National: Over 40 Organizations Demand Protection from the State for Migrants in the Pandemic

@Sinembargo

On July 1^st in an online transmission, the report “Proposal of alternative routes to detention for the migrant population and asylum seekers in Mexico during the Covid-19 pandemic” was presented. In the event which was coordinated by the University Seminar for Studies on Internal Displacement, Migration, Exile and Repatriation of the UNAM, representatives from OXFAM Mexico, the International Detention Coalition, the Fray Matias de Cordova Center for Human Rights on the southern border, and Al Otro Lado Tijuana on the northern border participated.

The report reveals the conditions of risk of contagion and violation of rights faced by thousands of migrants in Mexico and calls on the responsible authorities and control and surveillance bodies to act urgently in order to guarantee that migrants in Mexico have access to their rights.

The report also emphasizes that children continue to be victims of arrests: “We are particularly concerned about the presence of thousands of accompanied children and adolescents, whose best interests are also permanently omitted in the considerations of the Mexican authorities.”

The report, backed by more than 40 civil society organizations, proposes 11 minimum lines of action for the implementation of emergency sanitary measures with the population on the move in the country, in order to reduce the risks of transmission of the virus in this sector, as well as for the officials who serve them and for the communities that host them.

In the presentation, it was repeatedly emphasized that it is not a matter of implementing a different policy but of ensuring that Mexico meets its responsibilities, which derive from international conventions that it has ratified.

More information in Spanish:

En México hay 100 mil migrantes en riesgo por Covid-19, alerta la UNAM (La Jornada 1 de julio)

“Propuesta de rutas alternativas a la detención para la población migrante y solicitante de asilo en México durante la pandemia del Covid-19”(Informe, julio 2020)

UNAM pide acciones para proteger de la pandemia a 100 mil migrantes. (ejecentral 2 de julio)

 

National/International: CNI Groups Organize as USMCA Comes into Effect

At the end of June, before the imminent entry into effect of the new free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (USMCA), the Metropolitan Anticapitalist and Antipatriarchal Coordination and the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG) of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) called for a series of protest activities that will include: a virtual march “Against USMCA! No to the New Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico!”, On July 1st; a virtual Forum “Analysis and Perspectives: a Comparative Framework of NAFTA-1994 and its Contributions to Social Inequalities”, on July 16th; and a public presentation of the legal resources presented before national and international bodies against megaprojects, on July 30th and 31st.

On July 1st, the day the new trade agreement came into force, the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT), also part of the CNI, published a statement denouncing that this type of agreements “cement the legal frameworks to use force by law in the imposition of megaprojects in Mexico, as well as a whole series of policies, laws and reforms that violate the human rights of indigenous peoples and the Mexican people.”

It declared that the wave of violence that plagues the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is “linked to the imposition of megaprojects and extractivist policies of the Mexican government”, in particular the Trans-Systemic/Interoceanic Corridor-Train, “a historic project that since the mid-19th century has been proposing using the geostrategic position of the Mexican Isthmus as a commercial node for global trade, this as part of the expansionist project of the US, which, by not achieving its objective in Mexico, gained control over the Panama Canal, a project that is currently obsolete compared to the demand from this rampant global market.”

It warned about the fact that “the Mexican Isthmus is seen as the primary node in these treaties, and with the discourse of emerging from the economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, national and international pressure is created in our region by capital to streamline the works and construction of this Trans-Systemic/Interoceanic Corridor-Train from the port of Coatzacoalco, Veracruz to the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, interconnected with Section 1 of the Maya Train, passing through the new Dos Bocas refinery and extending from Salina Cruz to Tapachula, Chiapas, to consolidate an energy, rail, port and industrial corridor, militarizing and reordering the entire south-southeast of Mexico and placing the new border with the US on the Tehuantepec Isthmus.”

Given this, the APIIDTT made a “call to organization, to resistance and to fight for the life and future of coming generations. The Isthmus is Ours, not the companies, nor the governments, it is of the indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, it is of the Mexican people and of any person who decides to defend it, take care of it, and respect it.”

