25N and 16 Days of Activism, a Time to Reflect and Act Against Gender Violence

25N and 16 Days of Activism, a Time to Reflect and Act Against Gender Violence

Washington DC, November 25, 2022.- In 2021, 56% of women murdered worldwide died at the hands of their partners or other family members, according to UN Women, the United Nations organization dedicated to promoting the rights of women and girls. This statistic was released on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is commemorated this November 25 and marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence

According to the organization, every hour, more than five women or girls were murdered in the world by a member of their closest environment in 2021. In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the context of Covid-19, the problem of femicides has been described as “the other pandemic”. Although it is difficult to establish exactly how many femicides occur in the region each year due to the lack of official data or the bias with which some States record violence against women, the approximations made by international agencies or civil society organizations reveal a serious situation.

According to the report La pandemia en la sombra, by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), at least 4,091 women were victims of femicide in 26 countries (17 in Latin America and 9 in the Caribbean) in 2020. An snapshot by country reveals equally worrying figures. In Mexico, in 2021, authorities recorded 977 murdered women, 18% of whom were under 18 years of age. In Honduras, that year there were 381 femicides, for a rate of 4.7 per 100,000 women.

Although femicide is the most extreme expression of violence against women, it is important to bear in mind that there are various manifestations that violate their rights. Unfortunately, this is a generalized and trending dynamic in our societies: every day, at every moment, a woman, girl or adolescent is a victim of gender-based violence. UN Women estimates that 1 in 3 women in the world suffer gender-based violence during her lifetime.

For the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), monitoring and analyzing the situation of violence against women in the Americas, as well as making recommendations to States to combat it, is a fundamental axis in our work of promoting and defending human rights from an intersectional perspective, as we understand that gender-based violence is structural and has multiple expressions that can affect disproportionately according to national origin, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender diversity.

A wave that grows and resists

Undoubtedly, the movement against gender violence has grown significantly in the Americas. The work of recording and denouncing the violence faced by women in different areas of society has made it possible for this issue to become a key pillar in the creation of public policies for the protection of their rights and the elimination of this so-called pandemic.

This International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we not only want to contribute to make the problem visible, but we also want to highlight the profiles of women who confront gender violence and seek to transform the reality of their communities to ensure a life free of violence and with equal opportunities for women and girls.

Fighting gender-based violence without a legal framework

Eroises González is an Afro-Cuban activist who heads the Plataforma Femenina, an organization that for 12 years has been working for women to identify and confront the various manifestations of gender violence. This work continues despite the fact that Cuba does not have a law on violence against women and is one of the few countries in the region that does not typify the crime of femicide. “Today Cuban women, despite the fact that we still have a long way to go to achieve a life free of violence, are trying to break with the patriarchy imposed for years,” she says.

Resisting political violence

Anexa Alfred Cunningham is a Nicaraguan indigenous Miskitu woman, lawyer and member of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) for Central and South America. In July 2022, at the end of her first official mission to the fifteenth session of the EMRIP, the expert was unable to board her flight back to Nicaragua on orders from the country’s authoritarian regime. Thus, she was left in a situation of illegal exile from her own land, where she resided and where her family was waiting for her, including her young sons and daughters.

Confronting Vicarious Violence

In Peru, Sabrina Rodríguez fights against vicarious violence through the Frente de Lucha Materna. This type of violence is aimed at harming women through their loved ones, especially their children. Its most extreme manifestation is the murder of sons and daughters, but it is also expressed when parents impose conditions for alimony, threaten to remove custody and harass with legal complaints, among other actions, to continue exercising control, harming, inflicting pain, emotional and economic wear and tear on women who have decided to cut off the familial relationship.

Accompanying migrant women

Gaby Arenas, from Colombia, is the founder and director of TAAP (Taller de Aprendizaje para las Artes y la Paz), an organization that has been working for 15 years to build peace through art and the promotion of human rights, with a special focus on women victims of gender-based violence and migrant women. Its mission is to transform the realities of communities through the arts and social innovation so that they can live without violence and achieve wellbeing.

Understanding to act

Following this year’s United Nations theme for the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”, and understanding that to achieve this the different forms of violence that affect women must be addressed, we present an ABC on issues and aspects relevant to the understanding and prevention of gender-based violence.

GBV: Acronym used to refer to Gender-Based Violence.

25N: November 25th, the date on which the International Day for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence is commemorated.

Gender-based violence: Refers to the different forms of violence that affect women and girls. It can be physical, psychological, emotional, economic, social, etc.

Femicide: The murder of a woman/girl because of her gender. They are usually carried out by people close to the victims and with whom there is a familial or emotional bond.

Feminism: Social movement that seeks equity between men, women and other genders.

Machismo: Social and thought structure based on the assumption of a false superiority of men over women.

Gender identity: Refers to how a person identifies themselves in terms of gender. If the biological sex (penis or vagina) is in accordance with what is socially associated with that gender, it is a cisgender person; if there is no such social concordance, it is a transgender person.

Feminization of poverty: Social phenomenon according to which women have experienced a series of social, structural and historical forms of violence and barriers that make it impossible for them to have equal access to resources.

Care work: Often unpaid work that has been socially feminized.

Gender equity: Actions that seek equity in access to possibilities and resources between men and women.

Intersectionality: Concept that refers to the intersection of identities understood as historical and socially vulnerable.

At Race and Equality we understand that the processes of awareness and analysis, both for women and men, and at different levels of society, comprise a fundamental pillar to design and implement actions against gender-based violence. We recognize that progress has been made in this regard, thanks, in large part, to the role of civil society. For this reason, we continue to demand greater will and diligence from the States to formulate and implement public policies aimed at guaranteeing the integrity and lives of women and protecting their rights.

On the other hand, the creation and effective functioning of state mechanisms to address gender-based violence is important -and in those countries where they already exist-they must operate without biases and delays and be in line with the standards established by international treaties such as the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, known as the Convention of Belém Do Pará, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Editorial – Brazil: Blackening the political agenda with gender perspectives in the 2022 elections

Brazil, October 06th, 2022 – On October 2, Brazilians were heading to the polls to define the political scene for the next four-years in Brazil. These elections have sparked several episodes of political violence. In recent weeks, it has become clear that this violence is not only directed towards candidates, but also to voters, especially when they defend agendas considered progressive and linked to human rights. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), as a non-partisan organization, expresses deep concern around the challenges of a guaranteed Brazilian democracy, freedom of expression, and political participation during the election period.

Recent cases reveal the extreme brutality and attempts at silencing. For instance, on September 26, in Cascavel, Ceará, a man was stabbed to death after being asked about his vote and declaring that he would vote for former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Councilman and candidate for federal deputy, Renato Freitas, even had his mandate revoked by the Chamber of Curitiba, which was reinstated after the decision of the Federal Supreme Court that recognized the presence of structural racism in the act. Both situations point out that conservative practices are strategically implemented through the promotion of hate speech and the persecution of any opponent of their government, creating greater democratic disparity.

