Festival of Favelas, an event with artistic, political, and professional presentations, organized by Connection G, which interrupted its activities due to a police operation in the Favela of Maré. Two inhabitants were killed during the operation, which lasted approximately 20 hours. People who attended the event had to remain locked up until the shooting ceased. Two days later, during the LGBTI Parade of the Favela da Maré, Gilmara Cunha shouted from the top of the car:  

“This State kills us every day! Stop killing us! We are here claiming lives! We live these days practically in the midst of violence, where the police entered our homes, murdered residents, and we cannot allow that to happen! This city is not a separate city! Maré is part of this city! We cannot accept it as if it were normal! Enough! Enough! Stop killing our slum population! We are here to claim rights! Being here today is an act of resistance!

About the Connection G Group

Gilmara Cunha is a national reference in the LGBTI movement in Brazil. Not surprisingly, on December 8, 2015, she was awarded the Tiradentes Medal, the highest honor granted by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro (ALERJ in Portuguese) for the services she provided to the community.

The Connection G Group, chaired by Gilmara, is a civil society organization that has been working since 2006, with the mission of fighting for public policies on human rights, health, public education and security for LGBTI people living in the Favela of Maré. One of them is “Just like you, I also demand my rights!” The objective is, through citizenship and rights classes, to promote the human rights of black transgender women and transvestites in the favelas of Maré and Palmares, to help minimize violations of their rights and promote respect for their lives.

In August 2019, due to the academic visit by Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay to Brazil, promoted by Race and Equality, the Commissioner met the transsexual and transvestite women who participate in this project in the favela.

At a moving meeting, reports of transvestites who were threatened and shot by police officers and who were hit on purpose, exposed for their HIV status in health systems, and many other stories of human rights violations were heard.

It is remarkable that Connection G performs unique work that reaches people whose lives and demands are unseen: the LGBTI population of the poorest neighborhoods.

Race and Equality calls on the Brazilian State to protect the work of human rights defenders and change the logic with which it acts towards people of African descent in the slums. We will continue to monitor the human rights violations of the Afro-LGBTI community in Brazil and will continue to demand that the Brazilian State respect their lives.

[1] Data from the Public Security Institute. Available at: http://www.ispvisualizacao.rj.gov.br/index.html

[2] UOL. La policía mató a 881 personas en 6 meses en RJ. Ninguno en el área de la milicia. 20 de agosto de 2019. Available at: https://noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/ultimas-noticias/2019/08/20/policias-mataram-881-pessoas-em-6-meses-no-rj -no-in-militia.htm? cmpid = copiaecola

[3] UOL. “La policía apuntará a la cabecita y … disparará”, dice Wilson Witzel. 1 de noviembre de 2018. Disponible en: https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/agencia-estado/2018/11/01/a-policia-vai-mirar-na-cabecinha-e-fogo -firms-wilson-witzel.htm? cmpid = copiaecola

Ler artigo em português

No more impunity! International Transgender Day of Remembrance

On Trans Remembrance Day, The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) stands in solidarity with the struggles of trans women against the various forms of violence they have been victims of, particularly the violence that has obstructed their lives. The fight against the murder of trans people must be the fundamental basis of any discussion on the implementation of policies or recognition of gender identity. This is the most basic task of all States.

Brazil remains the country with the highest number of trans people murdered in the world. The dossier on murders and violence against transvestites and transsexuals in Brazil of 2018, prepared by the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (ANTRA), noted that, in 2018 alone, 163 murders of transgender people occurred, 82% of them black. The largest number of trans people were killed in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with a total of 16 murders. According to current ANTRA data, as of November 11, at least 106 transgender people have been killed in Brazil this year(2019).

Murders of trans people also occur in all other Latin American and Caribbean countries.  The effort of some civil society organizations to better document this violence has resulted in various regional observatories that monitor violence throughout the region such as: Sin Violencia LGBT, la Red Lactrans, and the ILGALAC, among others. However, these valuable efforts do not replace the duty of States to adequately register and investigate these acts. The UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and gender expression stated in his 2019 report on data collection and management:

“The breakdown of data that allows comparisons to be made between population groups is part of States’ obligations in the field of human rights, and has become an element of the human rights-based approach to data use.”

Accordingly, we highlight the relevance of not only adequately characterizing violence against the trans population, but also having a better characterization that accounts for their socio-economic situation, educational contexts, and racial characteristics, as it appears that in countries like Brazil, the magnitude of gender identity violence, especially violence against trans people, has had a particular impact on people of African descent.