For more information in Spanish:

Boletín completo (APIIDTT, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Tratados como el T-MEC «cimientan los marcos jurídicos para usar la fuerza» contra los pueblos: comunidades del Istmo (Desinformémonos, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Jornada de lucha contra el T-MEC y los megaproyectos (CNI, 30 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ: 

National/International: USMCA Comes into Effect with Mechanisms for Internet Censorship and Criminalization of Digital Locks Evasion (July 3, 2020)

National/International: United States Formally Approves USMCA Trade Agreement(February 2, 2020)

National/International: Mexican Senate Ratifies US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (July 4, 2019)

National/International: OSC Asks for Suspension of Agreement with US to Convert Mexico into “Migration Filter” in Return for Favors in Renegotiation of NAFTA (June 25, 2018)

 

National/International: USMCA Comes into Effect with Mechanisms for Internet Censorship and Criminalization of Digital Locks Evasion

@Chamber of Deputies, Mexico

The new trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada, USMCA, entered into force on July 1st, 2020, which has led to new reforms in Mexican legislation. Under the hashtag #NiCensuraNiCandados, civil society organizations have expressed concern about the new digital laws, considering them a serious threat to human rights, specifically the right to freedom of expression. They also denounce that they put people’s security and privacy at risk.

The new reforms of the Federal Copyright Law implies “a private censorship mechanism known as “notification and withdrawal.” If a person alleges that a content or publication violates their copyright, Internet service providers must remove it, without providing evidence of the infringement and without the order of a judicial authority”, explained the Director of R3D, Digital Rights Defense Network, during a webinar on June 25th.

“The mechanism of “notification and withdrawal” has been used to remove content and information of public interest, violating the right to freedom of expression of the person who publishes the information, as well as the right of people to know about relevant events in a democratic society democratic”, a bulletin, signed by several organizations, published on the page of Articulo 19 on June 17th points out, in which they ask the Mexican government to protect the public interest and human rights.

Other reforms in the Federal Penal Code “contemplate sanctions of up to ten years in prison for evading technological protection measures. These measures, also called “digital locks,” are imposed by hardware and software manufacturers to prevent access, copying, or modification of information contained in a device or system”, R3D reports.

Despite these questions, on June 29th and 30th, these reforms were approved by both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic.

In view of this, more than 30 civil organizations condemned these reforms for considering them to be in violation of the Constitution and for violating human rights. They demanded the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) and urged legislators to take steps due to unconstitutionality.

More information in Spanish:

#NiCensuraNiCandados: Reformas para implementar el TMEC pretenden establecer mecanismos de censura y criminalizar la elusión de candados digitales (Articulo 19, 17 de junio)

Senado aprueba reformas a Ley de Derechos de Autor para armonizarse con T-MEC(Milenio, 29 de junio)

¿Censura en Internet? Esto es lo que el Senado aprobó sobre los contenidos en la red (El Heraldo de México, 1 de julio)

#NiCensuraNiCandados: Condenamos la aprobación de reformas que establecen mecanismos de censura en Internet y criminalizan la elusión de candados digitales(R3D, 1 de julio)

More information from SIPAZ:

National/International: United States Formally Approves USMCA Trade Agreement (February 2, 2020)

National/International: Mexican Senate Ratifies US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (July 4, 2019)

Mexico: 2019 Highest Number of Attacks on the Press – Articulo 19 (May 28, 2020)

 

National: Over 100 Deaths from COVID-19 in Mexican Prisons

@AsíLegal

At the end of June, several sources reported an alarming increase in infections and deaths from COVID-19 in prisons in Mexico, with 23 states of the country presenting cases.

The organization AsíLegal reported, through the COVID-19 Penitentiary Map, that up to that date they had already registered 718 people deprived of their liberty and 119 custodians confirmed cases, as well as 102 deaths in the prison population and 27 in prison staff. It warned of a “continuous increase” since the start of the pandemic, due to the lack of measures in the prison system to prevent outbreaks.

The same organization also recorded 16 violent incidents in prisons in the country with causes related to the health emergency: three in Chiapas, two in CDMX, Colima and Edomex, and with an incident in Guanajuato, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Puebla, Michoacan, Chihuahua and Veracruz.

AsíLegal also reported that 3,625 releases were granted, a figure that “increases slowly despite the mechanisms for early release of the prison population at risk or with the recently approved Amnesty Law.”

It reiterated that it is still urgent to reverse the conditions of overcrowding, and sanitation in the prison system. It also urged the authorities to redouble efforts in favor of this population and to seek measures that may allow a new, safe normality.

For its part and according to its count, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) confirmed that it has registered 656 confirmed coronavirus cases, 252 suspects and 103 deaths. Despite the slight difference with the AsíLegal data, the figure shows an acceleration in the lethality caused by the virus, as just two weeks earlier the number of deaths was 68.

