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Gender & Sexual Solidarity: News & Updates

News Article
El Salvador: No Safe Haven for LGBTQ People in El Salvador; Strengthen Protections, End Asylum Pact with US
January 8, 2021
IRTF has been connecting with the LGBTQ+ community in El Salvador especially since we co-organized the first-ever LGBTQ+ delegation from Ohio to Central America in 2013. While visiting El Salvador, we have become friends with many transgender persons (particularly transgender women). Here in the US, we’ve also gotten to know many who have fled to the US seeking refuge and asylum. This new “cooperative agreement” makes an almost impossible asylum process even more impossible. But there might be hope: US President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to terminate the deeply flawed agreement.
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News Article
Colombia: Human Rights Update - December 2020
January 5, 2021

The year 2020 was the most violent in Colombia since the peace agreement was signed in November 2016, with widespread attacks on social activists, trade unionists and former guerrillas in the peace process. The figures released by the INDEPAZ human rights NGO make for shocking reading. During the calendar year, 309 social activists and human rights defenders were killed (totalling 1,109 since the peace agreement was signed) and 64 FARC former guerrillas were killed (249 in total). There were also 90 massacres which claimed the lives of 375 people. Additionally, state security forces killed at least 78 people.

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News Article
Women should decide whether to legalize abortion, Mexican president says
December 31, 2020

By Reuters Staff

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s president said on Thursday that women should decide whether the country should legalize abortion, but he declined to take a position on the issue, which is still opposed by many Mexicans.

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News Article
El Salvador woman imprisoned after miscarriage released
September 23, 2020

In 2011, Cindy Erazo experienced a miscarriage in a shopping mall bathroom on the outskirts of the capital. She was taken to a hospital where authorities accused her of attempting to abort the fetus. Convicted of aggravated homicide under El Salvador’s strict anti-abortion laws, Cindy served six years of a 10-year sentence. She was released from prison (“conditional release”) on September 23. She was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison, but that sentence was later reduced. Human rights groups say at least 18 innocent women are currently in prison for similar cases in El Salvador.

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Event
We Hold Up Half the Sky: Feminist Voices Against Militarism
September 21, 2020
The increasing push for global militarization directly impacts billions of women and gender nonconforming folks around the world each day. These voices, experiences and perspectives are often silenced when approaching solutions to this crisis. Hear about how militarism is experienced and about the stories of resistance to violence from several communities accompanied by Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). CPT and the InterReligious Task Force on Central America & Colombia (IRTF) are partnering to bring several powerful voices together for a live webinar conversation on anti-militarism.
PDF icon 2020_09_21_weholduphalfthesky_feminist-voices-against-militarism.pdf
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Content Page
RIOT: Turning Over Tables AllianceQ Pride Worship Service
August 28, 2020

This Pride, the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance offered a Pride service on Sunday, June 28, at 6 p.m. CST, called RIOT: Turning Over Tables. 

Featuring IRTF Co-Director Chrissy Stonebraker-Martínez

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RRN Case Update
RRN Case Update: Spring 2020 - urgent human rights cases
July 1, 2020
April, May and June RRN case summaries at a glance
On behalf of our 190 Rapid Response Network members, IRTF volunteers write and send six letters each month to government officials in southern Mexico, Colombia, and Central America (with copies to officials in the US). Who is being targeted? indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders, labor organizers, LGBTI rights defenders, women’s rights defenders, journalists, environmental defenders, campesinos, and others.
PDF icon 2020_03_rrn_letters_summary_apr_may_jun.pdf
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Mexico 6/23/2020
June 23, 2020
We are deeply distressed over the death threats issued for feminist journalist Soledad Jarquín and members of the feminist organization Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca) in the municipality of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca State.
PDF icon 2020_06_23_telesur_mexico_letter.pdf
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 04/05/2020
April 5, 2020
We are heartbroken and outraged over the assassination of Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, an active member of the Popular Women's Organization of Colombia (OFP, Organización Femenina Popular), at her home in San Pablo, Bolívar Department, on March 24. We are equally dismayed by the police’s smear campaign against the victim and OFP. During the initial stages of the murder investigation, police have tried to pressure OFP members to downplay or deny her active role in their organization and as a community leader in general. Furthermore, police have started a social media stigmatization campaign against OFP and Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, suggesting that criminal ties were the motive for her murder. This is an insult to Carlota, her family, and to OFP. Hundreds of social leaders are killed each year in Colombia. We demand that the government carry out a thorough, open, and impartial investigation into the assassination of Carlota Isabel Salinas Pérez, using as the first investigative hypothesis her work as a social leader. #NoMasFeminicidios #NiUnaMas
PDF icon 2020_04_05_ofp_colombia_letter.pdf
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RRN Case Update
RRN Case Update: Winter 2020 - urgent human rights cases
April 1, 2020
January, February, and March RRN case summaries at a glance
On behalf of our 190 Rapid Response Network members, IRTF volunteers write and send six letters each month to government officials in southern Mexico, Colombia, and Central America (with copies to officials in the US). Who is being targeted? indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders, labor organizers, LGBTI rights defenders, women’s rights defenders, journalists, environmental defenders, and others. By signing our names to these crucial letters, human rights crimes are brought to light, perpetrators are brought to justice and lives are spared. Our solidarity is more important than ever. Together, our voices do make a difference.
PDF icon 2020_01_rrn_letters_summary_jan_feb_mar.pdf
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