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

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.

Five years working towards inclusion, equality, and diversity in Latin America”

Five years after the founding of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), it is valuable to take a step back and revisit our beginnings, the work we have done and how it has changed, the achievements we have made and the challenges that still face us.

In November 2014, an opportunity arose to create a new organization dedicated to fighting racial discrimination and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Two months later, in January 2015, Race and Equality was born. To this day, we are the only organization in the region addressing these two issues and bringing a lens of Afro-LGBTQ intersectionality before the Inter-American and universal human rights systems.

Five years ago, we began working in Washington, D.C. with eight counterpart organizations in Cuba, Colombia, Brazil and Peru. Today, our team includes twenty-five people in Washington, Bogota and Geneva, collaborating with over fifty partners in eight countries through organizational partnerships and contractual agreements. Today, we work not only on issues of discrimination, but have expanded to address violations of civil and political rights, especially in Cuba and Nicaragua, and to assist with the integration of racial and ethnic data into national census processes, as we have done in Panama, Peru and Mexico.

Race and Equality’s methodology emphasizes building the capacity of our partners so that they can utilize both the Inter-American and universal human rights systems. We have helped our partners become familiar with regional and international human rights protection mechanisms and learn to utilize them. In this model, we work behind the scenes to support our partners, who are the protagonists and the drivers of change.

In the Inter-American system, we have supported local organizations so that they can take part in thematic hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), document and denounce human rights violations and raise awareness about the issues facing the Afro-LGBT population. We work closely with the IACHR’s Rapporteurship on Persons of African Descent. We have secured precautionary measures from the IACHR for partners in Cuba, Colombia and Nicaragua and provisional measures from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for partners in Nicaragua.

In the universal system, we have facilitated the participation of activists from the entire region in United Nations mechanisms where they can advocate first-hand for their rights and the rights of their communities. Our partners have engaged with High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, the Universal Period Review (UPR) process and country reviews by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

We have responded to the severe human rights crisis that has gripped Nicaragua since April 2018 by providing technical support for the documentation of human rights violations, shining a spotlight on the situation of political prisoners and organizing meetings between local activists and international human rights actors. In Cuba, we continue to highlight the constant rights violations that our partners suffer solely because of their beliefs and to push for the Cuban government to honor its international obligations. In Colombia, we are working to monitor the implementation of the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Accords and the situation of the Afro-LGBTQ community, in light of the persistence of violence and the crisis of killings of social leaders.

One of our proudest achievements during these last five years was the ratification of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance by Costa Rica and Uruguay. These two ratifications allowed the Convention to come into effect.

We continue to grow as an organization, although unfortunately we do so for all the wrong reasons: the situation for human rights across Latin America is concerning. Over the last five years, racial discrimination has worsened in across the region. Leaders are legitimizing racist, homophobic and transphobic discourse, putting under threat the rights that marginalized people won in the previous 10-15 years. Backsliding on civil and political rights is evident in recent events in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Brazil and Chile, to mention only a few. Despite these many challenges, we are confident that Race and Equality is well-positioned to offer technical assistance to our partners and continue making the human rights situation in the region visible on the international stage.

I want to thank everyone who has trusted us and trusted in our abilities: our partners and especially our donors, whose support allows us to confront human rights violations effectively and efficiently.

Carlos Quesada
Executive Director
International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights

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”
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January 22, 2020
Dialogue: Visibility in times of hate: Challenges for trans inclusion in the multilateral human rights agenda
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91 political prisoners are released in Nicaragua, but harassment continues

Washington DC, January 9, 2020. On December 30th, the Nicaraguan government released 91 political prisoners who had been detained in prisons across the country for anywhere from two to eighteen months. Among the released were sixteen activists arrested for bringing water to a group of prisoners’ mothers who were staging a hunger strike to demand the release of their children.

The move was announced as pressure grows in Nicaragua and internationally for the liberation of political prisoners. The government allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Office of the Nicaraguan Human Rights Ombudsman and the Apostolic Nuncio of Nicaragua, Waldemar Sommertag, to take part in the process.

Political prisoners were transferred to their homes and placed under house arrest, according to the Nicaraguan authorities. As a result, they still have judicial proceedings pending against them and restrictions on their movement.

The 16 activists known as the “water carriers” denounced on Wednesday that their judicial process was “completely irregular and marked by a series of restrictions which make it very clear that we continue to be treated as guilty, although we have not been judged.” Their trial is scheduled for January 30.

