Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring project reveals
Posted: 13th November, 2013
Transgender Europe: TDOR Press Release November
13th 2013
Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring
project reveals
238 killings of trans people in the last 12 months
238 killings of trans people in the last 12 months
In total, since January 2008 the murders of 1,374
trans people have been reported
The 15th International Transgender Day
of Remembrance is being held on November 20th 2013:
Since 1999 the Transgender Day of
Remembrance (TDOR), on which those trans people who have been
victims of homicide are remembered, takes place every November.
The TDOR raises public awareness of hate crimes against trans
people, provides a space for public mourning and honours the
lives of those trans people who might otherwise be forgotten.
Started in the USA, the TDOR is now held in many parts of the
world. In the past, the TDOR took place in more than 180 cities
in more than 20 countries in North America, Europe, Asia,
Africa, and Oceania.
Sadly, this year there are 238 trans persons to
be added to the list to be remembered, mourned and honoured.
The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project started in
April 2009 and systematically
monitors, collects and analyses reports of homicides of trans
people worldwide. Updates of the results, which have been presented
in July 2009 for the first time, are published on the website of
the “Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” project two to
three times a year in form of tables, name lists, and maps:
http://www.transrespect- transphobia.org/en_US/tvt- project/tmm-results.htm
http://www.transrespect-
Every year in
November, Transgender Europe provides a special update of the
TMM results for the International Transgender Day of Remembrance
so as to assist activists worldwide in raising public awareness
of hate crimes against trans people. The TDOR 2013 update has revealed a total of 238
cases of reported killings of trans people from November 20th
2012 to November 1st 2013:
http://www.transrespect- transphobia.org/en_US/tvt- project/tmm-results.htm/tdor- 2013
http://www.transrespect-
The update shows
reports of murdered trans people in 26 countries in the last 12
months, with the majority from Brazil (95), Mexico (40), the USA
(16), and Venezuela (15), followed by Honduras (12), Colombia
(12), and El Salvador (5). While Brazil, Mexico, and the USA
have the highest absolute numbers, the relative numbers show
even more worrisome results for some countries with smaller
population sizes. Honduras, for instance, has a rate of 1.5
reported trans killings per million inhabitants, for El Salvador
the rate is 0.71, while for Brazil the rate is 0.49, for Mexico
the rate is 0.36, and for the USA the rate is 0.05. In Asia most
reported cases have been found in India (8), and in Europe in
Turkey (5) and Italy (5).
Attached to this press release you can
find a map, which demonstrates the absolute figures of reports
found worldwide from November 20th 2012 to November 1st
2013.
Another worrisome result of the TMM TDOR 2013
update is that from January 1st to October 31st
2013, the TMM registered the highest numbers of reported murders
of minors since TGEU started the TMM. In the first 10 months of
2013 already 22 trans persons under 20 years have been reported
murdered. Half of them have been under 18 years. Among these 11
murdered minors was a 13-year old trans girl, who has been found
strangled in the city of Macaiba in Brazil on June 9th
2013, a 14-year old trans girl, who has been found strangled in
the city of Ibipora in Brazil on October 15th 2013,
and also 16-year-old „Dwayne“ Jones, who was kicked out of her
home with 14, and on July 22nd 2013 attended for the
first time a party in female clothing in St. James, Jamaica,
where she was chased and brutally murdered by party-goers, who
formed a mob, when they realized that she was a trans person. In
total 108 murders of trans people under 20 years have been
reported since 2008: 14 in 2008, 19 in 2009, 13 in 2010, 21 in
2011, 19 in 2012, and 22 in the first ten months of 2013.
The TDOR 2013 update reveals a total of 1,374
reported killings of trans people in 60 countries worldwide
from January 1st 2008 to October 31st
2013. It is important to
note that these cases are those that could be found through
Internet research and through cooperation with trans
organizations and activists. In most countries, data on murdered
trans people are not systematically produced and it is
impossible to estimate the numbers of unreported cases.
The
alarming figures demonstrate once more that there is an urgent
need to react to the violence against trans people and to seek
mechanisms to protect trans people. Some international trans
activists even started to introduce the term ‘transcide’ to
reflect the continuously elevated level of deadly violence
against trans people on a global scale and a coalition of NGOs
from South America and Europe started the “Stop Trans Genocide”
campaign.
Cases have been reported
from all major World Regions (Africa, Asia, Central and South
America, Europe, North America, and Oceania), evoking an
evermore gruesome picture, especially given the very partial
knowledge we are able to gain in many places. More detailed information and a map showing
the 1,374 reported murders of trans people is available at:
Throughout all six world
regions, the highest absolute numbers have been found in
countries with strong trans movements and trans or LGBT
organizations that do a professional monitoring: Brazil (539),
Mexico (144), Colombia (76), Venezuela (70) and Honduras (60) in
Central and South America, the USA (85) in North America, Turkey
(34) and Italy (26) in Europe, and India (30) and the
Philippines (29) in Asia.
The close connection
between the existence of strong trans movements and professional
monitoring on the one hand, and highest absolute numbers of
reports, on the other hand, point to a worrisome question: the
question of unreported cases. Beside the need for mechanisms to
protect trans people, this connection also shows the need for
strong trans communities and organizations, which are capable of
professional monitoring and reporting of violence against trans
people. Furthermore this connection results in the fact, that
the figures show only the tip of the iceberg of homicides of
trans people on a worldwide scale.
More than 1,000 reported murders of trans
people in Central and South America since 2008
The new result update
moreover reveals that in the last 70 months:
1,074 killings of trans people have been reported
in Central and South
America, which account for 78 % of the globally reported
murders of trans people since January 2008. In this region,
there has been the strongest increase in reports and with 22
countries Central and South America is the best documented
region.
117 killings of trans people have been reported in Asia in 16
countries;
87 killings of trans people have been reported in North America;
84 killings of trans people have been reported in Europe in 12
countries;
8 killings of trans people have been reported in Africa in 4
countries;
4 killings of trans people
have been reported in
Oceania in 4 countries.
Attached to this press release you can find
tables showing the details and a map, which demonstrates the
absolute figures of reports found worldwide since January 2008.
While the documentation of killings of trans people
is indispensable for demonstrating the shocking extent of human
rights violations committed against trans people on a global
scale, there is also a need for in-depth research of various
other aspects related to the human rights situation of trans
people. Therefore, Transgender Europe developed the Trans Murder
Monitoring project into the ‘Transrespect versus Transphobia
Worldwide’ research project (TvT). TvT is a comparative,
ongoing qualitative-quantitative research project, which
provides an overview of the human rights situation of trans
people in different parts of the world and develops useful data
and advocacy tools for international institutions, human rights
organizations, the trans movement and the general public. In
November 2012 Transgender Europe published the TvT research
report “TRANSRESPECT VERSUS TRANSPHOBIA WORLDWIDE - A
Comparative Review of the Human-rights Situation of
Gender-variant/Trans People”, which discusses and contextualizes
the key findings of the TvT project. You can download the
research report here:
http://www.transrespect-
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