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“This is a person who deserved to die.  She should not be in this life”. Review of Colombia’s first-ever conviction for Femicide of a Trans woman

“This is a person who deserved to die.  She should not be in this life”. Review of Colombia’s first-ever conviction for Femicide of a Trans woman

The facts

Ányela Patricia was a trans woman who worked as a hairdresser in the municipality of Garzón in the department of Huila.  In contrast to the life experiences of other trans women in Colombia that have been marked by stigma, she was recognized and loved by the community.  It is thus that when Ányela was assassinated in February 2017, the community of Garzón took to the streets during her funeral to march with posters and flags, calling for an investigation into her homicide (see here the image and news about it: http://www.lanacion.com.co/2017/02/11/lo-mate-porque-me-hizo-dano-homicida-de-estilista/).

The incidents that occurred in February 2017 apparently transpired quickly in Ányela’s hair salon in the morning hours: she was shot several times by Mr. Davinson Estiven Eraso, who on a previous occasion in August 2016 had tried to attack Ányela with a machete and was stopped by the intervention of [her] friends and relatives.  Although on this occasion the alleged assailant was taken to a police station, no further consequences ensued with regard to this antecedent (particularly serious because the matter was limited to a police detention proceeding without a criminal investigation that delves into the gravity [of the act], as occurs in many cases in Colombia).

When Mr. Eraso finally achieved his goal in 2017, he was caught by the authorities, before whom he declared he had carried out unfinished business, additionally adding in front of regional media of the department of Huila that Ányela was a person who should die: “This is a person who deserved to die.  She should not be in this life.”

The sentence

The Second Criminal Circuit Court, led by Judge Catalina María Manrique Calderón, sentenced Mr. Eraso as the author of the crime of aggravated femicide for the crimes established in the Criminal Code, Articles 104 A and 104 B, and the crime of illegally bearing arms.  Nonetheless, he was declared immune from prosecution because during the criminal process he demonstrated signs of schizophrenia associated with, among other things, drug dependence and in any case, with “the existence of a permanent mental disorder.”  As such, the assailant was ordered imprisoned for 20 years in a psychiatric institution or an establishment that could appropriately attend to him.

There are several elements that are fundamental to understanding this sentence and that represent important progress in terms of the approach to violence committed against trans women, including the following we wish to highlight: recognition of gender identity; recognition of the motivation behind gender-based violence and indictment for the crime of femicide; [and] use of national and international regulatory frameworks.  Nonetheless, other issues should [also] be carefully reviewed in the name of criminal procedural guarantees.

Recognition of gender identity

One of the first signs of clear progress made by this sentence represents a milestone in Colombia: the express recognition of the victim’s gender identity.  It might seem to be a small thing, but keeping in mind that while sentences and decrees exist in Colombia that recognize the gender identity of trans persons, in this case the scope of the recognition of gender identity also translates into the possibility of applying a criminal regulation that traditionally has been utilized exclusively to protect the lives of cisgender women, despite the fact that Article 104 A also recognizes gender-based violence against women.

This recognition is important because it clarifies the concerns of public prosecutors and lawyers in this matter, as evidently the Office of the Public Prosecutor in this case adopted an interpretation regarding gender identity consistent with Colombian jurisprudence and the recommendations and international declarations in this area.  This had very concrete effects, one of the most interesting of which was the acceptance by the Office of the Public Prosecutor in a court of first instance as supporting evidence regarding the female gender identity of the victim the testimonies of friends and relatives who recognized Ányela as a transgender woman, as well as her expression of feminine gender.  Secondly, while the Office of the Public Prosecutor mentions the existence of surgical interventions that had been performed on the victim’s body (breast augmentation), this is considered to be a supplementary part of the construction of her own identity.

Recognizing the victim’s identity is very important because for some public prosecutors and jurists working in this field, gender identity could only be proved through changes in identification documents – the personal identification credential.  This, of course, would be an unnecessary requirement that would contravene Colombian constitutional jurisprudence, as well as international standards in this matter, in the sense that gender identity is made up of actual life experiences and is not based on legal recognition.  This proposition of the Office of the Public Prosecutor was seconded by the judge hearing the case that, although it delves into the description of the autopsy which describes the surgical intervention, it takes up anew the social construction of Ányela as a woman who was well-known in her community.

In conclusion, there is no single standard for proving gender identity; therefore, demanding a sex change that is recorded in the public registry as proof would not acknowledge the personal and social processes for constructing gender identity.

 Recognition of the motivation behind gender-based violence and indictment for the crime of femicide

As a result of the Office of the Public Prosecutor’s recognition of the victim’s gender identity, it is not only possible to indict for the crime of femicide, but in addition, the gender identity itself of the victim becomes a central element for understanding the motivation for the violence.

