Gender & Sexual Solidarity: News & Updates

The LGTBIQ community in Honduras demanded Monday the approval of a gender identity law and compliance with a ruling issued in 2021 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CorteIDH), which condemns the State for the death of a transgender woman and activist. On the occasion of the International Day of Trans Visibility, which is celebrated every March 31, the lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, intersex and queer (LGTBIQ) collective requested in a statement to the Government of Honduras to address the needs of transgender people. Trans people face daily "situations of violation of rights, stigmatization, discrimination, violence and hate crimes because of their gender identity and expression", according to LGTBIQ organizations.

The LGTBIQ community in Honduras demanded Monday the approval of a gender identity law and compliance with a ruling issued in 2021 by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CorteIDH), which condemns the State for the death of a transgender woman and activist. On the occasion of the International Day of Trans Visibility, which is celebrated every March 31, the lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, intersex and queer (LGTBIQ) collective in Honduras requested in a statement to the Government of Honduras to address the needs of transgender people. Trans people face daily "situations of violation of rights, stigmatization, discrimination, violence and hate crimes because of their gender identity and expression", according to LGTBIQ organizations.

Pablo Isabel Hernández and Thalía Rodríguez lived far apart from each other in Honduras, and seemingly with nothing in common, yet one aspect of their lives linked them: both were defending human rights in their community. And both were killed in January of this year, along with Melvin Geovany Mejía, an indigenous rights defender who died on his way to the hospital after being shot. Isabel Albaladejo, representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Honduras, believes that three killings in less than a month shows how it has become an increasingly hostile environment for human rights defenders in the country. Honduras is considered one of the most dangerous countries for human rights defenders in Latin America. Yet, activists have some hope that the arrival of a new government, led by the first female president Xiomara Castro, may bring much needed change in Honduras.

The night of March 16 in Tegucigalpa, members and sympathizers of the National Party caused riots outside the Supreme Court of Justice and set fire to the Viva Berta Feminist Camp. The camp was set up under the coordination of comrades from the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras, COPINH, and OFRANEH, together with various organizations and communities in struggle. We denounce this attack whose only intention is to attack the actions of justice for women and peoples and we stand in solidarity with the comrades of COPINH, OFRANEH, as well as with the various organizations and communities that make up this space of struggle. 

On March 8, while hundreds were commemorating International Women’s Day, Guatemala’s conservative-controlled Congress approved the “Protection of Life and Family” law in a 101-8 vote. There are 160 seats in Congress. Hundreds of people during the weekend converged on the Guatemalan Congress to show their indignation at a new law they say threatens the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ community. But backlash against the law, as well as Giammattei’s veto threat, pushed the president of Guatemala’s Congress, Shirley Rivera, to say lawmakers would check whether it is constitutional. The legislation will come up for further debate on Tuesday, while more protests have been called for that same day, as advocates say their fight is far from over – even if this particular version of the law is ultimately halted.

Guatemala’s congress has increased prison sentences for women who have abortions, bucking a recent trend in Latin America toward expanding access to the procedures. Guatemalan women convicted of terminating their pregnancies can now face sentences up to 10 years that before were a maximum of three. The congress imposed even heavier penalties for doctors and others who assist women in ending pregnancies. Abortions are legal only when the life of the mother is at risk. The Guatemala legislation also explicitly prohibited same-sex marriage – which was already in effect illegal – and banned schools from teaching anything that could “deviate a child’s identity according to their birth gender”.

The refoundation of Honduras took two more important steps this month. After the successful electoral win of the opposition in November, the initially divided opposition in Congress came together this month and the US officially requested the extradition of JOH for his drug trafficking ties which led to his arrest. Of course, this does not mean that the old power structures are gone, they are still in place, especially in the Judiciary. But change seems possible. This also included the announcement to demilitarize the prisons as well as the state security forces in general. There were other things to celebrate in February, especially the liberation of the Guapinol defenders after over 900 days illegally imprisoned. But the way to a Honduras respecting human rights is still long and steep. Three members of the LGBTQ+ community were murdered in the first week of February; the Minosa mining company seems to be free to ignore court rulings and go on with the exhumation of a Maya Chortí cemetery in Azacualpa; and the indigenous Lenca Tierras del Padre community faced eviction threats. Welcome to another month in Honduras.

Please see a summary of the letters we sent to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to: (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, (3) bring human rights criminals to justice. IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.