Fear has become an anti-human rights political tool, and as it has been denounced by Brazilian social movements, political violence is exacerbated when it permeates through the black and LGBTI+ population. Black, transvestite, and transgender women are systemically impacted through political violence as a way of making their political participation unfeasible, through use of offenses, threats, public humiliation, and intimidation.

We know that poverty in Brazil involves class, race, and gender and that this part of the population is still underrepresented in the spheres of power, whether in Congress, political parties, or state and municipal governments. Considering the importance of centering the racial agenda in the electoral debate and also in the government’s public policies, through this editorial we highlight the following: in a country whose population is mostly black (56%), with an unpayable historical debt between Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples [1], the political agenda needs to be darkened: the intersectional racial debate needs to be effectively incorporated in order to build political accountability for social inequality.

Debate around blackening the political agenda also means discussing the support and strengthening of black candidates committed to the racial agenda. TSE data show that, of the 28,966 candidacies registered in the court, 14,497 are from black people. However, a few days before the elections, most political parties had not reached the minimum percentages of transfers from the electoral fund to black candidates, who had received only 36% of the fund’s resources. It should also be noted that, on one hand, in the few electoral debates of presidential candidates, the racial agenda was not addressed, moreover among most Brazilian states, the candidates with real possibilities of winning the presidential and congressional elections are white and cis-heterosexual men.

Therefore, we highlight some political reflections that we consider urgent and necessary to break with the paradigms of violence proposed by the current discriminatory, racist, sexist and LGBTIphobic structure. Furthermore, this is a call to the political class and the social movement to, without fail, demand that any construction of public policies include the intersectional racial perspective of 2022-2026.

Black women: Racialization of the Maria da Penha Law and political plan for care economy

The most recent data show that in Brazil, between 2009 and 2019, the number of homicides against black women increased by 2%, while the number of homicides against non-black women fell by 26.9% in the same period. Thus, even after the implementation of the Maria da Penha Law, rates of violence continue to disproportionately affect black women. For these reasons, the black women’s movement claims the need to racialize the legislation for the construction of public policies that contemplate their safety.

The insertion of a social justice plan aimed at black women presents a reparatory path within a culture of hatred and violence against women. The current patriarchal structure needs to recognize the precarious living conditions and food insecurity in which most black women live in. We must not forget that a woman (black domestic worker) was the first death victim of COVID-19 in Brazil.

Racialization of the public security debate and federal accountability in the face of police lethality

As long as the racial agenda is not incorporated into the culture and militarized structure of public security in Brazil, the criminalization of the black population will continue to deepen in the country. It is essential that criminal justice practices seek new ways to combat violence and reduce mass black incarceration. In Brazil, the state does not take responsibility for the fundamental rights of its population and encourages violence through massacres and the reproduction of militias.

The number of licenses to carry weapons, expanded during the Bolsonaro government, and grew 325% in three years. In this way, we focus on the creation of collective strategies that seek a new public security policy to mitigate racist police violence, and encourage the collection, systematization, and referral of violations by state agents, especially in the favelas and peripheries of the state country.

Cartography of violence against LGBTI+ bodies in Brazil

It is important to remember that the LGBTI+ political agenda is not disconnected from the racial agenda, on the contrary, the violence data reflect that black trans women are the biggest victims of cruel murder in the country. Therefore, we focus on the transversality of public policies that can contemplate the LGBTI+ population in its particularities. It is necessary that data collection be a governmental responsibility and that a collective agenda be put into practice that starts from a sociocultural and educational reorganization, in which LGBTIphobic practices are in fact held accountable and do not remain unpunished. It is necessary to remove Brazil from the regrettable record of being the country that kills the most LGBTI+ people in the world and, for that, a governmental commitment to the rights of this population is necessary.

Religious racism: Implementation of a strategic plan to contain violence against African-based religions

In a secular state, the discourse that uses religion to legitimize and promote violence, as well as express prejudice, needs to be fought against. We express strong concern especially in a scenario of advancing neo-Pentecostal fundamentalism. Religion should not reverberate a culture of hatred and intolerance against other religions. In Brazil, we know that this hatred is directed especially towards practitioners of religions of African origin, and in recent years there has been an aggravation of what many terreiros and organizations have called religious racism. Thus, we urge the defense of the rights of African-based religions and traditional peoples of the country.

Indigenous peoples: representation and defense of Amazonian territories

We emphasize that the claims for the racialization of public policies contemplate, in their entirety, the ethnic-racial demands of the Brazilian population. Therefore, the native peoples and quilombolas need the new government to meet their specificities and protect their territories. Environmental racism occurs from the devastation of the Amazon Forest and indigenous and quilombola territories. This includes the disruption of sanitary and housing conditions of peripheral communities that live on slopes and riversides. Indigenous underrepresentation, whether in parliaments or in any other decision and power space, is leading to yet another decimation of many peoples, and exploitatively benefits agribusiness and mining companies.

The indigenous call for the end of the time frame is just one of the survival strategies in which they continue to denounce the massacre of their communities by miners. The increasing destruction of the Amazon rainforest continues to be denounced by activists and human rights defenders– a fact that has led Brazil to enter the UN’s “dirty list” as a dangerous country for these leaders. Thus, we insist that this governmental intimidation imposed on civil society with the closure of civic spaces cease, and we continue to demand that the next government reactivate committees and councils that value the preservation of human rights.

Implementation of international agreements that value the fight against structural racism

Since May 2021, Brazil has ratified the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance (CIRDI) and, as a next step, the government must implement the Convention. With the status of constitutional amendment, the CIRDI also deals with economic and social rights, representing a legal instrument that allows a new horizon for projects of historical reparation and representation.

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Over the last few years, Race and Equality has been working in Brazil to strengthen civil society organizations in the fight against racial discrimination and gender inequalities, fostered by current exclusionary policies and the growth of hate speech. Since then, as a human rights organization, we have continued to denounce human rights violations in the country. Difficult challenges continue to arise as civil society encourages the government to incorporate the intersectional racial debate.

Race and Equality will continue to monitor the Brazilian State and bring to light, at the international level, patterns of violations that are repeated at the expense of vulnerable populations. We are all responsible. There is no possible neutrality in a society who is the agency for change. Voting, in its democratic process, is the exercise of the right to change, and at this moment, an exit door for hate speech.

 

[1] Black, quilombola and indigenous population

Afro Latines Advocacy Week: Race and Equality brings organizations from Brazil and Colombia to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., September 27th 2022 – From the 27th to the 30th of September, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) brings human rights organizations from Brazil and Colombia to Washington, D.C., working to promote and defend the rights of the Black and LGBTI+ population.  In order to promote an exchange of political advocacy strategies between the Afro-Latine and the Afro-American movements, the meetings will take place within the framework of Black Caucus Week; an annual conference of Black U.S. Congress that aims to boost and debate the civic engagement of the Black population. In addition, the delegation participates in academic meetings with U.S. civil society organizations and private meetings with congress members and state departments.