When there is an indictment for femicide in the case of a trans woman, it not only requires a woman to be the victim but also for the motivation behind the violence to be related to the fact that she is a woman or due to her gender identity.  In this case, both the Office of the Public Prosecutor as well as the judge who heard the case agreed that in light of the fact that the assailant followed the victim and saw her repeatedly in her hair salon, he was able to establish the victim’s gender identity; this was also evidenced in situations of verbal aggression in which he insultingly mentioned Ányela’s gender identity.

The fact that the assailant had followed Ányela, verbally attacked her, and even progressed to the point of trying to attack her with a bladed weapon (machete) in 2016 prior to the homicide denotes a context of persecution and violence based on the victim’s gender identity.

While the sentence could have been richer in detail in order to make a clear connection between the assailant’s prejudice, the violence, and its relationship to the victim’s gender identity over the course of the trial, the Office of the Public Prosecutor was able to demonstrate that the fact that Ányela was a trans woman played a fundamental part in her homicide.  In declarations made by the assailant to some media outlets, Mr. Eraso clearly manifested a series of social prejudices and stereotypes that were negatively linked to his perception of trans persons.  This type of declaration accords with the investigation standards such as those employed in the United States for gathering data on hate crimes [and] denotes prejudice by the assailant against trans persons in this case.

Use of national and international regulatory frameworks

Another aspect that, while previously mentioned, merits being highlighted: the application by the judge hearing the case of national and international standards for understanding gender identity in this case.  For the judge, understanding her duty is framed by the protection and recognition of gender identity, whether through constitutional jurisprudence pursuant to the C-584 sentence in 2015 (among others) that recognizes gender identity, or the interpretation of the scope of the Colombian State’s responsibility to investigate this type of violence, in accordance with the OAS declarations signed by the State, adherence to the Inter-American Court sentence in the Karen Atala case that explains gender identity as a different category of sexual orientation, and the use of the Yogyakarta principles as an important referent.

While the judge does not delve into all of these legal referents, she employs them as points of reference for juridically positioning the discussion regarding the recognition of gender identity, the obligation to investigate, and the appropriate application of criminal justice in this concrete case.

The discussions that remain outstanding

An initial observation that can be made regarding the body of the sentence would be to give preference both in the text as well as throughout the entire criminal trial to the recognition of identity vis-à-vis the victim’s name.  While the name ‘Ányela’ is recognized in the text of the sentence, throughout the text her masculine name, as recorded in the National Civil Registry [‘registraduría’], is repeated over and over, whereas Ányela’s identity-based name should have been given preference in the reasoning of the sentence.  In future, the identity-based name could be utilized throughout the sentence, with an initial clarification that the victim’s identity is fully established in the registry with a masculine name but that, as an integral part of the sentence, the identity-based name of the victim will be given preference.  This should also be standard practice throughout all legal proceedings involving a trans person, whether the person is the victim or the suspect.

A larger problem covers the use of aggravating circumstances.  On one hand, while an aggravating circumstance is applied related to the state of the victim’s defenselessness at the moment she was attacked, an[other] aggravating circumstance is applied related to the victim’s gender identity.  This is an important discussion and merits careful analysis in order to prevent the violation of procedural guarantees of the accused.

As has been mentioned, in this case the recognition of the victim’s gender identity allowed for the application of the crime of femicide because the gender identity of the victim was recognized and [the fact that] she was socially recognized as a trans woman.  Nonetheless, this same crime considers one of its aggravating circumstances to be that the violence be committed due to the victim’s sexual orientation (or gender identity, taking into account constitutional jurisprudence).  It is strange that a person who is charged with criminal responsibility for an action – in this case, assassinating a person due to her gender identity – in addition has his sentence increased because he committed the action due to the victim’s gender identity.

This double jeopardy for criminal responsibility would be a clear violation of the rights of the accused and in this case, be susceptible to being appealed.  A clearer or more logical example of when this aggravating circumstance could be applied would be in the case of a cisgender female victim of femicide who had additionally been assaulted due to being bisexual or lesbian, in which case the aggravating circumstance would clearly be in effect due to sexual orientation.

These theoretical clarifications in criminal matters are essential for safeguarding the procedural guarantees of the accused who in all cases has criminal rights and guarantees that must be protected.

In conclusion

We have here a sentence that makes progress in recognizing trans women’s identity and resolves some practical discussions that should be held during the course of criminal proceedings, both in the investigation process and imputation by the Office of the Public Prosecutor, as well as in the legal proceedings themselves.

Other aspects that could be expanded in the future are the standards for establishing the connection between the assailant’s prejudice and the violence he/she visits upon the victim; for the time being, the express knowledge of gender identity [and] prior existence of verbal and physical violence are useful for demonstrating the occurrence of a femicide-focused assault in this type of case.