This task, apart from being carried out through adequate investigation and prosecution work from a criminal perspective, must be accompanied by preventive actions in the different areas of rights protection.  Some actions to adopt include the construction of policies that respond to the origin of multicausal violence, the prevention of domestic violence due to gender identity, transphobic bullying in educational settings, adequate health care with a differential approach, as well as actions of transformation and openness in work spaces.

From Race and Equality, and in alliance with the civil society organizations with whom we work in the Latin American region, we will continue to demand that integral political States denaturalize violence against trans people, and the oversight of names and lives that also deserve to be lived with full respect for their dignity and full guarantee of their rights.

Ler artigo em português

“The situation of violence against Afro-LGBTI people is invisible and systematic in Latin America” Activists warn the IACHR

Quito, Ecuador. November 12, 2019. In the thematic hearing held during the 174 period of Hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Quito, Ecuador, LGBTI activists and Afro-descendants from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Peru presented on the situation of violence, lack of protection, and lack of knowledge of their prevailing rights in each of these States.

Throughout the space, the activists highlighted how Afro-descendants with sexual orientations and non-normative gender identities are at greater risk of suffering from violations of their rights, especially by the States’ general lack of knowledge on the differentiated effects suffered by people living this reality.

Likewise, the activists presented a summary of different cases of murder and violence against transgender people and Afro-descendants, especially those committed with a high degree of cruelty and hatred; in addition to remaining completely unpunished. 

Bruna Benavides, ANTRA activist

“In January of this year, in Brazil, a trans woman had her heart torn out and then replaced by the image of a saint. Her murderer was acquitted of the charge, even though he narrated in great detail how he had killed her and kept her heart at home with a smile on his face,” said Afro-Brazilian activist Bruna Benavides, a member of the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals, or ANTRA in Brazil.

According to information given by Benavides, this year alone, 110 trans people were killed in Brazil, 85% of them black. Likewise, the activist reported that 90% of the population of transvestites and trans women in this country are engaged in prostitution due to the lack of job opportunities.

Furthermore, she pointed out that this group of people are recurring victims of different State institutions due to the inaccessibility of appropriate healthcare services and of fair employment opportunities and recognition, as well as having a lack of respect for their identities. In this regard, Benavides added ,“… today we are afraid to walk the streets again, and as a defender of human rights, I do not feel safe despite the progress we have made because our leaders have common policies of racist hatred , male chauvinism…”

In this order, the leader Justo Arevalo representative of the Colombian organizations Arco Iris de Tumaco, the National Conference of Afro-Colombian Organizations (CNOA), and Somos Identidad, highlighted that contexts of rejection, violence, and discrimination within these communities towards people who assume a non-normative sexual orientation or gender identity create other types of cyclical and systemic violence that threaten the integrity of AfroLGBTI people. An example of this is in Colombia, where there is forced displacement towards cities that sharpen the circles of violence in which these people live.

Justo Arevalo, Colombian activist

“In March of 2019, a report on the realities experienced by Afro-LGBTI people was filed in Bogotá before the Jurisdiction for Peace, whose main findings show that documented violence and impact are blocked by very racial and class-particular relations, typical of the sociocultural, economic, and political environment in which they occur, prejudice as a factor of violence, and the responsibility of illegal armed actors in the face of serious violations of rights against Afro LGBT people, “Arevalo added in his speech.

Belén Zapata, an Afro-descendant trans activist from Peru, alerted the audience of the impact that police abuse has on the lives of Afro-descendant and transvestite people, highlighting that it sets a pattern of deep violence against their right to personal integrity in countries like Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Peru.

Likewise, the activist referred to the access of healthcare services by trans-descendant Afro-descendant women in the region, which is characterized in its generality for not being efficient or worthy of use by this population.

In this regard, the activist added: “There are still cases in which medical personnel offer inadequate and/or improper care to Afro-descendant transgender women. This pattern is particularly serious in cases of care for Afro-descendant transgender women who perform sex work and are taken in for injuries as a result of physical aggressions. But also, in cases where the request for other services is related to reproductive health or HIV / AIDS. “

Violation of the rights of Afro-LGBTI people is systematic

“As long as we avoid highlighting the intersection between race and sexual diversity, we will continue to perpetuate a system that makes the Afro-descendant LGBTI community invisible; we will continue to have legal structures, public policies, and government institutions that do not protect or guarantee the human rights of the Afro LGBTI population,” added Katherine Ventura, representative of the American University Legal Clinic. She also pointed out that there are patterns of violence that are particular to the Afro-LGBTI population, naming three: 1) Absence of rights’ guarantees focused on the Afro-LGBTI community; 2) Lack of implementation of existing laws and 3) Inadequate data collection, particularly in criminal investigation processes against Afro-LGBTI people.

