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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.
IGLHRC participa en el taller de IDAHO
May 16, 2011| Contributed by Fernando d'Elio, Former Program Associate for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
En los últimos años, en muchos países de la región de América Latina y El Caribe, se han producido significativos avances en los Derechos Humanos de las personas, que debido a su orientación sexual o identidad de género, ven restringido el pleno ejercicio de su ciudadanía. Es así, como a nivel constitucional, de leyes nacionales y estatales, programas de gobiernos, reformulaciones de códigos y otras acciones impulsadas por los gobiernos, las legislaturas o la justicia, se van garantizando derechos limitados, e incluso negados, a las personas LGTB. Estos avances no hubieran sido posibles sin la lucha y el impulso constante y prominente de la sociedad civil que, mediante diferentes estrategias, se van abriendo camino entre numerosos obstáculos que tratan de impedir el inminente avance hacia una sociedad inclusiva, igualitaria y respetuosa de todas las personas sin ningun tipo de discriminación.
No obstante esto, los avances no han sido uniformes en la región y todavía hay mucho por hacer en todos los países. La incorporación de nuevas estrategias, a las que ya se están llevando a cabo, seguramente será clave para el continuar en el camino de la igualdad y la no discriminación. En este sentido, el establecimiento de IDAHO es una iniciativa novedosa y muy eficaz para poner ante los ojos de toda la sociedad las violaciones a los Derechos Humanos basadas principalmente en la discriminación por orientación sexual e identidad de género, para proponer los cambios necesarios para eliminarlas y crear conciencia de todas las inequidades y sufrimientos que estas violaciones generan.
Inclusion of the Human Rights of LGBTIQ People in the Final Statement at the 7th ASEAN People’s Forum
May 11, 2011| Contributed by Ging Cristobal, Project Coordinator for Asia, OutRight Action International
In early May the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held one of its twice-yearly summits. It was hosted in Jakarta by Indonesia (as the group’s current chair). Formed to establish economic, socio-cultural, and political cooperation and regional peace amongst members, ASEAN is a critical intergovernmental body in the region. It is also a body that has become an important target for civil society activism and, recently, for activism on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Significantly, the 6th ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in September 2010 in Hanoi, Vietnam for the first time included the human rights of lesbian, gays, bisexuals, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people in the meeting’s final statement.
IGLHRC Joins in Remembering Dr. Robert Carr
May 11, 2011| Contributed by IGLHRC
Robert Carr showed incredible leadership in recognizing needs and creating strategies for solutions to the problems experienced in the Caribbean LGBT community - many of which shaped our activism in the region.
He supported the First Caribbean TRANS Strategy Workshop in Curacao in 2009 - in partnership with CARIFLAGS and IGLHRC - an event that succeeded in encouraging a Trans community answer to the local situation. He generously shared his experiences and knowledge and helped to build capacity in documentation and advocacy to show how discrimination, marginalization and violence function to prevent the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
I Did Not Kill My Dad
May 6, 2011| Contributed by Arsham Parsi, Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR)
When my father died, I went only to the first day of the funeral. It was not that I didn’t grieve. No matter how difficult our relationship had been, no matter how many times he yelled at or slapped me, no matter how much I disappointed him because I would never be the son he wanted, he was still my father. I wanted to be there to show my respect, but I could only stomach the dirty looks of my relatives for so long. They didn’t want me to be there. I had known this since the day my father died, discovered laying face down on our living room floor. The day passed by like a blur and I can only remember bits and pieces; my mother trying to wake him; my sister and I calming her down enough to drive to the hospital; the doctor’s cold, direct diagnosis of heart-attack. And I remember when my uncle arrived at our house. “You killed your father,” he muttered to me. “Murderer.”
Documenting LGBT Discrimination in Namibia
March 30, 2011| Contributed by Chivuli Ukwimi, Former Health and Human Rights Officer, IGLHRC
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Namibians live and work in difficult circumstances. Sodomy remains illegal in Namibia and rather than fulfilling its duty to protect LGBT people, the government has helped fuel anti-LGBT violence. In 1996, former President Sam Nujoma stated at the opening of a SWAPO (ruling party) Women’s Congress that, “Homosexuals must be condemned and rejected in our society." In a 2001 speech at the University of Namibia, his attacks went further. Nujoma said, “The Republic of Namibia does not allow homosexuality [or] lesbianism here. Police are ordered to arrest you and deport you and imprison you." To this day, the Namibian LGBTI community experiences widespread social exclusion and rejection. As one member of the community told us, “When we walk down the street, people call us names. One transwoman was even beaten by seven people but the police dismissed the case as a general attack and not a hate crime.”