The Brazil-Colombia delegation present in Washington D.C is formed by the organizations: Geledés – Instituto da Mulher Negra (BR) that will be represented by Rodnei Jericó da Silva, Coordinator of SOS Racismo;  NGO Criola (BR) with the presence of the Project Coordinator, Lia Manso;  Somos Identidad (COL), with the Founder Johana Sinisterra and the Legal Representative Sandra Milena Ibarbo;  and the Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados (AFRODES – COL), with the presence of Coordinator Luz Marina Becerra.  Representing Race and Equality, the Executive Director Carlos Quesada; Zuleika Rivera, Senior Officer of the LGBTI Program and Brazil Program Officer, Nathaly Calixto, will be present at these meetings.

In this exchange among Black Pan-American organizations, the Latin American organizations aim to take the Black and LGBTI+ perspectives of the global southern diaspora for an effective political impact, as well as exchanges of good practices so that they can move together to achieve plural racial justice. It’s important to emphasize that, for Race and Equality, these meetings are an opportunity to promote strategies of structural political changes with an intersectional bias; as Brazil is in the electoral period, Colombia’s President values racial agendas and, this year, the U.S. Congress goes through midterms elections.

“It’s precisely in this configuration that we empower organizations to act with political implications. Being able to talk to Black U.S. Congress members about the Latin American racial agenda is one way to influence the Biden administration, because it needs a congressional majority to pass its agendas.  It is in this sense that we plan to ensure and strengthen international human rights agreements on racial and gender justice and, in this case, there’s nothing better than organizations to guide the demands of their countries,” says Carlos Quesada.

Brazil and Colombia: In Search of Racial Justice

As the U.S. academic community seeks to understand and foster studies on the Black diaspora, the BRA-COL delegation will meet with academics and students at Howard University to share the efforts of regional civil society organizations in defending human rights. The idea is to show that even though racism is a global issue, the different sociocultural dynamics and the deficit economic contexts produced by centuries of colonialism, impact primarily on the most vulnerable populations in Latin America and Afro-Caribbean. In this case, to make known the racial and gender equity agenda of these organizations, can stimulate studies that provide, in  the future, the construction of equitable global public policies.

Brazil, for example, has the highest murder rate of LGBTI+ people in the world, and this incidence rate cross-referenced from an intersectional perspective is highest in trans-Black women in vulnerable situations. The organizations Geledés and Criola, together with Race and Equality in Brazil, conducted a survey monitoring the closure of civic spaces, in which they mapped that the rise of an ultraconservative agenda has generated attacks on the Brazilian democratic system, criminalization of human rights defenders and the immobilization of citizen participation councils and associations. With this, there are growing attacks and hate speech against Black women and elected LBTIs who intend to participate in the political life of the country.

In Colombia, for years the Afro-Colombian community has suffered a process of marginalization and vulnerabilization, and the civil society and Afro-Colombian leaders have denounced the existence of a geographical apartheid reinforced by structural and institutional racism.  This same structure resonates in erasing the struggle for the existence of ethnic peoples, which reinforce that civil rights in the country must be thought of in multiethnic and multicultural perspectives, taking into account how racist violence impacts these territories and racialized bodies. Similarly, for Colombian LGBTI+ people, the scene of gender and racial violence continues to increase: from January to June 2022,  354 victims of  sexual orientation assaults were recorded, 324 of whom suffered some physical abuse and  229 suffered these abuses within their own families.

The excessive use of police force in both Brazil and Colombia is a complaint presented to international human rights mechanisms.  The armed conflict in Colombia and police forces in Brazil intersect in the profile of their victims: Black people in vulnerable living conditions in territories whose presence of the state is marked by police violence. In Colombia, at least 1,144,486 people who identified themselves as part of the Black population were recorded as victims of armed conflict, according to data from the National Information Network, which corresponds to 38.38% of the total. In Brazil, the Brazilian Public Safety Yearbook points out that of the total of 6,145 deaths by police intervention, in 2021, 84.1% were Black and 15.8% were white.

Why the Black population is seen as a threat

In addition to this question and many others that permeate the racist structure that found the police corporations of Latin America, Race and Equality in partnership with organizations in Brazil and Colombia, continue in a regional project to confront and denounce racist police violence in both countries.  In the face of this meeting in Washington, D.C., police violence that intersects with the Black and LGBTI+ populations will also be the subject of meetings to placate this colonial modus operandi, in which Black bodies are exempt from the presumption of innocence and, because they exist, are victims of all violence and seen as a threat, whether in Latin American countries or Anglo America.

In view of this, racism, gender-based violence and LGBTIphobia pose the real threat to a system of oppression that disrespects inalienable human rights and international treaties that value their guarantees. For this, Race and Equality with the BRA-COL delegation intend to denounce to the American Congress members the current milestones of violation of the rights of the Black population and LGBTI+ Latin America. The exchange of these dissenting voices reaffirms the purpose of further denouncing racism and its different forms of violence that prevent the full exercise of citizenship, freedom of expression and the right to development of these countries as a call for partnership and inclusion of the Black population of all the Americas.

Brazilian delegation participates in the pre-sessions of the UN-UPR in Switzerland with recommendations on racial discrimination in Brazil

Brazil, September 15th, 2022 – With Brazil’s review approaching in the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) promoted a series of meetings, in July and August, along with civil society organizations that work on issues of race, gender and sexual orientation in Brazil, including Embassies in Brasília and their respective Permanent Missions, in Geneva, Switzerland. The Universal Periodic Review is a mechanism developed by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council to assess the human rights situation in each of the UN member countries.

The meetings in Geneva took place between August 29 and September 2, and the following organizations participated: Grupo Conexão G de Cidadania LGBT de Favelas (RJ), represented by the current Director General Gilmara Cunha, a trans woman, community leader, and activist of human rights; NGO Criola (RJ), with the presence of Mônica Sacramento, the Institution’s Project Coordinator; Marielle Franco Institute (RJ) with its Executive Director Anielle Franco; Geledés – Instituto da Mulher Negra, represented by Nilza Iraci, Coordinator of Political Incidence. On behalf of Race and Equality, the Executive Director, Carlos Quesada; David Veloso, Human Rights Consortium Coordinator; Gaia Hefti, Advocacy Officer in Geneva; and Leilane Reis, Race and Gender Officer of Brazil all took part in the meetings.

Due to the importance of demonstrating at the regional and international level the current framework of human rights violations in the country, in addition to seeking to raise awareness around the need for more targeted recommendations for the black population, LGBTI+, and indigenous peoples, this delegation has actively participated in human rights mechanisms by sending reports. The agenda in Geneva represented a continuity of the work of political incidence in Brasilia. There were five days of meetings focusing on the visibility of the current situation of racial discrimination in Brazil, leading to the Permanent Missions, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and Independent Experts’ specific recommendations on the subject.

