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Trans Day of Remembrance: Focus on Indonesia
November 18, 2011| Contributed by
“The killings of transgender people, involving Indonesian law enforcement are poorly or never investigated. More often they are put into the freezer by the state, and left unresolved.”
Grace Poore, IGLHRC, Regional Coordinator, Asia and Pacific Islands
Indonesian waria (transgender) activist Elly Susana was killed in 2007. To date, there has been no justice for her. Elly Susana’s story is told in Courage Unfolds, a video produced by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to reveal the violence and discrimination experienced by LGBT people in Asia and their efforts to fight for equality, safety and decriminalization. Elly Susana’s death, which occurred during an alleged raid by public order officers (Saptol PP), was widely covered by media.
Trans Day of Remembrance: Focus on Latin America
November 18, 2011| Contributed by IGLHRC
In recent years there has been a growing campaign to recognize the citizenship of trans people in Latin America. Red Latinamericana y del Caribe de Personas Trans (REDLACTRANS), a regional network of trans activists from Latin America and the Caribbean, is one of the leaders of this effort. IGLHRC, with an office and regional director located in Argentina, works closely with REDLACTRANS. Over the past year, activists from the region organized with a diverse set of issues and actions including job training initiatives, establishment of work cooperatives and, above all, campaigning for legal recognition of gender identity. Through REDLACTRANS member organizations, this work spread in the region to Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In Argentina, a bill for the recognition of gender identity is currently being debated in Congress.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) together with REDLACTRANS and Heartland Alliance was able to support all these regional advocacy initiatives at the Organization of the American States (OAS). Last June these organizations held a meeting in San Salvador with trans representatives from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama with the purpose of evaluating advocacy for the legal recognition of gender identity in the region.
Learn more about our advocacy at the Organization of American States and for an update about or work on trans issues in Africa, Indonesia and Turkey.
Larry Misedah, Kenyan Gay Rights Activist, Tells His Story
November 17, 2011| Contributed by IGLHRC
Larry Misedah and Cary Alan Johnson traveled to San Francisco to attend a reception hosted by our friend John Newmeyer. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect IGLHRC friends old and new. While they were in the area, Larry and Cary were interviewed by the Bay Area Reporter, Salon.com, and the radio show Out in the Bay. Larry Misedah is a Kenyan gay rights activist who began his work as a human rights defender in 2004 when he joined Ishtar MSM, one of the Kenya’s first organizations to provide health services to men who have sex with men (MSM). In 2007, Larry came out publicly at the World Social Forum in Nairobi and became the spokesperson for Sexual Minorities Uganda’s (SMUG) first media campaign. After becoming a visible leader in the East African gay community, Larry was banished from his family. Then a student at Kenyatta University, his academic future was threatened when his family refused to continue paying his tuition. Threats of violence on the campus became unbearable. Larry was forced to flee Kenya for eight months.
LGBT Rights at APF Biennial Conference
October 11, 2011| Contributed by Grace Poore, Regional Program Coordinator for Asia, IGLHRC
The Asia Pacific Forum (APF) is the first regional body in the world to lobby National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to integrate the Yogyakarta Principles into their human rights work. It currently has 18 full member institutions from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Australia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand and Timor Leste. Maldives and Sri Lanka currently have associate member status for failing to comply with the Paris Principles.1
In May 5-7 2009, the APF invited IGLHRC and several other international human rights experts2 to Yogyakarta, Indonesia for a historic workshop to consider what actions might be taken by NHRIs in Asia to prevent violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). My presentation provided an overview on the impact of criminalization and discrimination on LGBT people's lives in the API region. As part of this presentation, I offered the following recommendations from IGLRHC to the APF:3
Observaciones y significados del primer caso específicamente LGBT que llega a la corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos: Karen Atala e Hijas contra el estado de Chile
August 23, 2011| Contributed by Jessica Stern, Executive Director
Escribo esto desde un avión que me lleva a Bogotá, Colombia, en la misma semana en que muchas de mis amigas están de vacaciones y en que me tocaba recorrer 161 km en mi bicicleta, desde el caluroso Brooklyn, Nueva York, donde vivo hasta las ventiladas playas al este de Long Island, como parte de una pandilla lésbica. Sin embargo, cancelé unas vacaciones que hubieran sido perfectas por una mujer a la que no conozco personalmente: Karen Atala.