According to data from the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, by its Spanish acronym), among the 91 released, there are 41 who have already been convicted, 39 who are still being prosecuted and 4 who were detained but never had charges brought against them.

Repression continues

Several former political prisoners have also reported that since their release, they have been threatened and harassed by groups linked to the government and police.

The young Belgian-Nicaraguan Amaya Coppens and her family have suffered several aggressions. On January 1st and 2nd, a group of men aboard motorcycles threw black oil on the walls of their house in Estelí and threw stones at their windows. Police have also lurked near the house constantly since her release.

“The attacks continue on a daily basis. It is difficult knowing that my family is still victimized, but we are trying to stay protected as best we can,” Coppens said on Wednesday.

CENIDH requested that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) examine the possibility of irreparable damage to the family’s rights to life and physical integrity. CENIDH also called for the Commission to urge the State of Nicaragua to cease the “aggressions and harassment by officials and para-police groups” against the family.

Last December, the IACHR granted precautionary measures to Amaya and the other 15 young people detained for bringing water to the protesting mothers, finding that their life and physical integrity were at risk in the custody of the Judicial Directorate in Managua.

Other former prisoners, including Roberto Buchting, have reported constant harassment, including the continuous surveillance of their homes by para-police groups, threats over social media and even invasions of their homes with the intent to intimidate them.

Still in prison

After an extensive review of the lists of released persons, CENIDH confirmed that 65 political prisoners are still to be released.

“Our commitment to the liberation of all people and all of Nicaragua is firmer than ever. Despite the fact that a group of 91 people was released on December 30th, there are still more than 65 political prisoners, including Katherine Martínez and the trans activist Mayela Cruz,” said the group.

Race and Equality demands the immediate release of all political prisoners in Nicaragua, the closure of legal proceedings against them and the cancellation of their criminal records. We call on the authorities to cease repression, harassment and persecution against those who were arbitrarily imprisoned. It is essential that their return home is free from any threat or attack against them or their families.

Human Rights Day: We Remain Committed to the Defense of Human Rights in Latin America

Washington, D.C. December 10, 2019. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights today joins the celebration of International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly. Seventy-one years after the approval of the document that marked a milestone in the recognition of the inherent rights of all human beings, establishing that they should be respected without distinction as to race, color, religion, sex, language, political opinions, origin, or any other condition, the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality)continues to advocate for the compliance with and defense of said Declaration.

On this day, we remember that the human rights situation in Latin America is critical, and therefore, urgent action by the States is needed to effectively monitor and guarantee the rights of its citizens, especially those populations that have historically been marginalized.


In Cuba, we are concerned about the situation of political prisoners and the harassment and repression against independent activists and journalists. The case of political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer García, General Coordinator and founder of the Unión Patriótica de Cuba – UNPACU (Patriotic Union of Cuba), is alarming, seeing as three months have passed since his arrest, he is yet to be granted a trial, and he is ill-treated in the cells of the prison in which he is detained. His situation is especially worrisome because he could have the same fate as several other independent activists who have been convicted of common crimes upon expressing their opinions. For example, the Dama de Blanco (Lady in White) Martha Sánchez is currently in prison under a sentence of four and a half years. Similarly, the situation of independent activists and journalists suffering from travel restrictions without any legal justification is alarming.  This violates every Cuban citizen’s right to freedom of circulation. Regarding this situation, we support the proposal for a peaceful and symbolic demonstration in favor of the right to free circulation that will be held this Tuesday at the José Martí International Airport terminal. We recall that any demonstration or peaceful expression of an individual constitutes an inalienable right under international law.


In Nicaragua, the serious political and human rights crisis that the country has been facing for almost 20 months does not seem to improve. Authorities refuse to respect dissenting voices and continue to violate the human rights of Nicaraguans, including the right to protest, to free mobilization, and to freedom of expression and of the press. To date, about 150 prisoners and political prisoners have been counted, who all go through corrupt trials that lack constitutional guarantees. Nor have international organizations such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) been allowed to return to the country, while local organizations face persecution and the permanent siege by police and government-related groups.

In Colombia, the violence that is experienced after the signing of the Peace Agreement prevents us from thinking about true progress over the inequalities, marginalization, and terror that still exist in the Colombian territories. Today, the systematic assassination of social leaders is one phenomenon that lacerates the integrity of human rights defenders. According to official figures, approximately 343 homicides of social leaders were reported between January 2016 and August 2018; however, civil society organizations report more than 400, of which around 40% were against Afro-descendant and indigenous leaders. To this is added the “statistical genocide” that represents the latest results of the population survey: official figures reported 2.9 million people who recognized themselves as Afro-descendants in the 2018 Census, at least one million less than reported in 2005. This month, after two weeks of national strikes and social mobilizations of the Colombian people that call for immediate and urgent responses to serious violations of fundamental rights from the State, the breach in the effective implementation of the Peace Agreement, and the commitments accepted in matters of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition, representatives of civil society organizations continue to support the construction of peace through a peaceful route that makes it possible to come together in the midst of differences.