On this matter, the Commissioners of the IACHR indicated the responsibility of the States to collect data, generate policies, and promote processes that guarantee the reparation, respect, and recognition of the rights of Afro-LGBTI people. In this regard, Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay urged States to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination as an alternative that seeks to address the issues of Afro-descendants with sexual orientations and non-normative gender identities.

To finalize the hearing, the organizations requested that the IACHR to urge the States of Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Peru to:

1. Urgently investigate cases of homicide and police abuse that involve Afro-LGBTI persons and, consequently, register and characterize them properly.

2. Implement the recommendations of the Afro-LGBTI population that this Commission has made since 2015, particularly those focused on the development of public policies that explicitly include the Afro-LGBTI population.

3. As part of the fulfillment of the objectives proposed in the Decade of Afro-descendants 2015-2024, the Afro-LGBTI population should be included as a beneficiary of justice and development-oriented measures in the region, and it should be requested that all states comply with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission regarding the importance of providing differentiated data on sexual orientation and gender identity.

4. Suggest the ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerances and the Inter-American Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance to all States.

5. That the Inter-American Commission publish the report of the on-site visit to Brazil in 2018 and the rapporteur on the rights of Afro-descendants and racial discrimination visit Brazil to better know the situation of the Afro-LGBTI population, with effective participation of civil society organizations.

Ler artigo em português

Víctor Madrigal: “States should consider that the valuable contributions of LGBTI people to the construction of the social fabric is one of the ways to guarantee their recognition and inclusion”

In his most recent report, the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Víctor Madrigal, presented an analysis of the ways in which discriminatory laws and social and cultural norms continue to marginalize and exclude people because of their sexual orientation and / or gender identity in different spheres of society, situations that according to the document, are aggravated when interrelated with other forms of discrimination such as ethnicity, race, socio-economic status, and national origin, among others that lead to definitive states of exclusion and marginalization.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) spoke with the Independent expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity so that, in the light of the reality that Latin American people live, he could present some considerations on the LGBTI situation, the multiple forms of violence they experience today, and present proposals that make it possible to overcome these forms of exclusion.

What is the current situation of LGBTI people in Latin America, how would you characterize it, and what is your interpretation of the current legal situation of LGBTI people in Latin America?

Víctor Madrigal (VM): The problem faced by the human rights of LGBTI people is conditioned, first by a historical framework that has been built over centuries, systems of exclusion and stigma that are based on notions about what the roles that people acquire should be according to their genital configuration. The idea here is to try to understand what these structures are, understand, in addition to what ways in which power is structured in society, and thus understand how the realities of LGBTI people, which are subversive to these systems built over decades and centuries, are violated through frameworks that are intended to defend these power structures.

What the Mandate has done throughout this time, is study the basic causes of stigma and discrimination and come to understand that there are certain structural manifestations: the first is what is known as the “denial” related to the existing idea in some legal systems (or the political message that has been tried to spread), that LGBT people do not really exist in that particular context, justifying their position on the premise that these are ideas imported from some other context.

The second manifestation or mechanism is that of “stigma,” which I have organized into three categories: First, the claim that LGBT existence is criminal in nature, that is, through crime or of criminal legislation. At this moment, there are still 69 countries in the world that criminalize homosexuality, and of these 9 are in the Caribbean Region. Another is the idea that the lives of LGBT people are sinful in nature. Hence the whole structure of the church that is used to create messages of exclusion and discrimination, and the last manifestation or mechanism is the idea of ​​pathologizing, which is connected with the basic idea that LGBTI existence is in some way or another sick or a reflection of pathologies.

The phenomenology of the human rights problems faced by LGBT people is registered in this context and is deeply rooted in patriarchal structure, in social structures that are prevalent in Latin America and that have, as a result, very high levels of social exclusion and violence.

In the report on “Data collection and management as a means to raise awareness about violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity” A / HRC / 41/45 lays out the use of data as part of the strategy of overcoming these contexts and discrimination of violence. Could you explain a little, how is this expressed?

