Peru: “I have rights” photo exhibition depicts the lives of transgender people

Transgender people often face violence, unemployment and poverty, owing to ignorance and prejudice. Such stigma and discrimination places transgender women at a higher risk of HIV infection. 

All people are equal and no one should be discriminated for any reason. “In our country it will take a lot to make this affirmation a reality,” the Peru’s Ombudsman Eduardo Vega Luna said in response to the situation. However, he called for “more awareness campaigns that encourage citizens to look at the future with hope and without violence and discrimination.”

One such activity was recently organized by UN organizations in Peru and civil society organizations: The exhibition, “Yo tengo derechos”, meaning “I have rights”, presented photographs taken by Danielle Villasana. 

The photographs in the exhibition—part of the United Nations Free and Equal campaign—showed transgender people with their colleagues and family members in their daily lives as students, artists, professionals and activists. In their testimonies for the exhibition, transgender people spoke about happiness, love and how they cope with daily struggles. Read more via UNAIDS

UNAIDS calls for 20 billion condoms by 2020

Every day, more than one million people acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and every year there are estimated to be around 80 million unintended pregnancies. Condoms are proven to be 98% effective in preventing STIs and HIV. In addition, male and female condoms prevent unintended pregnancies when used correctly and consistently.

Despite increased use of condoms over the past two decades, studies show that reported use of condoms during a person’s most recent sexual encounter with a non-regular partner ranged from 80% in some countries to less than 30% in others. There is an urgent need for countries to strengthen demand for and supply of condoms and water-based lubricant.

UNAIDS is calling for increased investments by donors and governments for the promotion and distribution of male and female condoms in order to ensure everyone has access to condoms to protect themselves and their partners from HIV, STIs and unintended pregnancies: “Investing in condoms saves lives,” said UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures. “It is unacceptable that so many people are becoming infected with HIV and sexually transmitted infections because they do not have access to something as easy to use, effective and low cost as condoms.” Read more via UNAIDS 

Celebrate individuality and stand out on Zero Discrimination Day

 On 1 March, people around the world joined together to celebrate Zero Discrimination Day. Discrimination remains widespread—gender, nationality, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion can all unfortunately be the basis for some form of discrimination. In only four out of 10 countries worldwide do equal numbers of girls and boys attend secondary school and 75 countries have laws that criminalize same-sex sexual relations.

Discrimination in health-care settings also continues to be widely reported. Imagine a young woman newly diagnosed with HIV being told by her doctor that she must be sterilized, a sex worker facing violence or abuse from a nurse, a disabled person denied access to proper advice about their sexual health, a gay man frightened of disclosing his sexuality to medical staff, a person who injects drugs dying after being refused treatment or a transgender person attempting suicide after being turned away from a clinic. Health-care settings should be considered as safe and caring environments, however, such cases are happening too frequently throughout the world.

 Read more via UNAIDS

UN: Banning homosexuality fosters hate crime and homophobia, says report

Criminalising homosexuality amounts to torture in many of the 76 countries where same-sex relationships are outlawed, a United Nations report has declared. Prof Juan Mendez, the organisation’s special rapporteur on torture, has called for decriminalisation in his latest submission to the UN’s human rights council on the grounds that the bans – which sometimes carry the death penalty – legitimise homophobia and hate crimes.
 
In one of the strongest denunciations of laws that are enforced in many African, Asian and Middle Eastern states, Mendez, a former Argentinian political prisoner, urges governments to reconsider their statute books: “A clear link exists between the criminalisation of LGBT persons and homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, police abuse, community and family violence and stigmatisation,” his report says. 
 
The report says that in countries where homosexuality is criminalised “men suspected of same-sex conduct are subject to non-consensual anal examinations intended to obtain physical evidence of homosexuality, a practice that is medically worthless and amounts to torture or ill-treatment”.

The UN special rapporteur’s statement will provide legal support for groups such as the London-based  Human Dignity Trust which campaigns to overturn criminalisation. Read more via Guardian 

New stamps promoting LGBT equality worldwide unveiled at UN

The United Nations Postal Administration unveiled a set of six commemorative stamps to promote UN Free & Equal – a global UN campaign for LGBT equality launched and led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The new stamps mark the first time the United Nations has issued stamps with this theme. In an interview, the artist who designed them, Sergio Baradat said he was very influenced by art from the first quarter of the 20th Century. 

“One of the stamps represents someone who is transgender,” Mr. Baradat said, referring to the stamp that depicts a person with butterfly wings, an image he says represents a person “becoming who they really are, blossoming." "We live in a world where even though [developed] nations have embraced marriage equality [and] LBGT equality, we still have a far, far, far way to go, but we are making some strides,” he added.  Read more via the UN 

IGM = "Harmful Practice" + "Violence": UN reprimands France + Ireland over Intersex Genital Mutilations

StopIGM.org warmly welcomes the historic, binding 2016 "Concluding Observations" of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for France and Ireland.