Geneva Agenda

On August 30, several Brazilian organizations were selected by the UN Human Rights Council to speak on the situation in the country during the pre-session of the UPR, and propose the recommendations to the Brazilian State, who was also present at the event, with its Permanent Mission. It should be noted that the Report of the Brazilian State for the evaluation of the IV cycle of the UPR was only published on the eve of the pre-session of the UPR, leaving civil society in the dark regarding what information was published. Representing the Brazilian delegation, Anielle Franco was invited by the organizer of the pre-sessions, the NGO UPR Info, to speak on the intersections of police brutality and racism in Brazil. The activist brought to light the recent massacres in Rio de Janeiro and the murder of the young black, pregnant woman, Kathlen Romeo.

“These are cases that indicate that the death of the black population in Brazil is a systemic issue, promoted by the Brazilian authorities and covered up by the police forces. Instead of investigating the massacres and discriminatory violence against the Afro-Brazilian population, the Brazilian government and police try to legitimize these police operations and attack Brazilian human rights organizations, such as the Marielle Franco Institute.”

On August 31, the International Day of People of African Descent, Race and Equality held a hybrid event entitled, “Racial Discrimination in Brazil: Violence against the Black Population and Indigenous Peoples.” The event was attended by the delegation present in Geneva and aimed to make the recommendations made by these organizations for the 4th cycle of the UPR visible to the general public, expanding beyond closed meetings with Embassies and Permanent Missions. In addition, the event was also an important tool of international political advocacy for the construction of networks and partnerships between Brazilian and international organizations.

The Brazilian delegation had the opportunity to take the recommendations to the Ambassador of Chile in Geneva, Claudia Fuentes Julio. They also met with the Embassies of Canada, Australia and Argentina, the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica, France, Germany and Colombia, and with Gay McDougall, Rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which is responsible for monitoring the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Faced with the current picture of violations presented, a review that will take place in November this year, charging the Brazilian State for covering up the racial issues in the country.

It is important to highlight that the delegation provided ample space for listening and dialogue in meetings with experts from UN treaty bodies, experts on afro-descendant peoples, and experts from the mechanism on police violence created by the UN in 2021. In addition, the Brazilian delegation was received by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) who is charging the Brazilian State for neglecting the well-being of the black, indigenous, and LGBTI+ populations.

International Incidence: The Paths to Geneva

The task of illuminating the ongoing human rights violations in the country for international mechanisms and their support is a major commitment for Race and Equality with civil society organizations in Brazil. For this, technical training work and support to these institutions are necessary so that their complaints and demands arrive instrumentalized to the Experts and Rapporteurs of each international body; this work is called advocacy and/ or political incidence. During the Race and Equality event in Geneva, the Executive Director, Carlos Quesada, stressed the importance of the daily construction of advocacy strategies in Brazil, “to train grassroots organizations to promote political actors through a technical training methodology so that these organizations can generate sustainable structural changes.”

Thus, in order for the Brazilian delegation to be received with its recommendations in Geneva, it was necessary to hold a meeting in Brasilia, with the Embassies of the countries that will review Brazil in the 4th cycle of the UPR, and the other Embassies present at the UPR Human Rights Council. The meetings in Brasilia took place from July 27 to July 29, and were attended by: Gilmara Cunha, General Director of the Grupo Conexão G de Cidadania LGBT de Favelas (RJ); Marina Fonseca, Anthropologist and Political Advisor at the NGO Criola (RJ); Fabiana Pinto, Sanitarian and Coordinator of Incidence and Research at the Marielle Franco Institute (RJ); and Rodnei Jericó, lawyer and Coordinator of SOS Racism of Geledés (SP). Representing Race and Equality were present: Leilane Reis, Officer of the Race and Gender Program and, Adriana Avelar, Incidence Officer in Brazil.

The meetings in Brasilia were with the Permanent Missions that evaluated Brazil in previous periods in themes of interest to the group that are connected with the current and fragile Brazilian democratic system: European Union, United States, Norway, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, Argentina, UK, Colombia and Chile.

The organizations sought to make visible the current regulatory frameworks that have exacerbated the vulnerability of black, indigenous and LGBTI+ populations in Brazil since the last review of the UPR, taking into account the precariousness of life due to the effects of the pandemic. Based on the recommendations made by the Embassies visited, the following themes were discussed: violence against the LGBTI+ population, police violence against the black population, black women’s health, closure of civic spaces, and indigenous peoples’ rights. The intention was to establish a dialogue with recommendations for the next cycle, to point out the social markers in force in Brazilian society and to be able to highlight the real situation of human rights violation in Brazil.

The work of political incidence is actively built-in partnership with Brazilian organizations, it’s necessary to be connected with the political and legislative proposals of the Brazilian Government so that effective action can be taken to ensure the construction and implementation of international treaties and agreements. The purpose of the route from Brasilia to the pre-sessions of the UPR in Geneva is to welcome the recommendations of the Brazilian delegation during the review of Brazil at the UPR session, which will take place on November 14, at 2:30 pm (Geneva time), and at 9:30 am (Brasília time).

What are the next steps?

The UPR is a UN mechanism in which State Parties evaluate State Parties. Therefore, UPR, along with civil society can impactfully highlight the human rights violations in Brazil and influence the evaluating states to accept its recommendations in the assessment process. As mentioned earlier, Brazil also delivered its report, in which it said it had consulted civil society on the human rights situation in the country. With this, an analysis based on advances, setbacks, and good practices is performed from all information received and, finally, the evaluated State must apply the recommendations of its peers.

If the recommendations of the Brazilian delegation are accepted and promoted by the State Parties during the UPR, the next task is to present them to the new Government that will take office in 2023, so that it becomes aware of the work of political incidence of civil society organizations. From there, the recommendations should be ratified and implemented in Brazil’s four-year public policies. Thus, civil society carries the responsibility to monitor compliance with the agenda in combating racial discrimination granted in the UN Universal Periodic Review. Race and Equality follows alongside these organizations to monitor and pressure the government in applying the international agreement.

Finally, to collaborate with the United Nations Universal Periodic Review mechanism, Brazilian organizations supported by Race and Equality propose, among others, the following recommendations addressed to the Brazilian State:

I) Ensure the occurrence of investigations into crimes committed against LGBTI persons in favela territory, enabling the collection of public data on such crimes.

II) Take urgent measures to curb and eradicate police violence at any stage of action by civil police, military, and armed forces in carrying out missions on Brazilian soil.

III) Recreate participatory councils and collegiate groups that allow participation and indigenous social control in the formulation, monitoring, implementation, and evaluation of indigenous policies of the Brazilian State in the areas of territorial management, education, health and culture, alongside the establishment of programs and measures to prevent and punish racism, discrimination, and violence against indigenous peoples, and to promote ethnic and racial equality, autonomy, and the right of peoples to be different.

