Race and Equality coordinates academic visit of UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Victor Madrigal.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
Autor: Isaac Porto, Consultor LGBTI de Raza e Igualdad en Brasil
Race and Equality demands effective medical care for the Cuban activist Xiomara Cruz Miranda
Photo: Radio Martí
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human
Rights (Race & Equality) expresses grave concern regarding the health of Cuban
activist Xiomara Cruz Miranda, whose condition has worsened in recent days
while she awaits a firm diagnosis. Her situation is all the more concerning
given that she should be benefiting from the precautionary measures granted to
her by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
According to reporting from the independent media outlet Diario
de Cuba and the testimony of her family members, Xiomara Cruz’s status
remains delicate and uncertain. “She continues to be very debilitated, with
constant fevers and severe muscle pains. Her doctors are giving her daily
medications and running tests, but they still give vague answers to our
questions and do not give us any written documents,” according to one of
her family members.
At first, doctors believed that Xiomara suffered from
tuberculosis; she has received tuberculosis treatments throughout her time in
the hospital. However, tuberculosis tests conducted in early August showed
negative results. According to a statement in Diario de Cuba by
Xiomara’s daughter Clara Iznaga, the doctors could not explain this result and “they
do not understand why she continues to have these pains…The doctors change
their opinions and never give a clear answer. One day it is tuberculosis, the
next day it is lung cancer. Although they have run several tests, they have
never shown the results to the family, which is why we really do not trust the
doctors.”
Although some press sources have reported that Xiomara will
be sent home now that she is no longer believed to be contagious with
tuberculosis, Cuban activists report that she will actually be transferred to
another hospital to be tested for cancer. Doctors raised the possibility of
lung cancer early in Xiomara’s ordeal and subsequently ruled it out, but her
family members are now re-considering the possibility as they still cannot find
any explanations for her continued illness.
“What they’re doing is putting us through a labyrinth,” said
one family member regarding officials’ non-committal and negligent treatment of
Xiomara and her family, noting that doctors have not yet addressed a third
possible diagnosis of non-tuberculosis bacterial lung infection.
As Diario de Cuba reports, Cruz Miranda was sentenced
to one year and four months in prison for her supposed crime of “threats.” She
began her sentence in the El Guatao women’s prison and was later sent to Ciego
de Ávila, where she was hospitalized with skin lesions and other symptoms that
have only worsened over time.
In July of this year she was transferred to Havana for
treatment in La Covadonga hospital (where she remained under custody). At the
end of July, she was rushed to intensive care with low hemoglobin, fatty liver,
fluid in her lungs, shortness of breath and a high red blood cell count along
with the same skin condition.
Race & Equality insists that the Cuban state guarantee
Xiomara’s right to health by prioritizing and delivering the medical attention
that she needs. Although Xiomara was perfectly healthy upon being taken into
custody, her life is now in danger. She is suffering from daily fevers, has
lost weight and is very weak. Medical negligence and blatant violations of
Xiomara’s rights to life, health and dignified treatment are obvious given
these facts. We urge the international community to speak out regarding the
serious danger to the activist and rights defender’s life.
The struggles of being Transgender and Afro-descendant in Colombia
The Trans Support and Action
Group Foundation (GAAT, for its initials in Spanish), in partnership with
ICASO, carried out the event “Transcending Barriers: Rights and full
citizenship for people with experience of trans life” from the 16th
to the 19th of September 2019. This event was attended by trans
activists from eleven different regions of Colombia that met in Bogotá to
discuss how their human rights are being guaranteed, what are the barriers they
struggle with to access services, and how to create some strategies to overcome
these challenges.
The event was also attended by
five Afro-descendant activists with diverse sexual orientations and gender
identities -four trans women and a non-binary person- from the departments of
Tolima, Valle del Cauca, Atlántico, Chocó and the municipality of Montes de
María; who addressed their reflections from the experiences that frame their
reality as Afro-trans people living in Colombia.
Among the comments highlighted by the activists was the latent discrimination they live with in their territories, generated by barriers to access to different rights such as health, education, and work.
“… the Constitutional Court ruled that trans people who wanted legal recognition of their gender identity in their EPS could do it, and this issue is still a complication in the territory…” Afro-trans Chocó activist.
“… In hospitals as elsewhere, there is not yet a focus on differential care for trans men and trans women. So, that makes (going to) the doctor a complete torture, […] the treatments that one can already follow, but then they give you a lot of obstacles and paperwork, and in such a way that finally you get tired and don’t go to receive your hormones, or go to the doctor at all… ” Afro trans non-binary activist from Valle del Cauca.
The activists also denounced teachers
and classmates who use strong dynamics of discrimination in educational spaces;
in addition, they stated that there are policies that deny the gender identity
of diverse people, because authorities refuse to issue official documents with
the identifying names of those people.