This marks the first time that the Committee reprimanded two States over IGM practices at once, again recognising non-consensual, medically unnecessary, irreversible, cosmetic genital surgeries and other procedures on intersex children as a "harmful practice" and as "violence against children".

We particularly appreciate that the Committee specifically called on Ireland to "adopt legal provisions in order to provide redress to the victims of such treatment, including adequate compensation", and for France invoked the Joint General Comment No. 18 (2014) and No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on harmful practices, which also contain detailed stipulations regarding legislation and access to justice and redress for survivors, and highlight the necessity of developing a holistic policy. Read more via StopIGM.org

Strengthening human rights for gay men and other men who have sex with men

The first meeting of a new advisory body, the Global Platform to Fast-Track HIV Responses among Gay Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (Global Platform), was convened by UNAIDS and the Men Who Have Sex with Men Global Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Through the Global Platform, members will provide strategic advice to United Nations agencies and other stakeholders on HIV programme needs and priorities for gay men and other men who have sex with men.

“To date, we have shamefully failed gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men in the global response to HIV. Establishing the first ever advisory body to the United Nations agencies and donor community devoted to this issue is an important first step in correcting the situation,” said George Ayala, Executive Director of the Men Who Have Sex with Men Global Forum. 

New infections among gay men and other men who have sex with men are increasing in all regions of the world, while access to treatment remains low in many countries. National HIV prevention and treatment programmes often fail to target gay men and other men who have sex with men. Punitive laws and policies, violence and human rights violations all fuel vulnerability to HIV.   Read more via UNAIDS

Iranian Government evades the UN questions on LGBTI children

For the first time, the Committee on the Rights of the Child questioned the Iranian government about the human rights of LGBTI children. The committee completed two sessions of review on the situation of children in Iran in Geneva last week. The Iranian delegates evaded many questions during the two day sessions by delay, denial and even at times mischaracterization of Iranian law.

Clarence Nelson, one of the committee experts, raised the issue of LGBTI children in Iran citing that children had to undergo coercive measures to “correct” and “cure” their “problem”. These practices include but are not limited to unnecessary hormone therapies, electroshocks and even life-threatening sexual reassignment surgeries. Since on the first line of questioning the Iranian delegates remained silent on this issue, he raised the question again asking the delegation to comment on reports of violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex children but no response was forthcoming.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran’s written reply to the Committee, the Iranian government had not even distinguished between an intersex child and a bisexual child. This action of Islamic Republic’s government shows a deep lack of scientific knowledge or perhaps adequate consideration and investigation on the part of the state. In their reply, the Islamic Republic had also explicitly mentioned that homosexuality is considered a form of illness and thus the state sanctioned treatment of “gender identity disorder” mandates sex reassignment surgeries.  Read more via 6rang 

UNHCR leads in LGBTI refugee, asylum seeker protection

The UN Refugee Agency is leading the way in delivering protection to LGBTI persons in forced displacement with the rolling out of a new training programme for UNHCR staff and other protection and humanitarian workers, the most comprehensive training package of its kind globally.

LGBTI persons fleeing persecution face a complex array of challenges and threats at all stages of displacement, including discrimination, prejudice, violence, difficulty accessing humanitarian services, and barriers to articulating their protection needs during asylum procedures and other interactions with protection and humanitarian actors.

The programme was developed jointly with the International Organization for Migration, IOM, and funded by the United States Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM). It covers relevant terminology, international law, communication, operational protection, conducting interviews, durable solutions, health, and refugee status determination, all with a focus on practical guidance for UNHCR and partner organizations when assisting LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers.  Read more via Trust.org

Asia-Pacific’s alarming AIDS rise

There are now 220,000 adolescents living with HIV in the Asia-Pacific region, with large cities the hubs of new infections. Risky behaviour is on the rise, and policymakers need to address the problem, Wing-Sie Cheng Regional Adviser, HIV and AIDS with UNICEF, covering East Asia and the Pacific writes.

At a time when we are tantalisingly close to ending the global HIV and AIDS epidemic, a new trend gives cause for concern. Although new AIDS-related deaths are falling in most countries, they are rising among certain groups of adolescents in Asia-Pacific. The rise in new infections coincides with an increase in risky behaviour, such as multiple sexual partners and inconsistent condom use.

These trends are not limited to Asia-Pacific. In parts of Africa, AIDS is now the leading cause of death among adolescents. In Asia-Pacific, the epidemic is growing fastest among young gay and bisexual men, and the rise of mobile dating or hook-up apps play a role as enablers of risky behaviour. Gay men are now using mobile dating apps to meet up for sex and are having more casual sex with more people with the convenience of geographic tracing of the nearest sexual interest.  Read more via Policy Forum