IV) Conduct the implementation of the National Plan for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and institutionalizing the Protection Program for Human Rights Defenders, Communicators and Environmentalists (PPDDH) by expanding its structure in the 26 states of the country and DF, establishing budgets, regulations and specific strategies for the reception and follow-up of cases of black, trans, and transvestite women human rights defenders, representatives of traditional peoples and communities; create indicators for monitoring and judicial mechanisms for the accountability of their main violators, highlighting the use of police brutality and militarized groups employed to suppress rights and freedoms of expression, association, belief, assembly, and political participation in Brazilian civic space.

V) Ensure access to reproductive health services, including ensuring that abortions are carried out under the conditions provided for in current legislation, without bureaucratic obstacles or embarrassment to people who are pregnant and seek care, giving special attention to the situation of black pregnant and parturient women who suffer from the impact of institutional racism on maternal health.

Key points of the Cuban Family Code draft, an initiative that will be submitted to a popular consultation on September 25

Washington, D.C., September 12, 2022 – On September 25, Cubans will answer yes or no to the question, “Do you agree with the Family Code?” The population is called to participate in a referendum to discuss the direction of the proposal of the new Family Code, a project composed of 471 articles and which, among its most important points, recognizes equal marriage, the redistribution of domestic work and care, the prevention of gender-based violence, and a number of rights that are aligned with the recognition of diverse families.

The new Family Code is an initiative that emerged after it was established in the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (which was reformed in April 2019) – the National Assembly of People’s Power should begin the process of popular consultation, within a period of two years, to “figure out a way to establish marriage.”[1]

As a result, the project has generated all kinds of reactions in Cuba, due to the decision of the Cuban State to submit to a referendum, this proposal expands the rights of children and adolescents on the Island, and of other population groups that historically have been victims of violence and discrimination, such as people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, women, older adults, and people with disabilities. These rights should be guaranteed without the need for Cubans to approve them; that is to say, the government of this country must work so that these rights are recognized without resorting to a popular consultation or any mechanism of citizen participation. Human rights should not be negotiable or subject to an approval process.

The legal team of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) analyzed the Family Code draft, here are some key points:

  • The new bill broadens the concept of the traditional family, consisting of a man and a woman. In this way, the different forms of families are incorporated, recognizing rights for affective de facto unions, regardless of the legal ties that are established.[2]
  • It incorporates concrete guidelines to ensure equality between men and women, such as the equitable distribution of domestic work and care work. It also includes the right of women to decide about their own bodies and the full development of sexual and reproductive rights, regardless of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, or if they are disabled.
  • Expands the spaces for participation and decision-making of children and adolescents.
  • It incorporates considerations on discrimination and violence in the family, provides the possibility of resorting to the authorities to request protection, and the option of claiming damages caused by this type of aggression. The project foresees sanctions for those who engage in family violence.
  • The proposal of the new Family Code expands the bonds of people who constitute kinship and recognizes affection as a determining source. It also establishes the socio-affective bond that is sustained on the basis of a stable relationship over time, which can justify filiation. This extension refers to other articles related to food, family communication, and hereditary vocation.
  • It incorporates specific considerations concerning older persons and persons with disabilities, such as foster care, which aims to keep these population groups in a regular social environment or incorporate them into a family environment that facilitates their integration and inclusion.
  • This initiative also includes the recognition of adoptive, assisted and socio-affective filiations, it offers the possibility of recognizing the different forms of family that exist in Cuba. It also incorporates the figure of multiparentality, which implies that a person may have more than two filiation bonds, either for original causes, or for overtaken causes. And it establishes the possibility for families to choose the order of their surnames.
  • Couples in registered partnerships, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, will have the same right to adopt that married couples have historically had. The possible age to be adopted is also extended to 18 years.
  • The project introduces the possibility of using methods of assisted filiation, which is when the fertilization of an ovule is done without sexual union.
  • It also regulates the possibility of resorting to gestation solidarity in certain situations, a practice that is currently illegal in Cuba.
  • While in the old code marriage is defined as the “voluntary union of one man and one woman,” in this project it is called, “voluntary union of two people.” Children under 18 years of age may not marry.
  • This new bill also refers to the parental responsibility that must be assumed by those who have underage children in their care. In the document, the introduction of concepts such as “positive parenting” and aspects such as education for responsible sexuality, non-discrimination and non-violence are highlighted.
  • The right of children and adolescents to a digital environment free of violence is incorporated.
  • The care of children and adolescents is also addressed, and it is established that grandparents, grandmothers, and other relatives or emotionally close people can also take care of minors.
  • This bill includes considerations that promote family communication.

From Race and Equality, we insist that the State of Cuba recognizes the human rights of all the people who reside in its territory, regardless of any popular consultation. It is necessary that the authorities provide guarantees so that Cuban society can grow and develop in an environment in which its rights are fully recognized, without fear or limitations. We demand that the Cuban government comply with its international human rights obligations and guarantee the fundamental rights of its entire population, without discrimination of any kind.

***

[1] Constitución de la República. Preámbulo. Texto disponible en: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/es/constitucion-de-la-republica-de-cuba-proclamada-el-10-de-abril-de-2019

[2] Proyecto Código de las Familias. Versión 25. Texto disponible en https://www.parlamentocubano.gob.cu/sites/default/files/documento/2022-07/CF%20V%2025-140622%20VF%20%20Para%20ANPP%20%282%29_0.pdf

UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association deeply concerned about the closure of spaces in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras

San José, September 7, 2022 – Central America is going through a spell of serious setbacks regarding the respect and guarantee of the foundational rights and liberties  to civic spaces, including the freedoms of expression and of peaceful assembly and association, particularly in countries such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The current context  poses a dire threat to just, peaceful and inclusive societies in the region.  

In this context, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, conducted an academic visit in Costa Rica, to talk about his mandate’s activities to promote and protect these rights in the region. 

During the visit, which took place between 29 August and 2 September, the Rapporteur had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Costa Rican Bar Association, the Diplomatic Academy and the United Nations University for Peace, among others. 

On September 1, at the headquarters of the University for Peace, a conference took place with university students, with the participation of the Dean of UPEACE, Juan Carlos Sainz-Borgo, and Mr. Mihir Kanade, Director of the Human Rights Center & Academic Coordinator at UPEACE and President of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development.

During the visit, Special Rapporteur Voule participated in a presentation at the Diplomatic Academy “Manuel María de Peralta” in San José, together with Ambassador Carmen Claramunt, Deputy Director of the Diplomatic Academy. 

Nicaragua

“In Nicaragua, one of our main concerns I raised with authorities throughout my engagement with them are the laws that have been adopted between 2020 and 2022, notably the Law of Foreign Agents and the Law of Regulation and Control of Non-Profit Organizations”, said Voule during his presentation at UPEACE.

“The provisions of these two laws are being used by the Nicaraguan authorities to  suppress civic space by criminalizing human rights defenders and opposition leaders and dissolving hundreds of civil society organizations”, he added.

In his presentation, the Special Rapporteur placed special emphasis on the seriousness of the situation in Nicaragua since 2018. The socio-political crisis that began more than 4 years ago has resulted in the quasi-total closure of civic space, the curtailment of the freedom of association, and the repression of almost all peaceful demonstrations critical of the government. 

