This is a blog is related to my academic work in the International Academic Forum on SOGIESC Law but meant to serve anyone who wants to contribute to improve the protection of human rights worldwide. It is intended to keep interested readers informed about legal developments relating to sexual orientation, gender expression and identity and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). Hopefully, it will make it easier to find correct legal information about the developments in all regions of the world and, in particular, with regard to international law.
USA – Puerto Rico declares state of emergency to combat gender-based violence
The governor of Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the high rate of violence against women and transgender individuals.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi, who took office earlier this month, issued an executive order to combat the high rates of gender-based violence in the territory. In addition to declaring the state of emergency, the order establishes several other mechanisms to respond to the issue, including the appointment of a Compliance Officer to monitor the implementation of the order, the Committee on the Prevention, Support, Rescue and Education of Gender Violence (PARE Committee), and a mobile phone application. According to a press release from the governor’s office, the phone app will allow victims of gender-based violence to request emergency help and hide the messages so that the victim’s aggressor will not see them.
In the order Pierluisi stated:
Gender violence is a social evil, based on ignorance and attitudes that cannot have space or tolerance in the Puerto Rico we aspire to. For too long vulnerable victims have suffered the consequences of systematic machismo, inequality, discrimination, lack of education, lack of guidance and above all lack of action. It is my duty and my commitment as governor to establish a STOP to gender violence and for these purposes it is that I have declared a state of emergency.
The governor also mentioned the need for “an educational approach” to combat the problem, which he said has “permeated our society for a long time.” The claim that gender violence is a systemic and long-time issue is backed by numerous reports by local groups. One such report, released by Kilometer 0 in 2019, states that in Puerto Rico one femicide takes place every week. This equates to three femicides for every 100,000 women, which is considered a high rate. The report also notes that undereducated women “have femicide rates almost 5 times higher than other women in their age group, and women between the ages of 25-34 are at greater risk. Femicides occur mainly in the women’s homes or in the homes of their family members, and 58% of the women killed are murdered with firearms.”
The PARE Committee will publish a progress report within 45 days of its first meeting, followed by monthly reports for the duration of the state of emergency, which will last until at least June 2022.
Nous, Dr Léïla Eisner (Université de Lausanne) et Dr Tabea Hässler (Université de Zurich), sommes les chercheuses principales du Panel Suisse LGBTIQ+ (lesbienne, gay, bisexuelle, trans, intersexe, queer/questioning). L’objectif de notre Panel est de comprendre comment les personnes LGBTIQ+ et les personnes hétérosexuelles (cisgenres) perçoivent la situation des individus LGBTIQ+ en Suisse. Nous souhaitons aussi évaluer comment cette situation évolue au fil du temps.
Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous conduisons des enquêtes annuelles auprès de personnes LGBTIQ+ et hétérosexuelles cisgenres. Au cours des deux dernières années, près de 1700 personnes ont participé à chacune des enquêtes annuelles du Panel Suisse LGBTIQ+. Comme nous nous efforçons de rendre les résultats accessibles à la communauté et aux participant-e-s, nous avons récemment partagé avec vous les principales conclusions de notre étude (rapports annuels 2020 et 2019). L’étude en est maintenant à sa troisième année et nous avons besoin d’un maximum de participant-e-s pour poursuivre le projet. Dans ce questionnaire, nous posons des questions sur divers sujets tels que les différentes formes de soutien, la discrimination, les changements politiques actuels et les expériences vécues pendant la pandémie de Covid-19. En partageant l’enquête avec votre réseau, vous nous aiderez à en savoir plus sur la situation des personnes LGBTIQ+ en Suisse. Les personnes LGBTIQ+ et cis-hétérosexuelles peuvent participer à cette enquête.
L’enquête prendra environ 20 à 30 minutes. En signe de remerciement, trois heureux/hereuses gagnant-e-s seront sélectionné-e-s parmi tous les participants pour un bon d’une valeur de 300 CHF et deux bons de 100 CHF chacun. Votre soutien sera grandement apprécié! Consultez notre page web (www.swiss-lgbtiq-panel.ch) si vous voulez en savoir plus sur notre projet. Vous y trouverez une section avec les questions fréquemment posées, nos travaux scientifiques et nos rapports annuels (rapports 2019 et 2020). Vous pouvez également nous suivre sur Instagram, Facebook, et Twitter. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter en cas de questions (leila.eisner@unil.ch) !
In July 2021, the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games are set to begin in Japan.
But Japan is not ready to host the Olympics.
The Tokyo Olympics are advertised as celebrating “unity in diversity” and “passing on a legacy for the future.” But LGBT+ people in my country continue to face social stigma and enjoy fewer legal protections than other Japanese citizens.
There’s still time to change this. Before athletes and visitors from all around the world come to celebrate the Olympic Games, the Japanese government must enact the Equality Act and protect LGBT+ athletes, visitors, and their own citizens from discrimination.
The Olympic Games stand for diversity and tolerance. The Olympic Charter specifically protects against discrimination, including on the grounds of sexual orientations.
That’s why the Olympics are the perfect time to stand in solidarity with the LGBT+ community in Japan and to remind the government of its duty to protect its visitors and citizens.