Other aspects meriting greater discussion are preventing double jeopardy for criminal responsibility for the same actions with the use of aggravating circumstances that center the analysis on gender identity in the case of trans persons.  Giving preference to other aggravating circumstances – such as in this case the victim’s state of defenselessness – appears clearer and more protective for the victimizer.  In any case, the defense of those of trans persons is not at odds with the procedural guarantees of the accused.

 

About the Autor:  Mauricio Noguera
LGBTI Program Officer for Latin America

UP WITH RIGHTS, UP WITH LIFE! INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

“Depriving people of their human rights is calling into question  their own humanity.”  Nelson Mandela

 Washington, DC, December 10, 2018 – Human Rights Day is celebrated today, December 10th, in commemoration of a historic milestone in the progress toward worldwide recognition of fundamental human rights.  In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  That was the first document adopted by a multi-regional organization containing a broad spectrum of political, civil, social, cultural, and economic rights recognized as being “for all peoples and nations.”

Since the approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 70 years ago, great progress has been made throughout the world in recognizing the rights of diverse populations, respecting human dignity, and creating legal instruments that lay the foundation for eliminating inequality, exclusion, and discrimination in nations.

Nonetheless, there are many human rights that continue to be violated throughout the world – and Latin America and the Caribbean are no exception.  In countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Panama, and Peru, human rights defenders continue working strenuously to promote and protect the human rights of populations in marginal conditions, whether due to their national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.  Likewise, there exists an alarming degree of systematic and structural violence faced today by Afro-descendants, LGBTI persons, women, boys, girls, adolescents, persons with disabilities, and older adults, who in situations of extreme vulnerability continue to confront discriminatory policies and deficient implementation plans to effectively guarantee fundamental rights.

We see a worrisome weakening of the guarantee and protection of human rights throughout the world committed by States, especially in the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, a product of the high indices of violence, waves of homicides, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and rising and systematic violence against human rights defenders, journalists, and independent media outlets in the region, all of which serves to increase the state of impunity in which Latin American countries have historically lived.

Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants continue being the victims of multiple forms of aggravated discrimination, among other things, related to the negation of economic, political, and cultural rights, including the rights to the land and free, prior, and informed consultation vis-à-vis the use of ancestral, historically inhabited spaces.  LGBTI groups continue being the target of diverse forms of hate and intolerance that intensifies the state of defenselessness and imminent violation of the rights to freedom of expression, identity, and autonomy.

The elevated number of persons and entire communities in the region facing violations of their fundamental rights is thoroughly alarming, as it is a clear sign of the backward movement in legislation, policies, and practices implemented by the States, which far from guaranteeing and protecting human rights to ensure the effective enjoyment of them, turn to repressive tactics, making wrongful use of force and the justice systems to silence the denunciations of dissident persons or groups, which translates into an unsustainable increase in the violations of fundamental rights, as well as corrupt motives that perpetuate impunity and injustice in the territories.

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) defends the position that the struggle for rights requires joining forces in a commitment to transform societies so as to ensure scenarios that are more just, diverse, equitable, and free.  We call on all States in the region to make a real, effective commitment to undertake efforts to implement policies that promote justice, recognition, peace, and inclusive social, economic, and cultural development that guarantees tranquility and the full enjoyment by communities of their freedoms and the possibility to construct a region in a participatory, dialogical, and differentiated manner.

LGBTI defenders face great challenges in Latin America

Washington, D.C. December 5th, 2018. During the last decade, the recognition of human rights for the LGBTI community and their legal protections have been strengthened in Latin America. Nevertheless, the LGBTI population still faces serious patterns of discrimination and violence that have been fueled by hate speech expressed by religious groups or circumstantial political issues, according to experts working in the region who held a conversation last week in Washington DC.

During the panel “Defending LGBTIQ Rights in Latin America: Obstacles and Advancements in Law and Culture,” organized by the Inter-American Dialogue, the speakers also focused on problems that further limit access to LGBTI rights, such as racial discrimination and poverty.

Fanny Gómez, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at Synergía; Carlos Quesada, Executive Director and Founder of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality); Iván Chanis Barahona, President of Iguales Foundation in Panama; and Abraham Banegas Molina, Technical Officer of Cozumel Trans in Honduras, spoke on Tuesday with Michael Camilleri, Director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter-American Dialogue to share their opinions and experiences on the topic.

Continued violence and discrimination

The continued violence towards the LGBTI population was a central topic in the conversation held by regional experts, in which different perspectives were highlighted.

According to Gómez from Synergía, in the last 5 or 7 years, there has been progress in terms of protecting people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, ranging from an increase of official statements supporting the LGBTI community to the approval of gender identity laws or same-sex marriage. “But this has not meant that the violence has decreased,” she added.

Carlos Quesada also emphasized that the advances in LGBTI human rights in the region impact the Afro-descendant population differently. Consequently, they are more vulnerable to violence.