Voy camino a una audiencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre el caso Karen Atala e hijas contra el estado de Chile. Si el nombre de la señora Atala les resulta conocido es porque probablemente ya lo escucharon antes. La señora Atala es una madre lesbiana y una jueza chilena que perdió la tenencia de sus tres hijas — que en ese entonces tenían 5, 6 y 10 años de edad — en 2003 y su caso fue muy difundido. Después del divorcio, el ex marido de la señora Atala llevó ante la justicia la cuestión de la tenencia, y la señora Atala perdió. Haciendo referencia a la sexualidad de la señora Atala, la Corte Suprema de Chile emitió un veredicto homofóbico, sin muchas vueltas: consideró que las hijas de la señora Atala estaban en “situación de riesgo”, lo que las colocaba en una “posición de vulnerabilidad en su entorno social, dado que claramente su ambiente familiar único difiere en forma significativa del de sus compañeros de escuela y conocidos en el vecindario en el que viven, exponiéndolas al aislamiento y la discriminación, lo que también afectará su desarrollo personal”.
Observations and Meanings from the First-Ever LGBT-Specific Case Heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Karen Atala and Daughters Against the State of Chile
August 23, 2011| Contributed by Jessica Stern, Executive Director
I am writing this from a flight to Bogotá, Colombia on the week many of my friends are on vacation, the week I was supposed to ride my bicycle 100 miles as part of a lesbian gang out of my hot hometown of Brooklyn, New York to the breezy beaches of eastern Long Island. And yet, I cancelled what would have been my perfect vacation because of a woman I’ve never even met: Karen Atala. I am en route to a hearing of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the case of Karen Atala and Daughters Against the State of Chile. If Ms. Atala’s name seems familiar, that’s probably because you’ve heard it before. Ms. Atala is a lesbian mother and Chilean judge who lost custody of her three daughters — then ages 5, 6, and 10 years old — in a widely publicized case in 2003. Subsequent to their divorce, Ms. Atala’s ex-husband sued for custody, and Ms. Atala lost. In reference to Ms. Atala’s sexuality, the Supreme Court of Chile issued a homophobic verdict, plain and simple; it deemed Ms. Atala’s daughters to be in a “situation of risk” that placed them in a “vulnerable position in their social environment, since clearly their unique family environment differs significantly from that of their school companions and acquaintances in the neighborhood where they live, exposing them to ostracism and discrimination, which would also affect their personal development.”
Natasha Jiménez y su experiencia al llamar la atención de la ONU sobre la homofobia y la transfobia
July 28, 2011| Contributed by Natasha Jiménez, Mulabi
Las activistas de Costa Rica se reunieron con la integrante cubana del Comité de la CEDAW, Magalys Arrocha, para hablar con ella un poco más sobre la homofobia y la transfobia, con la esperanza de animarla a que apoyen sus contribuciones en las recomendaciones de la CEDAW para el gobierno de Costa Rica. Hay una gran posibilidad de incluir algunos de nuestros temas en las recomendaciones.
Durante la mañana y la tarde, la delegación oficial del gobierno de Zambia presentó su informe y respondió a las preguntas de los miembros del Comité de la CEDAW. En estas sesiones se incluyeron varios intercambios interesantes. En primer lugar, los miembros del Comité hicieron preguntas al Gobierno sobre la falta de mecanismos para defender los derechos de las mujeres en Zambia. La Delegación del Gobierno respondió que eso se debe a los bajos niveles de alfabetización y la poca cantidad de angloparlantes en Zambia. El Comité también preguntó acerca de prácticas culturales que pueden ser consideradas discriminatorias contra las mujeres, las delegadas dijeron que están capacitando a las personas jóvenes y utilizando las radios comunitarias como mecanismo para aumentar la concienciación y la educación. El Gobierno también afirmó que se está trabajando con los medios de comunicación para cambiar los puntos de vista de la población en Zambia.
Natasha Jiménez on Her Experience Spreading Awareness of Homophobia and Transphobia at the UN
July 28, 2011| Contributed by Natasha Jiménez, Mulabi
The activists from Costa Rica met with the CEDAW Committee Member from Cuba, Magalys Arrocha, to talk to her a little more about homophobia and transphobia with the hope of encouraging her to support us in her contributions to the CEDAW recommendations to the government of Costa Rica. There’s a very good possibility of including some of our themes in her recommendations.
Over the morning and afternoon, the official delegation of the government of Zambia presented their report and answered questions from the CEDAW Committee Members. These sessions included several interesting exchanges. First, the Committee Members asked the government questions about the lack of mechanisms to defend women’s rights in Zambia. The government delegation responded that it is because of low literacy and few English speakers in Zambia. The Committee also asked about cultural practices that may be considered discriminatory against women, the delegates said that they are educating the youth and using community radio as a mechanism to raise awareness and education. The government also claimed that it is working with the media to change the views of the Zambian people.