Víctor Madrigal: The context in which I pose this is my conviction that the processes of stigma are based on preconceptions, prejudices, and an exploitation of concerns that the general public have about the very existence of LGBT people, that it is not based on any empirical basis, or in other words, that it is not based on evidence, and therefore, I consider that the strategy to counteract these prejudice structures is through the production of evidence and with this data is essential.

When I started working at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and created the LGBT Rapporteurship, one of the first things we did was create a record of violence, and we realized, for example, that problems of violence against trans women were completely invisible in the data, and therefore in public policy. This is because trans women who were killed, and violently, were usually registered in the police records as men, therefore there was a complete invisibility of their problems from the viewpoint of public policy, but also in regard to social consciousness.  The messages were very powerful from every level.  The fact that there was no data disaggregated from this population’s point of view, no recognition of the existence of this population at the base of this violence was powerful, but there were also very powerful messages by means of written media that constantly reported murders of trans women as murders of a man dressed as a woman, or a transvestite man, or a man automatically labeled as a sex worker, in short, a number of pre-concepts that didn’t really have any foundation from an empirical base.

So for me, the creation of an evidence base, which allows us to reflect on the true nature of this violence problem, but also the true nature of the social existence of LGBT people, is an essential part of solving the issue.

According to his latest report on socio-cultural and economic inclusion of the population (https://undocs.org/A/74/181), which aspects do you consider the most fundamental for civil society and the States in Latin America?

Víctor Madrigal: On the basis of everything, there is the production of knowledge regarding the reality of LGBTI people’s lives. I insist that obtaining disaggregated data that allows us to understand the situation of LGBT people in relation to education, health, housing, and other sectors highlighted in my report is essential. Without that knowledge base, without that evidence base, it will be absolutely impossible to have public policies that dialogue and impact these lived realities of LGBT people.

Next, it is important that there is a willingness to connect this empirical base with public policy. It is essential to ensure that public policy is informed by this base, but also that when it is being carried out there is a conscious exercise of involving communities, peoples, and populations that are being affected.

Every public policy maker must know in a very clearly the limitations on what we do not know about the realities of these populations. Meanwhile, bringing them into the consultation processes, conducting participatory processes, is the only way to ensure that public policies will have a sustainable impact.

A third element would be related to the fact that in these processes there are very clear political manifestations about the way in which States receive and promote the message of the lives and realities of LGBT people, as long as they consider that they contribute to the social fabric, that they are valuable and worthy of existing in the social fabric, and that the ability and possibility of these people to live free and equal in the context of these societies is a manifestation of their human rights, which are not special rights, which are not unique rights, but it is an essential basis of their human right to be able to live in equality and freedom.

And on the basis of these conditions, I believe that the last element that must be there is the fact that the States recognize that, in these recognitions and in this way of proceeding, there is a fundamental key to ensuring the full potential of LGBT people’s contribution to our society, to enhance and make it possible to unleash and ensure the full potential of the social contribution of these people in our contexts.

Since the exercise of the mandate, you have had the experience of working with various LGBTI activists around the world. What particularities in activism, human rights violations or successful results have you been able to identify in racialized and / or impoverished LGBTI sectors?

Víctor Madrigal: I think that the first achievement to be highlighted is related to the strategic litigation regarding decriminalization. It is extraordinary what has been achieved through judicial activism, for example, in dismantling criminalization systems in India, in the Caribbean itself we have the example of Trinidad and Tobago, we have the example of Belize.

Other achievements that I could mention are related to the access of services and non-discrimination provisions.

I do not participate in the provision of policies for the creation and provision of the Mandate, but I have found it very important how the creation of civil society coalitions has created the mandate and now has gotten an extraordinary renewal through the coalition of more than 1300 civil society organizations that come from 174 countries and have really created a wonderful synergy so that the mandate could be renewed with a fairly forceful majority in the international community. I also believe that networking is a great achievement for the impact on the enforceability of LGBT rights.

If there is any evidence from the last 25 years of experience, it is that social change is possible in our generation.  We have gone from contexts of criminalization and pathologizing to contexts of dignity, and I believe that energy of changes, that the change of paradigms is something that can be expected to continue. For the next 25 years, I have the expectation that there will be a world free of criminalization for 2030 and the expectation of a world in which there will be true social inclusion for the next generation.