Regarding the guarantees of
access to work, the leaders expressed that there are no labor inclusion
policies for trans people, therefore, they are not even interviewed for the
positions they aspire to have, or there are more requirements imposed on them –
such as the completion of multiple courses – to delay their applications.
“… Work for transgender people in my municipality is very scarce. It is something sad, because there we talk about labor inclusion [but] a trans girl […] just for having her male name on her ID, is called by her masculine name, not by her identifying name […] When [whoever is in charge of the job interview] enters, [says] ‘what a shame, the interview cannot be done because you appear under another name’.” Afro trans activist from Montes de María.
“Our race is also a cause of
violence and a factor that generates new dynamics of discrimination and
marginality,” said one of the Afro-trans activists, referring to the
differentiated violence that Afro-descendant women face in comparison to the
rest of the population classified as “mestizo white.” Accordingly, the leaders
referred to a social and state discourse that denies the existence of racism
and systems of structural discrimination by pointing out that racism has
diminished or does not exist. This creates an invisibility of their identities
in official statistics.
“… In the prosecutor’s office or in any other entity, they do not take the time to ask one how one identifies oneself […] I realized this through a process that I took to the prosecutor’s office […] I had the right to say that I am an Afro-descendant trans person. I went to the official, I approached and told him. [He replied:] ‘But you have to understand that everyone is recognized as white or mestizo. There is no Afro.’” Afro trans activist from Montes de María
Structural
racism is also illustrated by the stratification of the territories, where Afro
people inhabit the poorest areas, and those who have a better standard of
living do so through a lot of work or association with mestizo white people.
Because of this situation, there is a lack of the guarantee of rights in places
predominantly inhabited by Afro people. In turn, this barrier is accentuated
when Afro people also have diverse sexual orientations or gender identities
because their violence becomes more complex.
“We could say that you have to take sides, or defend yourself as an afro person, or defend yourself as a diverse person, but not both, impossible, that would be death”. Afro trans activist from the Caribbean.
Systematic forms of psychological violence and discrimination in the territories are other situations that, according to the stories told by the leaders, violate the integrity and rights of Afro-trans people. “Generally, the first thing that is affected is self-esteem, because to understand that they begin to look at you first, to judge you without even knowing you, sometimes simply because of your skin color, that is brutal. And the other thing is that […] you have your hair and you have your afro, and they come to want to touch your hair without asking, that is already violent because they are invading your space and they don’t even ask,” details non-binary Afro trans leader from Valle del Cauca.
Finally,
within their own family, or even in spaces shared with LGBTI people, their
ideas are not validated by their peers in the same way as the ideas of their
white mestizo companions and counterparts.
“If you are black, it is a proposal, but if you are white, the proposal is validated.” GAAT Executive Director.
Given
the various structural problems that undermine and deepen the circles of
poverty, racism, discrimination, and marginalization of Afro people with
diverse sexual identities and orientations, activists pointed out the
importance of creating spaces in the territories that reinforce the ideas of
family building, outside the “traditional-conventional” biological form that
reduces the construction of the family bond to the consanguinity traits of
family members. In addition, they proposed the creation of policies for access
to health, work and education for trans people.
At the same time, they pointed out that the State institutions require pedagogies and trainings regarding the Afro-trans issues with a territorial focus. “These activities must be directed by people who are empathic with the issue in order to create much deeper discussions and lessons,” stressed the activists. They also said that it is important that there is greater empowerment of new Afro-trans leaderships, and pointed out relevant ways that social organizations should strive to create greater spaces of inclusion for Afro people who understand first-hand the specific complexity of their daily lives in the territories.
The
Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) was invited by
GAAT to hold a short workshop during the afternoon of September 16th. This
invitation was motivated by the need found by the executive direction of the
organization to incorporate the relationship and intersection of gender
identity with ethnic-racial belonging into the agendas, activisms, and work
with communities. The workshop was composed of a brief reference to the
existence and activities carried out by the Afro-LGBTI Network of Latin America
and the Caribbean, as well as a series of findings from documentary reviews
made by the member organizations of the Network. Thus, we deepened the need for
the incorporation of intersectional approaches in trans activism, referring to
situations in which structural racism, together with the dynamics of prejudice
against LGBTI people, increase the vulnerability of people who find themselves
mostly in contexts of poverty and without protection from the State.
At
Race and Equality, we celebrate the completion of these types of conferences in
which our counterparts can establish working relationships, as well as expand
their relationships, with activisms that work tirelessly for the defense of
transgender rights. . We also highlight
the growing interest and commitment in the visibility and social and political
impact of the rights situation for Afro-LGBTI people. We believe that this type
of interaction is essential for new human rights activists and organizations present
in the different regions of Colombia to start creating intersectional analysis
efforts from their own agendas.
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