“In the specific case of Brazil, every 30 hours a person dies because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, and 90% of those people are Afro-descendants,” the director of Race and Equality stated.

Regarding the trans community, Quesada said, violence towards their bodies has become “a disease in the region.”

“On one hand, there are countries like Colombia that have formally created institutions to defend and investigate hate crimes, but they don’t have sensitized staff that can do their job effectively,” Quesada said, noting that situations like these lead to continued violence and impunity.

Abraham Banegas from Honduras agreed that the trans men and women in his country are the “most affected” by violence directed at the LGBTI community.

Hate speech

Banegas also stressed that the “main adversary” to LGBTI rights in Honduras is religious fundamentalism.

“They attack our comrades in the name of God,” the activist said. He regretted that some religious congregations with thousands of followers promote hate messages to their parishioners, politicians, and decision makers.

For Fanny Gómez, the recent growth and strengthening of those “hate messages” promoted by conservative groups also puts the lives of human rights defenders at risk.

“Every time there is a homophobic, transphobic, or lesbophobic message coming from a leader, that means that a person of our community will die after,” lamented Banegas.

Advances in legislation

Regarding legislative advances in the Americas, experts mentioned some resolutions on sexual orientation adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS), or the Advisory Opinion Number 24 issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in November 2017. The latter recognizes that States have the duty and obligation to recognize people’s gender identity and to recognize marriages and families of same-sex couples.

However, Carlos Quesada said that civil society organizations still lack the technical training necessary to be able to use the Inter-American System and the Universal System properly.

“As a challenge, we have to train ourselves on how to use the national legislation but also on how to use the Inter-American System and the Universal System for the defense of the LGBTI population.”

Obstacles in legislation

Ivan Chanis Barahona, from the Iguales Foundation, explained that in Panama “there is no law or any public policy that recognizes gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual or intersex people,” and that the only law against discrimination does not include LGBTI persons.

Recently, according to Chanis, the refusal of the Panamanian authorities to register three same-sex marriages carried out in foreign countries started a national discussion on that issue. The topic has even been debated by the presidential candidates for the 2019 elections. “Panama is a country that has always respected human rights and the Inter-American System, but after this topic came to light, people started to dislike the Inter-American Court of Human Rights because of the Advisory Opinion on LGBTI rights.”

“The States in Latin America and especially in the Caribbean have failed in the modern world to protect their democracies by maintaining policies that are totally discriminatory towards LGBTI population,” Chanis emphasized.

Regarding the specific case of Honduras, Banegas said that in the new Criminal Code, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was penalized more lightly, and a Honduran law prohibits same-sex marriage.  Besides, a recent reform to the Code for Children established that same-sex couples cannot adopt children.

“In Honduras, legislation is being adjusted to block LGBTI rights,” the activist complained.

However, he said that they are currently working on an “Equality and Equity Law,” a legal instrument that could provide more protection for the rights of the LGBTI population in Honduras if it is approved by Congress.

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Public Announcement: Ongoing Crisis in Nicaragua

Washington, DC, November 23, 2018 – The International Institute of Race, Equality, and Human Rights strongly condemns and rejects the resolution issued today, November 23, 2018, by the Nicaraguan Police regarding the march convened to commemorate the International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women by the Unidad Nacional Azul y Blanco [White and Blue National Unity] (UNAB), which had been announced was to be held on Sunday, November 25 in the city of Managua in protest over the violation of Nicaraguans’ fundamental rights for the last seven months by the Ortega-Murillo regime.

In the resolution, communicated by the Chief of the Directorate of Public Security of the National Police of Nicaragua, General Commissioner Luis Fernando Barrantes refuses to authorize it, while the National Police, in a clear abuse of power, classifies said initiative as a “vandalistic act” and “terrorist” with “coup aims” that envisages “affecting Nicaraguan families and the tranquility of the country.”  In addition, it states in a threatening tone “. . . that the National Police does not authorize nor will authorize public mobilizations by persons, organizations, or movements that participated in and are being investigated for their actions in the failed attempt at a  . . .”

As an institution that works in favor of the respect, guarantee, and protection of human rights, we repudiate said police communiqué, as it does not acknowledge, decontextualizes, and once again violates the right of Nicaraguans to protest peacefully to denounce the innumerable acts of harassment and repression committed by Nicaraguan authorities since April, in an attempt to foster a false sense of normalcy in the country when acts of harassment and intimidation in all public spaces continue being committed by the police, clearly endangering any possibility for regaining Nicaraguans’ tranquility, for whom this repression has given no respite.

Likewise, we denounce the indifference of the Nicaraguan State, which refuses to accept the existence of the victims of this humanitarian crisis from among the self-convened population, who today comprise more than 500 protestors, students, and activists who have been detained under conditions that endanger their lives, [physical] integrity, and due process, as well as the approximately 325 assassinations that continue to be shrouded in impunity and the acts of intimidation that are daily visited upon women, those who have been tried for the April incidents, journalists, human rights defenders, LGBTQI persons, and the community in general.