XXIII National Meeting of the National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals(ANTRA): “Addressing Prejudice and Stigma with Combined HIV Prevention”

Last week, October 28-31, the 23rd national meeting of the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (ANTRA) took place, a network of Brazilian trans organizations working to promote the rights of transgender people. The meeting’s theme was “Addressing Prejudice and Stigma with Combined HIV Prevention,” and was attended by around 60 trans activists representing all 21 states of Brazil.

Pitty Barbosa, ANTRA activist

The meeting took place in the city of Tapes, 108km from Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The option of holding the national meeting outside of the main metropolitan areas of the country was due to the great invisibility of human rights violations that occur far from large urban centers where all major events occur. Indeed, during the meeting, many activists reported their precarious conditions for reporting human rights violations and for giving visibility to the murders that occur without any media coverage.

“Throughout Brazil, inland cities are largely abandoned by all LGBTI policy managers and portfolios. We must have a more direct and incisive look at this population which is so devoid of rights. This is why we need to do more actions outside of the principal cities. ” Pitty Barbosa, from the city of Iguaíba which is located in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul, affiliated with ANTRA

Due to a lack of resources, the meeting did not happen two years ago. Besides this, unlike in other years in which it was possible to hold regional meetings prior to the national ones, there were no resources or structure to hold the regional meetings, which made it impossible to gain a deeper understanding before the debates.

HIV epidemic in Brazil

Brazil is currently experiencing a new HIV epidemic. According to the latest data from the epidemiological bulletin released annually by the Ministry of Health, between 2007 and 2017, the number of young people infected with HIV jumped from 1,320 to 10,618, a growth of about 700%.

However, the alarming increase in the number of cases of HIV infections, AIDS illness and deaths due to opportunistic diseases has not reached all sections of the population in a homogeneous way. AIDS in Brazil has class, race, gender and sexuality.

For example, by analyzing data on race / color and gender categories over the past 10 years for AIDS deaths, major discrepancies are observed. While, in the last 10 years, white men and women have experienced a large reduction in the number of deaths from 5461 in 2007 to 4352 in 2017, the same has not happened for the black population. In 2007 there were 5111 deaths of black men and women, while in 2017 the number rose to 6699.

A similar movement is observed if we look at infections by sexuality. In 2007 heterosexual men accounted for 46.7% (1230) of those exposed to HIV in Brazil, and in 2017 they represented 34.1% (9027). Men who have sex with men, in turn, went from 45% (1569) to 63.3% (16633) in the same time period, becoming a large majority, and showing that there was a failure in prevention.

Representatives of the Ministry of Health who attended the ANTRA meeting mentioned a recently commissioned survey by the Ministry that estimated that today about 40% of Brazil’s population of transvestites and transgender women live with HIV. However, throughout the epidemiological bulletin, there is no mention of transgender people.

This unfeasibility reveals how cis-heteronormativity is positioned as the universal parameter of Brazilian institutions, which are not committed to the lives of trans people in the country.

This is because transvestites and transgender women are, as a rule, allocated to the category of “men who have sex with men” unless, in theory, they have been able to rectify their name and sex on the civil registry.

In any case, the ANTRA meeting was an opportunity for the various activists who were present to learn, on one hand, about the mechanisms of combined HIV prevention, asking which strategies make the most sense for the reality of transvestites and transsexuals, who do not have the same level of information and access to state resources as cis white gay men living in urban centers.

Also, several difficulties that this population faces in their day-to-day life concerning the healthcare system were shared, such as: people who had their serology exposed to their communities, doctors who missed their appointments on the day that their viral load would occur, health professionals who did not have the antiretroviral drug on the day they should get the drugs, among many other things that have an impact on transvestites and transgender women’s ability to gain access to HIV treatment in Brazil. At a time when the fundamentalist conservatism that has been growing in Brazil has been trying to curb HIV prevention campaigns so as not to “sexualize” young people, the organizations that attended the ANTRA meeting were unanimous about the need for support for prevention policies that can come through, directly to the population that needs it the most.

The lives of transgender people cannot be set aside. Race and Equality remains committed to supporting organizations working to combat racism, machismo, and LGBTI phobia in the country, also when expressed at an institutional dimension. We congratulate the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals for the event, and call on the Brazilian State to promote specifics aimed at facing the HIV / AIDS epidemic at a time when the black, LGBT, and especially the trans population has been so hit by this epidemic.

Ler artigo em português

Autor:
Isaac Porto, Consultor LGBTI de Raza e Igualdad en Brasil

Join Our Efforts

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

Donate Contact Us