Although for many years, there was a strong LGBT movement in Namibia responding to such attacks, a gap formed as the organizations then leading the movement folded or shifted their focus. In response, community members and activists came together in March 2010 to form Outright Namibia (ORN) - headquartered in Windhoek with a network of regional leaders and support groups. As the one-year organization works to rebuild the LGBT movement in Namibia, ORN decided to partner with IGLHRC in designing and delivering a two-day training focused on human rights documentation. ORN and Executive Director Linda Baumann rightly reasoned that if they have strong documentation about what LGBT people experience in their daily lives, they will be in a better position to understand those challenges and identify avenues for change.
Felipa de Souza Awardees: The LGBT Centre in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
March 7, 2011| Contributed by Otgonbaatar (Otgo) Tsedendemberel, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Centre
The Mongolian LGBT Centre is this year's awardee of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's Felipa de Souza award, which honors human rights defenders working on LGBT rights each year at its a Celebration of Courage gala. This piece was cross-posted to the Bilerico Project and Queerty.
The establishment in 2009 of an NGO solely dedicated to upholding the human rights of Mongolia's LGBT community was a milestone in the Mongolian LGBT rights movement, and marked the end of a difficult and frustrating three-year journey for we LGBT Centre founders. We encountered a lot of prejudice along the way, and a lot of unnecessary obstacles were placed in our path as a result of that prejudice.
World Social Forum - Foro Social Mundial 2011 Dakar, Senegal
February 11, 2011| Contributed by Marcelo Ferreyra, Former Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
An overview of Foro Social Mundial 2011 Dakar, Senegal
Los Objetivos del Foro se van Cumpliendo
February 11, 2011| Contributed by Marcelo Ferreyra, Former Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
El Foro Social Mundial fue concebido por sus fundadores como un lugar donde el movimiento altermundialista y los propios actores sociales –movimientos sociales, redes, sindicatos, ONG- puedan intercambiar experiencias y definir/precisar agendas comunes. Esta meta se refleja en la Carta de Principios de 14 puntos que desde 2001 sirve de marco conceptual a este proceso en marcha.
La propuesta se desprende del análisis del escenario actual de los movimientos sociales, con contradicciones y diferencias entre unos y otros, donde los indígenas están contra los campesinos; y éstos contra las mujeres; y la mujeres se distancian de los movimientos de la diversidad sexual…El Foro genera el espacio y la oportunidad de terminar con esto, apostar a construir una sólida sinergia, una confluencia real entre los distintos actores sociales sin la cual cada uno queda expuesto a la ineficacia de sus propios limites. Hoy, África del Norte protagoniza una movilización popular intensa en la que se constata un contexto político muy favorable para los movimientos sociales que no seria posible sin esa sinergia.
The Forum's Objectives Are Accomplished
February 11, 2011| Contributed by Marcelo Ferreyra, Former Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
The World Social Forum was conceived by its founders as a place where the anti-globalization movement and social actors, social movements, networks, unions, and NGOs can exchange experiences and define and clarify common agendas. This goal is reflected in the 14-point Charter of Principles that, since 2001, serve as a conceptual framework for this process in motion.
The proposal results from the analysis of the current situation of social movements, with contradictions and differences between all of them; where indigenous people’s movements are pitted against farmers’ movements or women’s movements and where women’s movements distance themselves from sexual diversity movements. The Forum creates space and opportunity to stop this and to build a strong synergy and convergence between different social actors that can be limited and ineffective separately. Today, North Africa features a strong popular movement in which there has been a very favorable political context for social movements that would not be possible without this synergy.