Race & Equality also vehemently condemns the acts of intimidation, assault, and harassment committed by the National Police in recent hours in different places in the city of Managua and other departments, which demonstrates that nothing is normal in Nicaragua.  The arbitrary nature with which the police continue to act provokes an environment of fear and insecurity among the populace.  We therefore demand the prompt release of the two Radio Darío collaborators, Omar López and Eduardo Patricio Amaya, who were kidnapped this morning.  Amaya was granted protective measures by the IACHR, MC 693-18.  We hold the State of Nicaragua responsible for any situation that violates [the] lives, [physical] integrity, and human rights of both Radio Darío employees.

We urgently call on the international community to take a stance in response to these acts that gravely violate the fundamental rights of the Nicaraguan people, who continue defenseless due to the dictatorial excesses committed by the current government.  Likewise, we call on the international community to raise its voice against the abuses that are ongoing against Nicaraguans by a regime that continues to be reluctant to uphold its international human rights commitments. 

November 20 – International Day of Transsexual Memory

“I am convinced that the engine of change is love.  The love we were denied
is our impetus to change the world.  All of the blows and slights
I suffered cannot compare with the infinite
love that surrounds me at this time.”
– Lohana Berkins (1965-2016), transvestite activist

On the International Day of Transsexual Memory, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights honors the memory of transsexuals who have lost their lives as a result of acts of intolerance, hate, and discrimination due to their gender identity in Latin America and the Caribbean.  November 20 is also a day to celebrate the lives of transsexuals who, despite social exclusion, limits on exercising their rights, and the absence of social policies that address their basic needs, continue their fight to defend their rights and construct networks of social transformation starting from their local milieus.

Discrimination, violence, segregation against transsexuals, and diverse gender-based segregation constitute a structural aspect of society; therefore, throughout history, their rights have been subject to a vicious cycle of violence, degradation, and oppression that has made it harder for them to enjoy the guarantees of a decent and complete life.

Around the world, transsexuals are subject to mockery, blackmail, physical and sexual assault, and assassination due to their diverse identities.  In addition, they are denied the opportunity to decent employment, medical care in keeping with their needs, and to be seen as subjects worthy of respect and recognition in society.  The stigma to which transsexuals are subject leads to the ‘invisibilization’ of their realities and experiences, as well as ignorance regarding the multiple challenges, barriers, and human rights violations they face.  It is thus that in the majority of countries, data on violence against transsexuals and gender-diverse persons are not systematically produced; therefore, it becomes impossible to calculate the exact number of cases.

Race & Equality observes with concern how the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean continue to have the highest rates of homicides of transsexuals due to motives of prejudice and discrimination, as well as the rationale of machismo and fundamentalist ideas that ignore the diversity, freedom, and autonomy of individuals to identify and define themselves.

Notwithstanding these adverse contexts of violence, we see throughout Latin America experiences of solidarity and leadership that transcend the margins of social exclusion and make known the social demands of transsexuals.  Transsexual leaders are the ones who have been able to impact local public policies, build support networks that have evinced the violence they experience, and above all, generate creative responses for social change from spaces of exclusion.

Race & Equality, within the framework of this commemoration, calls on the States in the region to expand spaces for social dialogue with organizations of transsexuals [and] strengthen the mechanisms for investigating the violence of which this population has been the victim, so as to overcome impunity and jointly define with transsexual leaders social policies of transformation that truly impact their most immediate needs.  We are convinced that transsexuals should continue to be remembered for their transformative acts, rather than for the unpunished violence by which they are eliminated.

Nicaraguan human rights defenders will talk in Geneva about the evolution of the crisis in their country

Seven months after the current human rights crisis started in Nicaragua as a result of the government’s repression of peaceful protests, a group of human right defenders will hold a public conversation in Geneva on November 28th with the aim of making visible the consequences and permanence of the crisis. The crisis continues now with the prohibition of civic demonstrations and the prosecution of hundreds of protestants, students and activists who have been arrested for participating in protests and are being subjected to trials in which the guarantees of due process are disregarded.

In the conversation, organized by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), the human rights defenders will describe their own experiences during the crisis and the risks they face in their daily work.

Special emphasis will be placed on the situation of injustice and defenselessness faced by populations that traditionally experience discrimination, such as women, indigenous persons, Afro-descendants and the LGBTI community. These groups have been repressed for defending democracy and demanding justice and respect for human rights.

The human right defenders will also refer to the situation faced by hundreds of political prisoners, who have reported torture and ill treatment in prisons and detention centers. According to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH, for its initials in Spanish), of the 602 citizens imprisoned as of November 14th for participating in the protests, 563 are men and 50 women, of which 4 are transgender women.

