OAS LGBTTI Declaration- El Salvador

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DECLARATION OF THE COALICION OF LESBIANS, GAYS, BISEXUALS, TRAVESTI, TRANSEXUALS, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE OAS.
SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR, JUNE 5TH, 2011

Mister Secretary General, Ministers, Members of the Official Delegations, Civil Society Representatives,

We, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Travesti, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex organizations, convened in San Salvador, El Salvador on June 2 and 3, 2011, in accordance with the directives established by the General Assembly of the OAS in its resolutions AG/RES.2092(XXXV-O/05); CP/RES.759(1217/99); AG/RES.840(1361/03); AG/RES.1707(XXX-O/00) and AG/RES.1915(XXXIII-O/03), which determine a regulatory framework to enhance and strengthen civil society participation in OAS activities and in the Summit of the Americas process

We fully share the concern for ensuring that citizen security must concretely constitute the basis for full and sustainable development of human rights for every individual.

However, we express our concern as the draft Declaration “Citizen Security in the Americas” focuses on issues related to organized crime rather than crimes experienced in daily life. The majority of killings, serious assaults, sexual abuses, and other crimes against the individual are the result of bias and vulnerability associated with gender violence; discrimination against afrodescendant and indigenous people; sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; xenophobia; disability; migrants, displaced people and other vulnerable groups.

Additionally, we express our concern for the lack of visibility we suffer by the omission of any reference to specific security needs of LGBTTTI people, despite being especially affected by the consequences of violence and crimes caused by homophobia, lesbophobia and, most of all, transphobia; contravening the content of the Resolutions “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” adopted in 2008 (AG/RES. 2435 (XXXVIII-O/08), 2009 (AG/RES. 2435 (XXXVIII-O/08) and 2010 (AG/RES. 2600 (XL-O/10).

Every year thousands of children and adolescents in the region are expelled from their homes because of their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. They are victims of attacks by State security organs as well as by non state actors. They are excluded from education, access to dignifying work, health, social security, and the most elementary rights as citizens, particularly sexual and reproductive rights.

The most serious concern relating to citizen security is the situation of transsexual, travesti, transgender men and women. Being particularly affected by stigma, deprived of the right to personal identity based on their social name and identity, without which the exercise of most rights are simply impossible; excluded from any public policy; carrying the huge risk of suffering the worst forms of social, economic and labour segregation. Located at the margin of any real opportunity, many of them find in prostitution the only means of survival, which aggravates the circle of marginalization and poverty, as well as a risk to personal security.

Crimes committed against LGBTTTI people are made invisible in official data on criminality. Investigation authorities rarely complete their investigations. Courts of law are often carried away by bias that does not allow access to a just and inclusive judgment, that occasionally is favorable to the perpetrator. The majority of victims prefer not to report crimes committed against them because of fear of suffering harassment, maltreatment or institutional victimization.

We applaud the significant progress in equality legislation, case law and regulations in several countries of the region in the last year. However, we are concerned that the same progress is not occurring in all countries simultaneously. At this point in almost all English speaking Caribbean countries same sex intimacy is still criminal. We denounce religious beliefs constantly interfering with human rights, which contributes to worsening issues of citizen security for LGBTTTI people.

We denounce that the process of negotiation of the Draft Interamerican Convention against Racism and all Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance is basically dormant, if not close to failure, which would mean losing the opportunity to address the issues mentioned above.

We are concerned that the implementation of policies that are aimed at repressing criminality in society often have the effect of worsening the vulnerability situation of LGBTTTI people.

Therefore we demand:

To the Member States:
1.      To introduce in their laws clear norms to effectively criminalize hate crimes; to repeal laws that criminalize same sex intimacy; to fight against discrimination in every area.
2.      To establish effective and speedy mechanisms for the integral recognition of legal identity of transexual, trangender, travesti and intersex individuals, based on their names and perceived gender identity, without need for genital surgery nor of pathological protocols.
3.      To implement adequate, integral and transversal public policies to fight stigma, exclusion and segregation of individuals on grounds of their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; as well as ensure their effective protection from violence.
To the General Assembly:
4.      To approve the draft resolution CP/CJP-2951/11, Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity presented by the Brazilian delegation, whose initiative we fully endorse.

We are not dangerous. We are in danger.
Participants who were part of the Coalition is as follows:
AIREANA - Camila Zabala – Paraguay, ASOCIACIÓN LIDERES EN ACCION -Germán Rincón Perfetti - Colombia, ASPIDH ARCO IRIS – Mónica Hernández – El Salvador, COALITION ADVOCATING FOR INCLUSION OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION – Kareem Griffith – Trinidad and Tobago, COLECTIVA MUJER y SALUD, Julie Betances - República Dominicana, COLECTIVO OVEJAS NEGRAS – Valeria Rubino – Uruguay, COLECTIVO UNIDAD COLOR ROSA – Roxana
Almendarez – Honduras, COLOMBIA DIVERSA – Marcela Sánchez – Colombia, CORPORACIÓN PROMOCIÓN DE LA MUJER, Tania Correa - Ecuador, DIVERLEX – Tamara Adrián – Venezuela,DOMINICA CHAP – Daryl Phillip – Dominica, FRONTE TRANS – Mario Sánchez Pérez –Mexico, INSTITUTO RUNA – Belissa Andia – Perú, INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION LAC – Marcelo Ferreyra – Argentina, J-FLAG – Jaevion Nelson
– Jamaica, AIDS FREE WORLD - Maurice Tomlinson – Jamaica, MULABI-ARGENTINA –Fernando D’Elio – Argentina, MULABI-COSTA RICA – Natasha Jiménez – Costa Rica,ORGANIZACIÓN DE TRANSEXUALES POR LA DIGNIDAD DE LA DIVERSIDAD – Andrés RiveraDuarte – Chile, ORGANIZACIÓN TRANS REINAS DE LA NOCHE – Johana Ramírez –
Guatemala, RED AFRO LGBTI - Edmilson Medeiros - BRASIL, RED LATINOAMERICANA Y DEL CARIBE DE PERSONAS TRANS - Marcela Romero- Argentina, RED NICARAGUENSE DE ACTIVISTAS TRANS – Silvia Martínez – Nicaragua, SOCIETY AGAINST SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION- Jermaine Grant - Guyana, UNIBAM – Caleb Orozco – Belice, UNITED GAYS & LESBIANS AGAINST AIDS BARBADOS - Emerson Emmanuel – Barbados.
Partner de la Coalition Stefano Fabeni – Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights

Posted: San Salvador, 8 de junio de 2011

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