The Special Rapporteur emphasized that through such  laws, more than 1600 non-governmental organizations have been closed in the country, according to the information he received.

“The situation is tense, even in our capacity. We have not been able to enter the country. Those I’ve been able to speak with have said that their properties were confiscated. We’re now seeing other countries attempt to replicate this dire situation  for civic space, and my mandate wants to prevent that. That’s why I came to Central America”, the Special Rapporteur said.

The closure of these spaces has worsened since the approval of the Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents passed by the Nicaraguan congress in September 2020, which was used as a pretext to close civil society organizations in the country.

The month of its adoption, the mandate sent a communication to the Government of Nicaragua expressing its concern about the incompatibility of the Law on Foreign Agents and the Law on Cybercrimes with the country’s international obligations, particularly with regard to human rights. The Special Rapporteur stated that the law’s scope of application was overly broad and lacked in clarity. This legislation prohibits those classified as “foreign agents” from intervening in Nicaraguan affairs, political issues or internal activities, without these terms being clearly defined.

El Salvador

Similarly, in the region, the Government of El Salvador is in discussion since 2021 to adopt  a similar law which has raised concerns across various sectors, as they fear it will generate a similar situation to the one in Nicaragua and will lead to the closure of hundreds of civil society organizations.

Among others, the Special Rapporteur expressed his concerns about provisions  creating a registry of foreign agents that severely limits access to funds from external sources. The Special Rapporteur stressed that he was gladto receive a reply from the Government stating that the consideration of this law had been suspended. 

Guatemala

In Guatemala, the Rapporteur raised his  concerns over the abuse of emergency measures to prohibit and suppress peaceful protests, in addition to the increased militarization and politicization of civic protests. These concerns were conveyed to the authorities through an official communication.

Honduras

Honduras is also one of the countries in the region that has warranted particular  attention from the Special Rapporteur’s mandate.. Mr Voule has shared his concerns through official channels with the Government over the criminalization of, as well as the attacks and judicial harassment against civil society leaders, which has resulted in several deaths. 

On the Rapporteur’s mandate

Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule was appointed Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association by the Human Rights Council and assumed his functions in April 2018. 

The mandate he holds submits annual reports to the Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly, as well as conducts official country visits to assess the situation with regards to the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in a country, and present recommendations.

The Special Rapporteur additionally transmits urgent appeals, other letters, and letters of allegation to Member States on alleged violations of the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.

In June 2022, the Special Rapporteur presented to the Human Rights Council his most recent thematic report on “Access to resources”, as well as his report on: “The Protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests during crisis situations.”

International Day for People of African Descent: What Are We Doing to Promote and Defend their Rights?

Washington D.C., August 31, 2022.  This August 31, the International Day for People of African Descent celebrates its second year, promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of people of African descent. In the Americas, there are 134 million people of African descent, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). This population continues to face human rights challenges and is victim to different manifestations of discrimination and violence.

For this reason, as the International Day for People of African Descent is commemorated once again, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) encourages States to assume and implement actions for the promotion and protection of this vulnerable population, using the frameworks of the International Decade for People of African Descent, and other existing mechanisms within the Inter-American System and the United Nations.

About August 31 and Other International Mechanisms

On December 16, 2020, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 75/170 proclaiming August 31 as the International Day for People of African Descent. “To promote greater recognition and respect for the diversity of the legacy, culture, and contribution of people of African descent to the development of societies, as well as to promote respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people of African descent,” reads the Resolution.

The plan of activities for the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) has been the driving force behind this type of action. One of its main objectives is to adopt and strengthen national legal frameworks in accordance with the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ensuring their full and effective implementation.

Additionally, the record of acts of discrimination and violence against people of African descent—such as the murder of the African-American citizen George Floyd in May 2020 in the United States—has impacted the vigilance and adoption of international mechanisms for the human rights of Afro-descendant populations and racial justice.

For example, a month after Floyd’s death, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 43/1, “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and people of African descent from excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officials,” which calls for widespread attention to racism and implores States to take an active role in meeting their objective of racial justice.

In 2021, the United Nations adopted two important mechanisms. One of them is the Permanent Forum of Afro-descendants, which was approved in August through Resolution 75/314 of the United Nations General Assembly, with the mission of being an advisory body of the Human Rights Council. Among its mandates is that of, “contributing to the full political, economic, and social inclusion of Afro-descendants in the societies in which they live, with an equal footing to other citizens and without discrimination of any kind and contribute to ensuring the equal enjoyment of all human rights.”

Moreover, in a resolution adopted on July 13, 2021, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an international mechanism of independent experts, composed of three experts with experience in law enforcement and human rights, and appointed by the chairman. Its mandate is to examine systemic racism and the excessive use of force and other violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement officials around the world.

What are we doing?

To contribute to living in a more just and equitable society, Race and Equality works with partner organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean in the defense and protection of the rights of people of African descent and Afro-LGBTI+ populations, using capacity building to promote visibility, documentation, and strategic litigation before the Inter-American System and the United Nations.

In July, in Brazil, Race and Equality organized a visit by Margarette May Macaulay, the Rapporteur for People of African Descent of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The Commissioner had the opportunity to hear complaints from the black population, especially those related to police brutality and religious racism. In addition, in May Race and Equality launched the ‘Kátia Tapety Political Training School’ for Afro-BLTI women, with the aim of strengthening civil participation in collective decision-making spaces, with particular emphasis placed on reducing gender and race gaps in political participation at the regional, national, and global level.

Additionally in Brazil, Race and Equality has been working on projects that denounce the closure of civic spaces for black and indigenous movements; the fight against religious racism; the protection and defense of the Afro-LGBTI+ populations; the political strengthening of black, indigenous LBTI women; and the fight against police violence. It also monitors the implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance (CIRDI), which was ratified at the end of 2021 in Brazil.

In Colombia, Race and Equality carried out, in conjunction with organizations in Cali, documentation activities and the preparation of a report on the effects and differential impacts of violence against people of African descent in Cali within the framework of the 2021 National Strike. In the coming days, together with the organizations Ilex-Acción Jurídica, Temblores NGOs, and the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES), Race and Equality will publish a national report on police brutality and racial bias.

In relation to advocacy processes before the United Nations on the disproportionate use of force against people of African descent, Race and Equality recently presented a report for the Mechanism of Experts to Promote Justice and Racial Equality in Law Enforcement. It also submitted a report on inputs for the preparation of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 47/21- this in coalition with Ilex-Acción Jurídica, CODHES, Black Communities Process (PCN), and the Center for Afrodiasporic Studies (CEAF) of the ICESI University of Cali.