The image of “normality” that the Nicaraguan government intends to establish both nationally and internationally contrasts diametrically with the vision that human rights defenders will provide that day, which is that in Nicaragua “nothing is normal”, since the violations of human rights committed by the Nicaraguan authorities are systematic and remain unpunished.

Nicaragua will be evaluated by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2019. This review will offer human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and the international community an important opportunity to peacefully influence the crisis that today overwhelms the Nicaraguan people.

#VenezuelaMigrates: Civil Society Organizations launch Plan of Action to protect migrants and refugees from Venezuela

WASHINGTON, DC. November 16, 2018.- Since the beginning of the year, The International Institute of Race, equality and Human Rights, as part of the organizations belonging to the Venezuelan Human Mobility Group, have been following the with great concern  the human rights situation of migrants and refugees forced to leave Venezuela. As a result, we called for a concerted regional response on August 22. This was followed up on September 19 with an initial blueprint that could support this work.

Despite efforts made so far, national and international spaces continue to require greater efficiency and coordination in their regional response to the crisis. To date, there is still little clarity throughout the continent on the best protocols to respond the needs of three million migrants and refugees from Venezuela, in a manner that complies with international standards for the protection of human rights and comprehensive humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, the high-risk situations of violence and discrimination that many migrants and refugees face at all stages of their journey continue to increase. Likewise, the specific needs of those migrants and refugees, particularly the needs of those belonging to groups in situations of vulnerability who are most exposed to violence and discrimination, have become more acute.

In light of this, the Venezuelan Human Mobility Group – of which The International Institute of Human Rights is a part of – developed the Civil Society Action Plan for People from Venezuela that Require National and International Protection, which establishes a road map to improve coordinated responses to this this situation.

The document addresses the specific actions required by all the actors involved, clarifies state obligations, makes recommendations to the States, establishes our commitments as civil society members and organizations, issues recommendations to other members of civil society throughout the region and provides guidelines to international organizations and allies. All of the above with respect to the following central axes:

  1. The correct legal characterization of migrants and refugees, State´s obligations regarding both, the application of the Cartagena Declaration in the Venezuelan context and the mechanisms of regular migration.
  2. Intersectional approaches  to address multiple factors of discrimination faced by different migratory groups based on their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, among others.
  3. The actions required to properly assist each step of a migrant and refugee´s journey, including long-lasting solutions that guarantee access through transit and to their destination countries, as well as guarantees of their rights in their countries of destination.
  4. Regional monitoring and advocacy strategies that brings together all the key actors involved in the development of responses to the situation of Venezuelan people facing a situation of human mobility.

We trust that this document will be useful to all actors tasked with crafting a human rights based approach in the face of this displacement crisis; as well as other current and future migrant and refugee situations that may arise in the region. Likewise, we hope that proposals that involve groups in a high state of vulnerability, such as women, children and adolescents, the LGBTI community and people of African descent, can be implemented with caution.

For more information about the Venezuelan Human Mobility Group visit: www.movhuve.org

Interview with Beatriz Amaro, Afro-Mexican Leader: “If today we must speak up and raise our voices, we ask that we be allowed to raise them as Afro-Mexican communities”

In the midst of the current humanitarian crisis in Mexico, due to the extremely grave situation of violence, unemployment, insecurity, and a very high rate of migration due to drug trafficking, as well as other sociopolitical issues that have not been addressed, the Afro-Mexican population continues to struggle for and demand constitutional recognition as a people whom, according to the data obtained in the 2015 Intercensal Survey administered by INEGI, totals 1,381,853 persons, equivalent to 1.2% of the national population.

Beatriz Amaro, a leader and human rights defender in the organization Unity for Progress, in the city of Oaxaca, AC spoke with Race & Equality during the pre-sessions for Mexico of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held on October 12, 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland regarding the need to implement affirmative actions, effective public policies, and action plans in agreement with the Afro-Mexican people, with an eye to reducing the historic impact of racism and discrimination that translates into the Afro-descendant population in Mexico having fewer possibilities for employment, education, [and] participation.  In addition, [she spoke] about the importance of the Review, in which the state of rights in Mexico will be reviewed on November 7, 2018, taking into account some of the recommendations offered by Afro-descendant civil society.

In the midst of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Mexico, what is the greatest need and demand being made by Afro-Mexican civil society organizations to the Mexican State that you wish to highlight in the pre-sessions of Mexico’s Universal Periodic Review?