Amazing Responses by CEDAW to Address LGBT Discrimination in Singapore
July 27, 2011| Contributed by Grace Poore, Regional Program Coordinator for Asia, IGLHRC
The purpose of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which is monitored by a Committee, is to codify international legal standards for women’s rights. To date, 186 countries have ratified CEDAW. Twice a year in Geneva and once a year in New York, a committee of 23 independent experts meets to hear how governments are implementing the convention to ensure equality for women. To supplement the information they receive from the state, the CEDAW Committee also reviews reports from NGOs (called shadow reports) to get a truer picture of women’s lives and what the state is doing to advance women’s equality.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) assists NGOs to develop shadow reports, sponsors activist travel so they can present their issues directly to the CEDAW Committee, and assists groups to prepare oral statements that the CEDAW Committee hears during informal meetings and briefings with NGOs.
MALAWI: 18 protestors killed by security forces, IGLHRC joins human rights organizations' call for investigation
July 22, 2011| Contributed by IGLHRC
Read the letter to Malawi President Mutharika
La activista costarricense Natasha Jiménez informa sobre la CEDAW en Nueva York
July 14, 2011| Contributed by Natasha Jiménez, Mulabi
Esta semana, Natasha Jiménez, un activista de Costa Rica miembro de Mulabi, una organización que brinda un espacio para discutir Sexualidades y Derechos en América Latina, presenta su informe alternativo sobre los derechos LBT en Costa Rica en la 49 ª sesión de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre la Eliminación de Todas las Formas de Discriminación contra la Mujer (CEDAW) en Nueva York. IGLHRC colaboró con Natasha durante varios meses en la creación de su informe sombra y también proporcionó recursos para que Natasha pudiera venir a Nueva York para la presentación.
IGLHRC prioriza el trabajo con la CEDAW, porque el seguimiento de su implementación ha sido una estrategia efectiva para las activistas LBT a nivel mundial para generar atención a fallas de sus gobiernos en una amplia variedad de cuestiones, incluida la violencia, los roles de género, los estereotipos, y la despenalización.
Costa Rican Activist Natasha Jiménez Reporting From CEDAW in New York
July 14, 2011| Contributed by Natasha Jiménez, Mulabi
Para leer estas actualizaciones de Natasha en Español, mira: La activista costarricense Natasha Jiménez informa sobre la CEDAW en Nueva York
This week Natasha Jiménez, an activist from Costa Rica who is a member of Mulabi, an organization that provides a space to discuss sexualities and rights in Latin America, is presenting her shadow report on LBT rights in Costa Rica at the 49th session of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in New York. IGLHRC worked with Natasha for many months on the creation of her shadow report and also provided resources so that Natasha could come to New York to conduct advocacy.
IGLHRC prioritizes work with CEDAW because monitoring its implementation has been a highly effective place for LBT activists globally to generate attention to their governments’ failings on a broad range of issues, including violence, gender roles, stereotyping, and decriminalization.
UN Resolution Now Available in the Six Official UN Languages
July 14, 2011| Contributed by Cary Alan Johnson, Former Executive Director, IGLHRC
As many of you know, our movement achieved a major victory on June 17th, 2011 when the United Nations Human Rights Council passed its first-ever resolution challenging violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The resolution, which was presented to the council by South Africa and Brazil with 39 additional co-sponsors from every region of the world, was the result of the hard work of LGBT activists around the world who encouraged their governments to support the resolution.
Queer Malawi: Untold Stories
July 12, 2011| Contributed by Cary Alan Johnson, Former Executive Director, IGLHRC
In South Africa, Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) has been doing tremendous work documenting and celebrating the lives of LGBT South Africans and is now starting to bring its considerable talents to work in the Southern African region. On a recent trip, I visited with the folks at GALA and brought back a copy of Queer Malawi: Untold Stories. Queer Malawi is a collaboration between GALA and Malawi's Center for Development of People (CEDEP). The book "offers vivid portraits of the lives of homosexual men and women in Malawi and speaks to the concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex people on the African continent" (from the back cover).
IGLHRC Participates in IDAHO Workshop
May 16, 2011| Contributed by Fernando d'Elio, Former Program Associate for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
In late 2010 IGLHRC participated in developing and presenting a workshop to discuss strategies for promoting the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia and its goals in Latin America and the Caribbean. Fernando D’Elio, then IGLHRC Program Associate for the region, gave a presentation at the workshop and shared his thoughts in a recently released IDAHO publication:“IDAHO - Establishing Strategies for Latin America and the Caribbean”
Over the past few years, many countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean have produced significant advances in human rights to those who have been denied equality based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Implementation of national laws, various government programs, reformulation of codes, and other actions by countries’ governments have assured rights are being limited or even denied to LGBT citizens. However, these advances would have not been possible without the struggle and constant drive of civil society. By utilizing different strategies, many doors have opened despite numerous obstacles that try and prevent the imminent advancement of an inclusive society, equal and respectful to all without discrimination.