For more information in Spanish:

Muertes en cárceles se triplicaron en mayo, en medio de emergencia por COVID (Animal Político, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Semáforo penitenciario en rojo: Contabilizan 131 muertes por Covid-19 en cárceles (SDP Noticias, 30 de junio de 2020)

Suman 625 casos de COVID-19 en cárceles de México (Enterate, 30 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: Commission to Implement Amnesty Law Created (June 22, 2020)

National: “Due to Cuts and Bureaucracy, Amnesty Law Hasn’t Been Applied to or Benefitted any Prisoner” – Animal Politico(June 17, 2020)

Chiapas: CSOs Denounces Chiapas State Prosecutor’s Office Setting Conditions for Release of Prisoners Entitled to New Amnesty Law (April 28, 2020)

National: Amnesty Law Approved to Stop Spread of Coronavirus in Prisons (April 23, 2020)

National: Calls on Federal and State Authorities to Take Special Measures to Prevent Spread of Coronavirus in Prisons (March 25, 2020)

 

Guerrero/National: “Important Steps on the Route to Know the Truth of what Happened” in Ayotzinapa Case

@Tlachinollan

The arrest of Jose Angel Casarrubias, alias “El Mochomo”, leader of Guerreros Unidos, a criminal group implicated in the disappearance of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal Rural School in Iguala in September 2014, generated expectations of finding key information on the whereabouts of the student teachers and towards the clarification of the case.

Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, lawyer for the relatives of the 43, stated that “when the events occurred, Jose Angel Casarrubias was the main leader of the Guerreros Unidos crime group. He directed, ordered, and all the evidence gathered indicates that he was the one in charge of the criminal group, which is why he has inside information on the whereabouts of the 43 students.” The lines of investigation suggest that Guerreros Unidos was protecting the municipal president of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, who had given orders to proceed against the 43 student teachers. However, Rosales recalled before the media that several of the detainees in the case have been released, a situation that could be repeated in this latest arrest when on July 1st, a federal judge ordered the release of Casarrubias based on technical rigor over the evidence presented by the then Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) in 2014.

Regarding the detention, the ProDH Center stated that “since he was a fugitive since 2014, it is essential that his collaboration with the investigation of the victims’ whereabouts be encouraged and that the links of his family and his criminal organization with the security forces of the three levels of government continue to be investigated.”

For its part, the La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center acknowledged that the arrest of Jose Angel Casarrubias, the arrest warrant against Tomas Zeron and the 46 arrest warrants issued against Guerrero officials, advances presented by Prosecutor Alejandro Gertz Manero on June 29th, “constitute important steps on the route to knowing the truth of what happened on September 26th, 2014 in Iguala. These are the first steps in which the political will that this government has shown in the Ayotzinapa case is condensed.”

However, it stated that “truth and justice are far from being achieved. The authorities must prosecute and sanction members of the security forces that operated in Iguala on the night of September 26th, directly and indirectly to attack Ayotzinapa students, and they will be challenged to implement legal mechanisms to approach the detainees and obtain information on the whereabouts of the missing youths. It is important to detain the highest level officials who constructed the historical lie with the deliberate intention of hiding the truth and the whereabouts of the 43 missing students, therefore, it is urgent that the immediate arrest and extradition of Tomas Zeron de Lucio architect of the so-called “historical truth” and fugitive from justice proceed.” The Prosecutor’s Office has reported that Zeron fled the country and is wanted by Interpol. He is accused by the FGR of torture and a series of irregularities in the case of the 43 students.

In the case of the 46 arrest warrants against public servants from various municipalities in the state of Guerrero, who are allegedly involved in the disappearance of the 43 normal students from Ayotzinapa, they are for the crimes of forced disappearance and organized crime, for facts that had not been investigated or prosecuted by the previous administrations of the last Attorney General of the Republic.

The prosecutor has also announced that other officials at various levels are expected to be brought to justice in the coming days, as well as to give information about the human remains that were sent to the University of Innsbruck.