Without a doubt, the most pressing need and demand of the Afro-Mexican people today is to be constitutionally recognized.  Without constitutional recognition, Mexico’s Afro-descendants will not have a way to demand respect for our rights in accordance with our historic, social, and cultural reality.  While the inclusion of the ethnic-racial variable in the intercensal survey administered in 2015 represents significant progress in at least recognizing the total number of the population, it is necessary to continue working to develop official policies, plans, and projects at the national level that serve to counteract the impact of poverty, lack of opportunities, and structural racism that we experience in our country.  Likewise, the report submitted to the various missions during the pre-sessions mentions the need to create specific plans for attending to women, guaranteeing effective health services, incorporating educational programs that include the Afro-Mexican people’s historic legacy, and creating spaces for dialogue and participation to reformulate the Plan of Action of the Decade of Afro-descendants.

During the most recent public hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) related to the state of Afro-descendants’ rights, the State mentioned a large number of programs designed to benefit the Afro-Mexican people.  How are these programs and/or affirmative actions being implemented?

It is true that the Mexican State has conceived, designed, and likely implemented programs, affirmative actions, or plans for the Afro-Mexican people; however, these plans have never been designed with any of us, nor worked on with us. Allow me to clarify; these action proposals do not include the vision of the Afro-Mexican peoples, nor are they publicized sufficiently strongly to enable the communities to know about the projects that have been designed for their benefit.  Thus, it would seem or could be interpreted as formally fulfilling a commitment, though without any real implementation of these programs, because they are not being reflected in the communities, we don’t know about them, nor are we actively participating in their design, let alone their implementation.  One thing is clear, however: who can better know the reality of the Afro-descendant people of Mexico than we the Afro-Mexicans?  We don’t understand, then, how they can design these projects in the very capital of the Republic, a space to which we don’t have access, and much less how they implement them.  In this sense, it is important that these programs be publicized in the zones where there are greater numbers of Afro-Mexicans, above all in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Veracruz, given that in addition, we are the ones who face the greatest challenges to development.

One of the recommendations proposed by civil society organizations during the pre-sessions to the Universal Periodic Review is a request that the Decade Plan of Action be reformulated.  Why?

I know perfectly well that having a Decade Plan of Action represents great progress, because many countries don’t even have one; but again, the situation is that the development of this Plan of Action that benefits the Afro-Mexican people was not consulted, worked on, or designed jointly with Afro-Mexican civil society.  We didn’t participate.  As such, there are clearly many aspects that don’t touch upon or reflect the situation or needs of the Afro-Mexican population.  I don’t mean to imply by this that the plan is bad or inappropriate; indeed, there are many positive things [about it]; however, I think it is necessary to work in a participatory, dialogical way that is agreed to by the Afro-descendant communities so that it goes beyond simply being a plan and actually becomes a materialization of activities that leads to real and effective implementation.

With regard to what was said earlier, is there an alternative proposal designed by the Afro-Mexican civil society organizations in relation to the Decade Plan of Action?

I would love to say yes, that a joint proposal exists that has been developed, discussed, and agreed to by the entire Afro-Mexican social movement to propose a joint work agenda, but unfortunately, we don’t have one at this time.  Organizing, discussing, and agreeing to an agenda requires not only absolute political will, which I believe each and every one of the social organizations that comprise this movement has, but also budgetary support to enable us to make progress to that end.  In order to build an inclusive, plural, and diverse agenda that is made up of all of the voices in the movement, we need to do work that requires financial support.  Nonetheless, we have made significant progress.  In the case of the women, we have performed several agenda exercises that we believe are essential to include in the Decade Plan, just as our recommendations were included in the alternative report submitted by the civil society organizations to the Universal Periodic Review Committee.  We hope our voices can be included.

What has been the impact of today’s humanitarian crisis in Mexico on the Afro-Mexican population?

We don’t have official numbers or studies of what the impact of the wave of violence underway in Mexico has been on the Afro-descendant people, nor do we have real disaggregated data that enables us to statistically know the real state of the Afro-Mexican people.  Certainly, as I noted earlier, a 2015 intercensal exercise was performed that provided an initial introduction of the Afro-descendant populace, though did not cover all of the localities; as such, the data, apart from being very general, are not accurate.  However, we can say that the state of human rights of our entire population has worsened, precisely because in addition to the dynamics of vulnerability our communities had already been confronting – such as poverty, inequality, [and] lack of access to health, education, and employment – new forms of victimization take place as a result of the impact of the dynamics of drug trafficking, circumstances that clearly put our people in a state of high risk and defenselessness.

What do you see as the principal challenges of the Afro-Mexican social movement in the current context?

As I was saying, one of the principal objectives is to continue fighting for constitutional recognition of the Afro-Mexican people.  However, in order to do that, we believe it is very important to unify the movement’s political will in order to present a proposal for jointly working with the Mexican State and other scenarios for political advocacy.

I think another principal challenge is to be able to play an important role in more decision-making spaces in order to ensure that the proposals and projects developed therein benefit us [and] are designed in accordance with our realities, from the perspective of our Afro-Mexican men, women, youth, boys, girls, and adolescents.  If we continue to allow these spaces to be occupied by academics, who with the very best of intentions attempt to describe and heighten the visibility of our situation, we will not be able to occupy these spaces ourselves to empower ourselves for our reality.  We ourselves, empowered by our history, reality, and purpose, need to be prepared to make presentations before national and international bodies on our reality, denunciations, and demands.