In Mexico, within the framework of the International Day of Afro-Latin, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women, Race and Equality launched on July 25 the project, “Promotion of an anti-racist agenda to strengthen the work of civil society organizations in the fight against racism and racial discrimination in Mexico,” which is being implemented thanks to the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

One of the first activities of this project consisted of a cycle of conferences given between August 25 and 26 by Dr. Pastor Murillo, a member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. The conferences, which were held both in Mexico City and in Mérida, Yucatán State, revolved around international tools to combat racism and racial discrimination, and the role of universities.

At the regional level, Race and Equality maintains the CIRDI 2024 campaign, “towards a region free of racial discrimination,” for the promotion of the signature, ratification, and implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance (CIRDI). Within the framework of this campaign, Race and Equality has considered working hand in hand with local organizations to strengthen their monitoring capacities in countries where this Convention has been ratified, as well as advocate in other countries where it has only been signed.

Race and Equality continues to make racial discrimination visible utilizing an intersectional perspective, through the Inter-American Forum against Discrimination, an event held each year with the participation of international experts and activists from the region. Its main objectives are to promote the effective participation of non-governmental organizations in the framework of the OAS General Assemblies and Summits of the Americas, to improve their impact within the system, and to make visible both the different discriminations faced in the Americas and the main demands of the different sectors of the population that are victims of discrimination, especially Afro-descendants and LGBTI population.

For Race and Equality, it is important to emphasize the promotion and protection tools offered by international mechanisms, such as CIRDI, for the benefit of people of African descent. We firmly believe that it is through these instruments States can adopt and implement clear and effective policies to guarantee the human rights and social welfare of people of African descent. To this end, it is essential to work with civil society organizations that protect the rights of this population, since they guarantee the visibility of their realities, and follow up on national and international commitments.

On August 31, Race and Equality reaffirms its commitment to defend and protect the rights of people of African descent in the Americas and calls on States to adopt measures and strengthen those already in place, based on the recognition of the historical inequalities that this ethnic group has faced. Two years before the end of the International Decade for People of African Descent, this task is not only urgent, but represents a true commitment to democracy and social inclusion.

IACHR denounces that Cuba has faced six waves of repression in the last year

Washington DC, July 28, 2022 – Commissioner Edgar Stuardo Ralón, Rapporteur for Cuba and on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty and for the Prevention and Combat of Torture of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and First Vice President of this organization, assured that six waves of repression have been registered on the Island in the last 12 months. The statements were made at the event ‘Cuba: A year after 11J’, which was held on July 18, 2022 in Washington DC, and was co-sponsored by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) and the IACHR, with the support of the organizations Artists at Risk Connection, PEN America; PEN International; PEN Cuban Writers in Exile; and Civil Rights Defenders.

“The first wave dealt with the use of force and campaigns of intimidation and stigmatization. The second, arbitrary arrests, mistreatment, and deplorable conditions of detention. The third consisted of the criminalization of demonstrators, judicial persecution, and violations of due process. The fourth, closure of democratic spaces through repressive and intimidating strategies aimed at discouraging new social demonstrations. The fifth wave was evidenced by the continuity of the deprivation of liberty, and the trials without guarantees of due process. And the sixth is the legislative proposals aimed at limiting, monitoring, and punishing dissident expressions and critics of the government, as well as criminalizing the actions of independent civil society organizations,” said the Commissioner during the event that commemorated one year of the peaceful protests on July 11 and 12, 2021, also known as 11J.

Each of these moments, according to the Rapporteur for Cuba, have been recorded after the “most massive demonstrations in the recent history of the Island” took place, which left 1,484 people detained, including 57 boys, girls and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17. Although a year has passed since the marches, there are still more than 600 people who remain deprived of liberty for having exercised their right to free expression, according to the director of Cubalex, Laritza Diversent, who also participated in the commemorative event and has compiled, together with the 11J Justice Movement, statistics on the human rights violations that have been evidenced since then.

Commissioner Ralón also stressed that the IACHR has condemned the state repression against people who participated in or supported the peaceful protests in Cuba and assured that the organization has shown its concern about the arrests, the trials with sentences ranging from 5 to 30 years in prison, the cases of repression denounced by activists, artists and independent journalists; and legislative proposals aimed at limiting, monitoring and punishing expressions critical of the government.

“The Commission observes that the first results of the sixth wave, for example, began with the new regulations on telecommunications and cybersecurity (Decree Law 35 on telecommunications and Resolution 105 on response to cybersecurity incidents, of August 17, 2021), and culminated in the approval of a new Penal Code (May 15, 2022), which establishes broad and imprecise categories that would give room for arbitrary and discretionary application by the State,” said the Rapporteur for Cuba.

Voices that reveal human rights violations

The waves that have arisen after the 11J protests have been registered in the midst of the shortage of medicines and food, the serious economic crisis, and the recurrent blackouts that affect thousands of families on the Island. “We still see that the causes that motivated the protests persist. The balance is not encouraging and there are no structural solutions […]. From the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (RESCER), we observe a general increase in poverty”, said Soledad García Muñoz, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (DESCA), who also was part of the panel at this event.

Cuban independent journalist Orelvys Cabrera, one of the panelists at the meeting that took place on July 18, is one of the more than a thousand people who have experienced the waves of repression highlighted by Commissioner Ralón. He was arrested during the peaceful demonstrations in July 2021. “I was imprisoned in a hole underground. Mold covered the walls and we only had three hours of water a day in a space that was two meters long and four meters wide. 12 men lived there, and our only crime was having gone out to demand a change in the system,” he revealed.

Orelvys, along with the Cuban activist Saily González and the artist Iris Ruiz, a member of the San Isidro Movement, who were also part of the panel, are other voices of the repression and harassment by the Cuban State Security. Osvaldo Navarro, a member of the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration, also participated in the event virtually, highlighting that the 11J protests have affected women and people of African descent differently.

To the six waves of repression that have been registered in Cuba in the last year, the director of Strategy of the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Yaxis Cires adds one more. “A seventh wave could be the emptying of the opposition that is taking place on the Island. It is a way of closing the doors to a democratic change where different political actors participate,” he stated during his speech at the event, and assured that an example of this is the case of the Cuban activist Anamely Ramos, who was prohibited by the authorities of this country from returning to Cuba. She, who also participated in the discussion, remains in the United States waiting to be able to return to the Island.

After a year of the peaceful protests of 11J in Cuba, we reiterate the request to the Cuban authorities to cease the violence against the people who demonstrate and organize peacefully to demand their rights. We request that the human rights of each of the people who reside on the Island be respected, guaranteed, and protected, who despite everything they have experienced in the last 12 months, await a free Cuba.

Cuba: The impact of 11J on human rights

Washington DC, July 11, 2022 – One year after the peaceful protests that took place en masse on July 11 in more than 50 locations in Cuba, Cuban society continues to suffer from a context of deep economic crisis, characterized by serious limitations in the access to food, medicines and basic necessities. These factors, which a year ago unleashed the need for Cuban men and women to raise their voices and make their claims heard, continue to impact their lives today, even with greater intensity. The violations of human rights after the demonstrations known as 11J, persist on the Island, and are getting worse.