For more information in Spanish:

Ordenan liberar a “El Mochomo”, presunto implicado en caso Ayotzinapa (El Informador, 1ero de julio de 2020)

Vidulfo Rosales celebra que se ejerza acción penal por desaparición forzada por caso Ayotzinapa (Proceso, 30 de junio de 2020)

Pasos importantes en la lucha por la verdad y la justicia en el caso Ayotzinapa (Tlachinollan, 30 de junio de 2020)

Fin a “verdad histórica” en caso Ayotzinapa; va Interpol por Zerón: FGR (La Jornada, 30 de junio de 2020)

Tomás Zerón huyó de México y es buscado por la Interpol por el caso Ayotzinapa (Animal Político, 30 de junio de 2020)

Otorgan suspensión a ‘El Mochomo’ (La Jornada, 30 de junio de 2020)

Detienen a Ángel Casarrubias, ‘el mochomo’, líder de Guerreros Unidos, implicado en caso Ayotzinapa (Animal Político, 29 de junio de 2020)

Detención del ‘Mochomo’: «un paso importante para encontrar a los 43» (Pie de página, 29 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero/National: 68th Global Action for Ayotzinapa (June 4, 2020)

National/International: Mexico and IACHR Formalize Reinstallation of IGIE for Ayotzinapa Case (May 11, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Federal Judge Gives Prison Sentences to Three Accused of Torture in Ayotzinapa Case (March 30, 2020)

National/Guerrero: First Legal Actions against Officials in Ayotzinapa Case Investigation (March 24, 2020)

National/Guerrero: Meeting on New Evidence in Ayotzinapa Case (March 9, 2020)

 

Guerrero: “Orange with Red Color” Light for COVID

© Milenio

On June 29th, La Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center stated its opinion regarding the change in color, from red to orange, of the epidemiological stage declared by the Secretary of Health in Guerrero. In the text, he explained the difficulties of decreeing the orange phase, which indicates a high risk, in a state like Guerrero whose residents face not only the pandemic but also, among other things, the difficult search for missing relatives.

Undersecretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell affirmed that there was a decrease in cases in Acapulco, which motivated the municipal president Adela Roman to announce the reopening of the beaches, a decision supported by Governor Hector Astudillo who “has been announcing that this week they will restart tourist activities at 30 percent of their capacity.”

In addition, pressure from the business sector, as well as from the tertiary sector, has meant that, despite the fact that the number of infections in Acapulco has not been controlled, the intention is to reactivate economic activity. The perception of the population is that the pandemic continues to rise, especially in indigenous and rural communities that do not have the same media impact and are at the peak of infections. Tlachinollan pointed out that the cases are not being registered, in principle because tests are not being applied and also because of the fear that exists among the population of becoming infected if they go to hospital.

“We face a very difficult crossroads, because the pandemic has not yet been tamed in an entity made up of an extremely vulnerable population, due to its economic precariousness, difficult access to hospital centers and the lack of sanitary controls”, said Tlachinollan.

On that note, a call was made to the authorities to consider the consequences of the reopening of activities and, above all, to deal with them, especially if infections spread again, “the authorities have to carefully weigh the risks entailed by a partial opening, without assuring the mitigation of the contagion and attention to the population that requires hospitalization.”

For more information in Spanish:

Naranja con color rojo (Centro de Derechos Humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 29 de junio 2020)

Confía Astudillo que cambie a naranja semáforo sanitario de Guerrero (El Sol de Acapulco, 30 de junio de 2020)

Espera el gobierno de Guerrero pasar a semáforo naranja el miércoles (El Sur, 28 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas: Orange Light Despite Serious Doubts about Official COVID Figures (July 3, 2020)

Guerrero: 25th Anniversary of Aguas Blancas Massacre…No Justice (June 30, 2020) 

Chiapas: Violent Demonstrations and Damage in San Andres Larrainzar during Alleged Sanitation (June 30, 2020)

Oaxaca/National: 7.5 Earthquake in State Ravaged by Pandemic (June 24, 2020)

Chiapas: Health System in Chiapas Collapsed Due to Coronavirus (June 23, 2020)

National: First Report on Monitoring of Indigenous and Comparable Communities Published in Response to SARS-COV-2 Emergency (June 22, 2020)

 

National/International: UNO Requests Mexican Government to Adopt Protection Measures for Human Rights Defenders

© ohchr

On June 29th, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of UN human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, expressed in a statement “her grave concern at the intimidation, threats and killings to which human rights defenders are subjected in Mexico.” This, after the members of the Oaxaca Consortium organization on June 15th were victims of threats allegedly by an organized crime group.

“The level of vulnerability that defenders are in in certain regions of Mexico is extremely worrying. It is even more worrisome to observe the extraordinary risks faced by women human rights defenders and those who are dedicated to fighting for women’s rights”, the rapporteur said. In addition, she emphasized that Mexico has international obligations and, therefore, it must guarantee the protection of human rights defenders, especially against violations committed by agents of the State and private entities. She called on the Mexican government “to take measures to prevent future violations and to take retrospective measures in response to the violations already inflicted.”