If today we must speak out and raise our voices, we ask that we be allowed to raise them from the perspective of our organizations rather than from academia.  Certainly, what we need is for them to train rather than represent us in order to incentivize the participation, commitment, and training of Afro-Mexican women and men with an eye to having the tools we lack for [removing] the educational gap that we oftentimes confront.  What we want is for them to provide us support in the form of tools, to be heard [in spaces] where we should be heard.

What are your expectations for the Universal Periodic Review, in which the state of human rights in Mexico will be evaluated?

I feel that due to the grave human rights violations that exist in Mexico today, the matter of the state of Afro-descendant rights will not be a priority.  However, I feel that spaces such as the pre-sessions provide us with opportunities to undertake very important advocacy whereby we appropriate our own realities, precisely because they motivate us to develop exercises for systematizing the work we are carrying out in order to be able to present it to different mechanisms in which we will certainly be able to make the voice heard of a people that needs international support, solidarity, and attention, so that we can continue to apply pressure to have our rights respected, protected, and recognized.

We hope that the Universal Periodic Review will be able to address at least two of the recommendations made in order to receive the international backing we so need and be able to monitor the Mexican State’s compliance with said recommendations.

Race & Equality Holds a Training Workshop on International Human Rights Mechanisms with the First Organization Comprised of LGBTI Afro-Descendants in Colombia

The International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality), within the framework of the project on racial justice funded by the Ford Foundation, held the first training workshop on international human rights mechanisms for the team from Fundación Arcoíris de Tumaco [Rainbow Foundation from Tumaco], the only organization working specifically on heightening the visibility and defending the rights of LGBTI Afro-descendants in Colombia.

The objective of the workshop was for Fundación Arcoíris de Tumaco to learn about the mechanisms that exist to protect human rights within the Inter-American System of Human Rights and the United Nations System.  The use of these mechanisms will be greatly relevant, given the context of extreme violence in this region of the country, wherein LGBTI Afro-Colombians experience differentiated impacts on their human rights as a result of aggravated forms of discrimination and violations.  The expected result of the project is a report produced by the organization regarding the state of this population group’s human rights that will be presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The training included a dialogue of knowledge in which the participants described in detail the sociopolitical situation that characterizes the department, as well as the affects of those dynamics on the lives of LGBTI Afro-descendants.  In recent years, Tumaco has been one of the principal municipalities impacted by various types of violence; as such, the impacts on LGBTI persons have particularities, resulting in most cases from stigmas that produce several types of discrimination, in addition to violating their most fundamental rights.

Race & Equality will continue the process of providing technical assistance to the Afro-Colombian Fundación Arcoíris de Tumaco so that it can continue to strengthen its advocacy capacity to defend the rights of members of its community.

With the Support of Race & Equality, Civil Society Organizations Prepare to Submit Reports on the State of Colombian Women’s Human Rights to CEDAW

In September 2018, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality), within the framework of the project on racial justice funded by the Ford Foundation, held a training workshop to increase knowledge regarding the United Nations System, especially with regard to its treaty bodies.  The participating organizations included Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados [National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians] (AFRODES); Conferencia Nacional de Organizaciones Afrocolombianas [National Conference of Afro-Colombian Organizations] (CNOA); and Grupo de Apoyo a Mujeres Trans [Support Group for Trans Women] (GAAT).

The goal of the space was to strengthen the organizations’ technical knowledge regarding the United Nations System treaty bodies.  Emphasis was placed on the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), given that the State of Colombia will be reviewed by the Committee in February 2019.  One of the results of the project is that with technical assistance from Race & Equality, the organizations will prepare Alternative Reports for submittal to the Committee.  The hope is that this advocacy action will lead CEDAW to include in its final review and observations the analyses and recommendations put forward by the organizations in their Alternative Reports.

CEDAW is the body of independent experts that supervises the application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  The advocacy before CEDAW is greatly relevant to the organizations participating in this workshop, given the low priority given by the Colombian State to policies recognizing aggravated forms of discrimination and violence stemming from the intersection of gender, race, and/or sexual orientation and gender identity.  For AFRODES and CNOA, the attention given by CEDAW to the state of Afro-Colombian women victims of the conflict amounts to a strategic need, while it is a priority to GATT to make visible the state of trans women.

Race & Equality will continue to provide technical support to these organizations in the process of preparing their Alternative Reports for submittal to CEDAW, as well as strengthen their advocacy capacity as regards the use of the other international human rights protection mechanisms.

Find here the recommendations document:  http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/47500/1/Recomendacionesdelcomite.pdf

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