The repression continues

The situation of repression and the silencing of voices of dissent has not ended after 11J. Activists, human rights defenders, artists and independent journalists face constant harassment on a daily basis by the authorities and State Security forces. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) itself expressed its concern about the intensification of the repression and other violations of rights since the protests of July 2021, especially against those who participated in the demonstrations that took place on the 11th of that month [1].

In November 2021, various groups of activists once again tried to call for a peaceful protest and were faced, once again, with hundreds of arbitrary arrests, selective Internet service outages, interrogations and individualized surveillance of their homes. During 15N, as these demonstrations were called, the Civic March for Change was planned; however, the people who made public their desire to participate in this event were prevented from exercising their right to peaceful protest.

After this initiative, the use of judicial repression was aggravated with an exemplary character, there was an acceleration in the judicial processes followed against the 11J protesters and prosecutor petitions were presented requesting sanctions of up to 30 years of deprivation of liberty. Likewise, the relatives of the detained and/or prosecuted activists suffered -and continue to suffer- harassment and persecution by State Police, every time they try to exercise their right to peaceful protest in the face of the cruel situation in which their loved ones find themselves in.

Mass exodus

The context of the crisis that dominates Cuba has caused a growing number of Cuban men and women to decide to leave the island and settle in other countries. There is great concern about the high number of people who try to cross borders exposing themselves to extremely risky situations.

As a consequence of the difficulties that Cubans face in obtaining transit visas in numerous countries, the majority of people opt for irregular migration through routes that expose them to being victims of criminal networks, risks to their health, and even the danger of losing their life. Many people arrive at the border posts and remain for months in the custody of the immigration authorities without certainty about their situation.

At the same time, the Cuban government has intensified restrictions on the exercise of the right to free movement, both inside and outside the country . The authorities of the Island have used the tactics of forced exile and the prohibition of entry to the territory of Cuban nationals with current residence, to silence those critical voices that acquire greater visibility. It is of special concern that, in addition to the socio-economic conditions that expel thousands of Cuban men and women from the country, there is systematic and permanent harassment against activists, artists, and journalists, who are pressured to leave the country in subhuman conditions. This situation is preventing many people from enjoying their nationality effectively and, likewise, it prevents them from enjoying other fundamental rights such as the right to a family and the free choice of residence.

Legislative reforms

On May 14, 2022, the National Assembly of People’s Power approved the new Penal Code. Although the final official text has not yet been published, the draft raises concern since it maintains a broad and ambiguous language to classify those crimes that have been used arbitrarily to persecute the activities of human rights defenders, jurists, activists, and independent journalists. Of particular concern is the increase in penalties related to “Crimes against the Internal Security of the State”, among which are crimes against the constitutional order, sedition and propaganda against the constitutional order, which have frequently been used to repress and criminalize the legitimate exercise of the human rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The repression and historical criminalization in Cuba persists protected by internal legislation that limits the exercise of human rights such as freedom of expression and association. An example of this is the use of criminal offenses such as sedition and public disorder to criminalize those who decided to exercise their right to peaceful protest on 11J and 15N. Other practices that the State has adopted to respond to the 2021 marches also draw attention, among which, the failure to observe the principle of the best interests of the child and the special care they require stand out; the psychological coercion to force people to leave the Island and the siege of the national and international press. Although these practices are not new, they reveal a state policy based on sowing fear in the population and the interest in getting rid of any type of popular expression critical of state policy.

One year after 11J, from the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, we call on the Cuban State to put an end to repressive practices against those who demonstrate and organize peacefully and claim their human rights. The Institute will continue to monitor the situation, documenting the abuses perpetrated by the government and denouncing human rights violations to the international community.

 

[1]IACHR, Press Release 295/21, The IACHR expresses concern over the worsening of repression and other human rights violations since the July protests in Cuba , November 5, 2021.

UN renews crucial human rights expert mandate on sexual orientation and gender identity

The UN Human Rights Council once again reaffirms its commitment to combating discrimination and violence on the grounds of SOGI, and reminds all States of their obligations towards LGBT and gender-diverse people

(Geneva, 7 July 2022) – The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) for three more years. In a critical vote, the resolution was adopted by a vote of 23  in favour, with 17 voting against and 7 abstaining.

1’256 non-governmental organisations from 149 States and territories in all regions supported a campaign to renew the mandate.

Today’s vote was the first time that the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution explicitly condemning legislation that criminalises consensual same-sex conducts and diverse gender identities, and called on States to amend discriminatory legislation and combat violence on the grounds on SOGI. 

“Billions of people continue to live with laws and societal attitudes that put them in danger”, said Manisha Dhakal of Blue Diamond Society in Nepal, on behalf of a global coalition of civil society organisations. “Acknowledging that so much work remains to be done, the Council once again reaffirmed its commitment to combatting discrimination and violence on grounds of SOGI, reminding all States of their obligations towards these communities.”

“The existence of a specific UN human rights mechanism on violence and discrimination on the basis of SOGI is crucial for our communities to be heard at the global level,” added Carlos Idibouo of Fierté Afrique Francophone (FAF) from Cote d’Ivoire. “If the world is truly committed to leaving no one behind, it can’t shy away from addressing the violence and discrimination that we face. Laws criminalising our identities and actions are unjust and should no longer be tolerated”.

Created in 2016, and renewed for the first time in 2019, the Independent Expert has been supported by a growing number of States from all regions. The resolution to create and renew the mandate was presented by a Core Group of seven Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Uruguay –  and was cosponsored by 60 countries from all regions. 

“Having secured a renewal for three more years, this mandate will now continue to support initiatives in countries around the world ensuring that LGBT and gender-diverse people live free of inequality , and to amplify their voices and testimonies in international human rights fora,” added Aleh Ordóñez Rodríguez of Ledeser in Mexico.

Not only did the renewal process successfully overcome 12 of 13 hostile amendments, the core of the resolution affirming the universal nature of international human rights law stands firm.

The Independent Expert assesses implementation of international human rights law, by talking to States, and working collaboratively with other UN and regional mechanisms to address violence and discrimination. Since 2016 the world has heard more about the impact of criminalisation of same-sex relations between consenting adults, the need to legally recognise a person’s gender, the barriers to social inclusion and the importance of collecting data related to LGBT lives, the harm caused by so-called ‘conversion therapy’, and more. The Expert has also cast a light on good practices to prevent discrimination, and recently conducted visits to Argentina, Georgia, Mozambique, Tunisia, and Ukraine.

We hope that all governments cooperate fully with the Independent Expert in this important work to bring about a world free from violence and discrimination for all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

** ENDS **

Note to editors:

  1. The Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. The mandate was established in 2016 and has been held by Vitit Muntarbhorn (2016-2017) from Thailand, and Victor Madrigal-Borloz (2018-ongoing) from Costa Rica..
  1. The press release refers to “people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities” or to “LGBT” – instead of “LGBTI” – as the mandate is specifically tasked with addressing human rights violations on sexual orientation and gender identity.

 

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