Part of the Race and Equality team along with human rights defenders from Latin America.


During 2019, the persistent violence and discrimination against the Afro-LGBTI population was a problem that was studied more closely by the International Human Rights Protection Systems. This year a hearing was held before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the situation of the Afro-LGBTI population in the Americas, with the presence of representatives from Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. Additionally, the UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), Victor Madrigal, met in Colombia with Afro-LGBTI organizations in Cartagena, and Commissioner Margarette Macaulay visited Afro-LGBTI activists from the Favela de Maré in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.  

All these activities are framed in a year in which violence against Afro-LGBTI people has persisted. Brazil remains the country with the highest number of murders of trans people in the world. According to current data from the Associação Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais – ANTRA (National Association of Trans People) in Brazil at least 106 transgender people were killed in Brazil until November of 2019.  Many of these victims are Afro-descendant trans women. In other countries such as Colombia and the Dominican Republic, violence against the Afro-LGBTI population still persists, with the reoccurrence of many homicide cases. Other expressions of violence, as in the case of Nicaragua, are strongly associated with a repressive political and religious context that impacts the lives of LGBTI activists, even reaching measures such as exile, to avoid arbitrary detentions and torture.


In Mexico, Panama, and Peru, the incorporation of racial and ethnic self-identification questions in population and housing censuses remains a great challenge in the collection of real and permanent statistical data that reflects the characteristics of the Afro-descendant and indigenous populations of those States. Civil society organizations have repeatedly denounced the lack of statistical information on ethnic peoples, stating that it is due, among other things, to a lack of dialogue and participatory work, seeking to develop questions of racial self-identification in conjunction with ethnic communities. On the contrary, the censuses contain questions that lack context, which means that they are difficult to understand, and this results in erroneous, incomplete, or not addressed statistical data in them. For this reason, the creation of government plans, programs, or policies for the benefit of overcoming this population’s reality of inequality and social injustice are complex to implement and materialize.

After five years of the founding of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, we remain committed to the defense of human rights in the region, especially in the countries where we work: Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. We continue to work to promote and protect the human rights of marginalized populations, especially those due to national or ethnic origin and sexual orientation or gender identity, in addition to those who think and show distinct opinions. This December 10, we reaffirm our desire to contribute to the construction of an equitable society for all based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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

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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.

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Statement: Organizations demand that the personal integrity of hunger strikers and detainees in Nicaragua is guaranteed

Friday, November 15, 2019 – 13 activists and human rights defenders were arbitrarily detained on the night of November 14, when they were providing humanitarian assistance to a group of  political prisoners’ mothers, who are gathered in the San Miguel Arcángel Church in Masaya, Nicaragua.

The arrest was carried out by police and paramilitaries outside the church.  The mothers are gathered in the Church and are surrounded by police and paramilitaries, which are preventing anyone from entering or leaving and have besieged the Church, cutting off the electricity and water service.

The people arrested are Amaya Coppens, Ivania Alvárez, Wendy Juarez, Olga Valle, Olama Hurtado, José Medina, Hanzel Quintero, Atahualpa Quintero, Neyma Hernández Jesús Tefel, Roberto Büstching, Derlis Hernández and Melvin Peralta, who were transferred to the prison facilities of the Direction of Judicial Assistance “El Chipote” in the early hours of Friday.

The detention at El Chipote is of great concern due to it being notorious for alleged acts of torture, cruel and degrading treatment, as well as sexual violence against detainees, a risk that may be heightened due to the fact that some of them are known members of the opposition, human rights defenders and former political prisoners.

The situation of the women who remain on hunger strike is equally alarming, since they are deprived of drinking water. They have not eaten food for almost 24 hours and are without access to water or medications, putting their health at serious risk.

These events are occurring in a context marked by an increase in hate speech, attacks and harassment against freed political prisoners, human rights defenders and media critical of the government.

The undersigned national and international organizations:

1. Demand that the Nicaraguan Government  immediate release the 13 human rights defenders and activists arbitrarily detained;

2. Put an end to the siege and the harassment against the political prisoners’ mothers, and restore the electricity and water services to the San Miguel Church Archangel.