The incorporation of a gender perspective to face the specific risks and security needs of human rights defenders, of those who work in the field of women’s rights or gender issues, is of utmost importance in Mexico, a country where gender violence continues, Lawlor emphasized.

For more information in Spanish:

Una serie de amenazas contra integrantes del Consorcio Oaxaca (United Nations Special Rapporteur, 29 de junio 2020)

Relatora sobre personas defensoras y otros expertos de la ONU exigen garantías para Consorcio Oaxaca y castigo a los responsables de amenaza en su contra. (Consorcio Oaxaca, 29 de junio 2020)

Garantías para Consorcio Oaxaca, exigen relatores de la ONU (Proceso, 29 de junio 2020)

México: Experta de la ONU insta a garantizar la protección de las defensoras de derechos humanos (Naciones Unidas México, 29 de junio 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ: 

Oaxaca: Death Threat at Door of Oaxaca Consortium Office (June 17, 2020)

National/International: Food Insecurity Increases for LGBTIQ+ Community in Pandemic (June 24, 2020)

National: UNO Supports CONAPRED (June 22, 2020)

National: Reform Of Law for Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists Debated in Context of Greater Vulnerability in Pandemic (May 26, 2020)

Chiapas: Las Abejas Civil Society Denounces Persecution and Murder of Human Rights Defenders and Protectors of Mother Earth and other Violent Situations (February 25, 2020)

National/International: UNO Presents Diagnostic of Protection Mechanism of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (September 2, 2019)

Chiapas: Frayba Reports over 40 Torture Cases in One Year

@Frayba

On June 25th, in the framework of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights (Frayba) held an online talk under the hashtag #StopTortura.

Three members of the organization announced that from January 2019 to March 2020 they received complaints of 41 cases of torture, of which they documented that 26 of them occurred within the framework of the adversarial system of criminal justice, that is, that the majority of the perpetrators are elements of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE).

At the request of Frayba, the FGE reported that in 2018 31 investigation cases for the crime of torture were opened, of which 26 were pending, only one of these was linked to the trial and that there is no conviction of perpetrators in any of the cases, the organization stressed.

In Frayba’s bulletin “Torture is a Systematic and Widespread Practice in Mexico”, published the same day, it states that “this lack of effectiveness in the current judicial system maintains the patterns of non-access to justice for torture victims who are stigmatized and criminalized. The burden of proof continues with the questioning where the alleged culprits and the victims are not guaranteed protection and respect for human rights.” It adds that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the legal processes of torture victims have been stopped, and thus the risks to the life, security and integrity of the victims have increased.

“Torture in Mexico is a mechanism that nullifies and terrifies the population, especially the excluded and marginalized. Added to the torture contexts are the internal forced displacements suffered by the communities of Original Peoples in Chiapas”, Frayba denounced in the June 25th bulletin and demanded that the Mexican state comply with the recommendations of the UN Committee against Torture.

More information in Spanish:

La Tortura es una práctica sistemática y generalizada en México. (Boletín Frayba, 25 de junio)

Documentan más de 40 casos de tortura (Diario de Chiapas, 26 de junio)

More information from SIPAZ:

Chiapas/National: “Denying the Existence of Torture in Mexico Encourages Impunity”, CSO (April 20, 2020)

Chiapas: Fiscalía de Alto impacto señalada como responsable de tortura contra estudiantes (February 26, 2020)

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces Obstruction in Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (February 26, 2020)

 

International: World Refugee Marked

@Cuartoscuro

World Refugee Day, established by the UN in 2001, was celebrated on June 20th. It is especially relevant in Mexico to commemorate this day, not only because it is the eighth country in the world with the highest number of asylum requests in 2019, but also due to the large number of internal displacements in this country. According to the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH), it is estimated that there have been at least 338,405 internally displaced persons from 2006 to date.

Regarding the flow of migrants that passes through Mexico from the Central American countries to the United States, there has been a strong increase in recent years: in 2015, only 3,442 people requested refuge in Mexico. That number gradually rose to 70,709 in the past year.

Since 2013, approximately 150 thousand people have requested asylum in Mexico in total, of which only a third of these cases have been resolved to date. Of these, a total of 29,132 were recognized as refugees, while the rest received Complementary Protection or a rejection. Most of the accepted refugees in Mexico come from Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

For many years Mexico was only a transit country to the United States. But that has changed, especially due to the more restrictive immigration policy under President Donald Trump. Now the country is also becoming a destination for refugees, explains Andres Ramirez, general coordinator of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR).