Lentamente el Foro Social Mundial se va ordenando
February 11, 2011| Contributed by Marcelo Ferreyra, Former Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
Las mismas imágenes de desorientación y deambular errático sin hallar el taller buscado, se fueron repitiendo en las charlas y conversaciones de los encuentros ocasionales con activistas durante la noche y la mañana. Fueron muchos y muchas quienes decidieron trasladar las actividades a carpas o a sus propios hoteles. Otros tantos extrañaron la Carpa Q: el espacio que en Nairobi concentraba la muy nutrida agenda LGBT. Sin embargo, ya en el segundo y último día de talleres el desconcierto inicial había desaparecido y todo el mundo sabía, mas o menos, que esperar y donde podía encontrar el espacio o el grupo que buscaba. Esto no fomentó la interacción buscada entre los distintos movimientos sociales pero, al menos, las citas acordadas el día anterior permitieron la continuidad de los diálogos preestablecidos.
Esto fue lo que también ocurrió en la carpa ocupada por el Lesbian and Gay Equality Project. Poco a poco el espacio se fue llenando con asistentes que acudían a la cita programada el día anterior, que habían sido invitados e invitadas, o que de alguna u otra forma habían recibido la Información durante la noche y la mañana.
Solidaridad y autodeterminación superan cualquier obstáculo
February 11, 2011| Contributed by Marcelo Ferreyra, Former Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
Como dije anteriormente, se puede esperar que un Foro Social Mundial sea complejo y algo caótico, pero el Foro Social Mundial en Dakar ha superado todas las expectativas.
En uno de los comentarios sobre el post anterior nos preguntan: Quién decide donde se lleva a cabo el Foro? Hoy, todos los participantes nos hemos hecho la misma pregunta. Los organizadores evalúan sus responsabilidades. Lo que parecía ser un habitual retraso en la definición del programa hizo eclosión hoy dejando al descubierto serias fallas organizativas. Hasta el primer día del Foro no se había definido un programa que diera cuenta de los lugares y horarios de las actividades.
Al parecer un desacuerdo entre las autoridades de la Universidad Cheikh Anta Diop y los organizadores locales en quienes el Comité Organizador General delegó la responsabilidad logística del Foro no permitió que se definieran los tiempos y espacios de las actividades. Las autoridades de la Universidad se negaron a suspender su cronograma regular de clases para dar lugar al Foro, según se había convenido. Como resultado, el cronograma de las actividades del día aparece cada mañana en lugares estratégicos donde la gente se agolpa para decidir en que participar. Esto solo para caminar erráticamente por el campus universitario y finalmente encontrar que el lugar destinado para la actividad estaá ocupado por un grupo de alumnos y su profesor dictando sus clases regulares.
Una Marcha de apertura sin banderas del arco iris
February 11, 2011| Contributed by Marcelo Ferreyra, Former Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, IGLHRC
Cada evento del Foro Social Mundial es una muestra del caos simbólico que resulta de una propuesta representativa de la Sociedad Civil en todo el esplendor de su pluralidad y diversidad.
Si lo que se busca es el orden, las propuestas unidireccionales y las tranquilizadoras y coordinadas conclusiones de una acción conjunta, si es que ama demasiado el verticalismo y los liderazgos, este no es el espacio indicado para hallarlo. El Foro Social Mundial es el espacio para las voces múltiples, para el dialogo y conocimiento mutuo, para la diversidad y pluralidad y todo el aparente caos resultante de ello. Personalmente creo que como integrantes de un sector vulnerabilizado de la sociedad deberíamos amar más este tipo de espacios plurales.
Por otro lado, también, cada evento del Foro Social Mundial lleva la impronta del país anfitrión. Esto puede resultar desde la suprema libertad, solidaridad cotidiana y autodeterminación de Porto Alegre al verticalismo angustiante de Caracas. En el caso de Dakar también se hace notar la impronta local. racias al activismo comprometido de sus creadores y coordinadores, los espacios destinados a la orientación sexual y a la identidad y expresión de genero siempre han sido relevantes y protagónicos en cada capítulo del Foro Social Mundial. Esto ha sido así desde Porto Alegre a Belem do Pará, desde Mumbai a Nairobi. Sin embargo en Dakar, a pesar de los esfuerzos sobrehumanos de los organizadores, la cosa fue, desde un principio distinta.