3. We hold the Nicaraguan Government responsible for any impact on the health and wellbeing of the persons deprived of liberty and the women who are undergoing the hunger strike.

4. We reiterate our call to the international community to remain alert and act in the face of the aggravation of the socio-political and human rights crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing since April 2018, and in view of the intensification of the persecution and repression faced by activists, organizations, human rights defenders and political prisoners.

Signatories:

Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Humanos (IM- Defensoras) – Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL) – Plataforma Internacional Contra la Impunidad – Fondo de Acción Urgente para América Latina y el Caribe (FAU-AL) – Instituto Internacional sobre Raza, Igualdad y Derechos Humanos (Raza e Igualdad) – JASS (Asociadas por lo Justo) – Unión de Presas y Presos Políticos Nicaragüenses – Iniciativa Nicaragüense de Defensoras – Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH) – Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (CLADEM) Nicaragua – Oxfam Nicaragua – Colectivo de Derechos Humanos Nicaragua Nunca más – Ipas Centroamérica – Centro por la Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Costa Atlántica de Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN) – Convergencia por los Derechos Humanos (CAFCA, CALDH, CIISH, ECAP, ICCPG, ODHAG, SEDEM, UDEFEGUA, UNAMG), Guatemala – Asociación Red de Jóvenes para la Incidencia Política INCIDEJOVEN – Defensores Sin Fronteras – Fundación Puntos de Encuentro Nicaragua – Asociación de Jueces por la Democracia Honduras – Centro Universitario por la Dignidad y la Justicia Francisco Suárez, S.J.- Asistencia Legal por los Derchos Humanos A.C. (ASILEGAL- MÉXICO) – APRODEH-Perú – La Sombrilla Centroamericana – Front Line Defenders – Centro para la Acción No violenta y Cultura de Paz en Centroamérica – ProDESC – Articulación de Movimientos Sociales y Sociedad Civil (AMS) – Asociación de Jóvenes Feministas Ameyalli – Red de Mujeres de Matagalpa – Feministas Madrid por Nicaragua – Feminista por Nicaragua Euskal Herria – Colectivo Feminista Ecuador – Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalizacion del aborto – Popol Na Nicaragua – Agrupación de Mujeres Trans y Culturales AMTC – Centro de Investigación y Acción de la Mujer CIAM – Centro de mujeres ACCIÓN YA – Colectivo de Mujeres de Matagalpa – Campaña 28 de Setiembre por la Despenalización del Aborto – Punto Focal Nicaragua – Red de Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe. Enlace Nacional Nicaragua – Mujeres en Acción,Costa Rica – Colectiva Feminista para el Desarrollo Local – Agrupación Ciudadana por la despenalizacion del aborto – Red Salvadoreña De Defensoras De Derechos Humanos – Centro de Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud (CISAS) – Concertación Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres – Colectiva Lupa Feminista – Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres – Articulación Feminista de Nicaragua – Fundación Acceder Costa Rica – Abuenica – Cooperacció – Handmaids Costa Rica – Ni una menos Costa Rica – Instituto de Liderazgo de las segovias – Coalición Cívica 19 de Abril Matagalpa – Asociación Agentes de Cambio Nicaragua – Nicaragua Protesta – Activismo Digital Nicaragüense (ADNIC) – Movimiento 19 de Abril Jinotega – Alianza Civica de Jinotega -Grupo Anonymous de Nicaragua – Comité Cívico Universitario UCA – REACNIC – Fundenic – Movimiento Estudiantil de Apoyo a la Democracia – Alianza Universitaria Nicaragüense AUN – Alianza Azul y Blanco Chichigalpa – Movimiento Nacional Ambientalista Frente a la Mineria Industrial -Movimiento Sociales de las Segovias – Accion Universitaria – CODENI – Asociación NicaLibre – Sos Nicaragua Madrid – NicaSeattle – Unidad por los Exiliados Nicaragüenses en Panama – SosNicaragua Barcelona – SOSNicaragua- Holanda – Collectif de Solidarité avec le Peuple du Nicaragua -Nicaragua Karavaan – SosBelgique-Nicaragua – SosNicaragua-Europa – SoyNicaragua en Zaragoza – Sos Nicaragua España – SosNicaragua Galicia A Coruña – SOSNicaragua-Sverige – SOS France Nicaragua – Texas Nicaraguan community – SOSNicaragua Finlandia – Guanared Costa Rica y más.

“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.

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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.

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

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