However, the year 2020 broke with the trend of the migratory movement. Although in the first quarter of the year the number of applications increased compared to 2019, the emergence of the coronavirus completely cut off the flow of migrants. For as long as the inhumane conditions prevailing in the migratory stations in Mexico during the pandemic have been pointed out, they constitute a very high risk of contagion from the virus. Because of this, many refugees have even expressed the desire to return to their country of origin, but in more than one case they have found the borders of their countries closed by the same pandemic.

For more information in Spanish:

Desplazamiento interno forzado en México (CMDPDH)

Día Mundial de los Refugiados 20 de junio (Naciones Unidas)

Día del Refugiado: epidemia de COVID-19 frena llegada de solicitantes (Animal Político el 20 de junio de 2020)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National/International: HRW Asks Mexico for “Immediate” Release of All Detained Immigrants Due to Coronavirus (April 19, 2020)

National: Migrant Dies in Protest at Migrant Center in Tabasco; INM Blamed (April 5, 2020)

International/National: USA Closes Southern Border to Asylum Seekers Due to Coronavirus (March 25, 2020)

Chiapas: National Guard and Police Oppression of Migrants Protesting over COVID-19 Fears (March 30, 2020)

National/International: Food Insecurity Increases for LGBTIQ+ Community in Pandemic

@CIDH

During the month of June, organizations and institutions have drawn attention to the specific situation of the LGBTIQ+ population, when this is usually the month when millions of people around the world take to the streets in “pride marches” to fight for their rights and highlight the discrimination that this population experiences.

In this context, on June 18th, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) convened a webinar under the title “Situation of the Rights of LGBTI People in the Context of the Pandemic,” with the participation of human rights defenders and activists from Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, the United States and Mexico.

The Commissioner and IACHR Rapporteur for the Rights of LGBTI People, Flavia Piovesan, was the first to speak, highlighting three structural challenges in the region: extreme inequality; discrimination (the virus does not discriminate but its impact is discriminatory); and the dilemmas of democratic institutions to combat the pandemic.

Those invited confirmed the challenges mentioned by the rapporteur and also pointed out how the new confinement regulations implemented by governments have given an excuse for security forces to commit more attacks on LGBTI+ people. They reported that many people in this sector who have lost their jobs cannot return to their homes because several of them fled domestic violence due to not being accepted into their homes. With various examples, they denounced that different discriminations are experienced by people with an intersectional perspective, stressing that it is not a homogeneous population. For example, the total invisibility of bisexual people in Latin America and the absence of documentation of their situation were mentioned. The complexity and double discrimination in cases of being trans, black and Latin American women in the United States were also highlighted.

Several people specifically pointed out the serious situation of violence that trans women experience, before the pandemic and now even worse, since a food emergency has been generated, since confinement implies that several cannot do their work, cannot return home, and they find it difficult to receive financial support from the government due to discrimination and mistreatment because their identity card shows their trans identity.

In the report “Amplified Vulnerability”, Kennedy Carrillo of OutRight Action International, Belize, shared the impacts of the pandemic on the global LGBTIQ + population. Increasing food insecurity was one of the most salient issues. Topics such as interruptions in access to medical care, abuse of power by the State, fear of social violence, stigma, discrimination, social isolation and increased anxiety, as well as concerns about organizational survival, also emerged.

More information in Spanish:

Situación de los derechos de las personas LGBTI en el contexto de la pandemia; (Webinar CIDH 18 junio 2020)

Vulnerabilidad amplificada. El impacto de la pandemia del COVID-19 en las personas LGBTIQ. (Outright Acion Internacional, 4 de junio 2020)

More information from SIPAZ:

Nacional/Internacional: La comunidad LGBTTTI+ en México celebra el Día Internacional Contra la Homo-, Bi- y Transfobia (May 18, 2020)

Chiapas: Organización defensora de la diversidad sexual recibe amenazas por su trabajo en el marco del Mes de Orgullo LGBTTTIQA+ (June 27, de 2019)

Chiapas: Meeting of Citizens’ Observatory of LGBT+ Population Rights with Government Representatives (October 7, 2019)

Oaxaca: State Congress Approves Marriage Equality Bill (September 10, 2019)

Chiapas: Exigen verdad y justicia por el asesinato de Aylin, mujer transexual y 7 otros casos de odio (September 1, de 2019)