And it’s urgent: Tokyo has passed an ordinance that protects LGBT+ people from discrimination. But several Olympic competitions will take place outside of Tokyo, leaving LGBT+ fans, athletes, and citizens in these areas unprotected.
5. On 13 January 2010 the applicant was physically attacked in a nightclub in Zagreb where she was with several of her friends. The attack ceased only after one of the applicant’s friends, I.K., used her gas pistol to frighten off the attacker.
6. At about 6.00 a.m. a local police station of the Zagreb Police Department (Policijska uprava zagrebačka, hereinafter: the “police”) was informed of the incident and two police officers immediately responded at the scene.
7. The relevant part of the police report on the findings at the scene of the incident reads:
“When we came at the scene … we found Petra Sabalić …, I.K. …, I.D. …, K.F. …, E.N. … and A.B. … [personal details omitted].
By interviewing them and observing the scene of the incident we established that the above-mentioned persons had come to [the nightclub] at around 4.00 a.m., where they stayed for about one and a half hours. While they were in the nightclub [the applicant] was approached by an unidentified man who started flirting with her but she was constantly refusing him. After the nightclub closed they were all standing in front of it and the man continued pressing [the applicant] to be with him. When she said that she was a ‘lesbian’ he grabbed her with both of his arms and pushed her against a wall. He then started hitting her all over her body and when she fell to the ground he continued kicking her. …”
68. As a result of the attack the applicant sustained multiple physical injuries, including contusion on the head, a haematoma on the forehead, abrasions of the face, forehead and area around the lips, neck strain, contusion on the chest and abrasions of both palms and knees (see paragraph 10 above). These particular circumstances of the attack were later confirmed in the minor offences proceedings (see paragraphs 12 and 14 above) and they formed the essence of the applicant’s criminal complaint and the ensuing criminal investigation (see paragraphs 16 and 20 above).
69. Furthermore, the Court notes that there is sufficient evidence before it to conclude that the attack against the applicant was influenced by her sexual orientation. This follows from the above-noted findings of the police, the applicant’s detailed account of the events in her criminal complaint lodged with the State Attorney’s Office (see paragraph 16 above), the applicant’s and her friends’ police interviews (see paragraphs 18-19 above), and the findings of the criminal investigation conducted by an investigating judge of the County Court (see paragraph 23 above).
70. In light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the treatment, convincingly described by the applicant, to which she was subjected and which was directed at her identity and undermined her integrity and dignity, must necessarily have aroused in her feelings of fear, anguish and insecurity reaching the requisite threshold of severity to fall under Article 3 of the Convention (compare Identoba and Others, cited above, § 71; M.C. and A.C., cited above, § 119; …
71. The Court therefore rejects the Government’s objection and finds Article 3 of the Convention applicable to the applicant’s complaints.
105. In these circumstances, the Court finds that already at the initial stages of the proceedings, immediately after the physical attack against the applicant had taken place, the domestic authorities were confronted with prima facie indications of violence motivated or at least influenced by the applicant’s sexual orientation (compare Šečić, cited above, § 69; Milanović, cited above, § 99; Abdu, cited above, § 35; and Begheluri, cited above, § 176). According to the Court’s case-law, this mandated for an effective application of domestic criminal-law mechanisms capable of elucidating the possible hate motive with homophobic overtones behind the violent incident and of identifying and, if appropriate, adequately punishing those responsible (see paragraphs 94-95 above; see also S.M. v. Croatia, cited above, § 324).
107. Instead of lodging a criminal complaint before the State Attorney’s Office concerning the hate motivated violent attack against the applicant or conducting any further actions to elucidate the possible hate crime element of the events, as required by the relevant instructions (see paragraph 46 above), the police instituted minor offences proceedings in the Minor Offences Court indicting M.M. on charges of breach of public peace and order. These proceedings ended with M.M.’s conviction for the minor offence and his punishment by a fine of approximately EUR 40 without addressing or taking into account the hate motive at all. As there was no appeal by M.M. or the police, and since the applicant was not informed of the proceedings, M.M.’s minor offences conviction became final (see paragraphs 13-15 above).
114. In the Court’s view, both failure to investigate hate motives behind a violent attack and failure to take into consideration such motives in determining the punishment for violent hate crimes, amounted to “fundamental defects” in the proceedings under Article 4 § 2 of Protocol No. 7. In the present case the domestic authorities failed to remedy the impugned situation,although it could not be said that there were de jure obstacles to do so (see paragraph 99 above). In particular, they failed to offer the defendant the appropriate redress, for instance, by terminating or annulling the unwarranted set of proceedings and effacing its effects, and to re-examine the case. The domestic authorities therefore failed to fulfil their duty to combat impunity of hate crimes in compliance with the Convention standards …
Honduras lawmakers vote to harden bans on abortion and same-sex marriage
The National Congress of Honduras Thursday voted in favor of constitutional reforms that make it difficult to reverse provisions preventing the legalization of abortion and same-sex marriage.
Of the 128 members of Congress, 88 voted in favor of the amendments, 28 opposed and seven abstained. They will have to be ratified in a second session. If ratified, amendments to the provisions granting legal personhood to fetuses and restricting same-sex marriages will require three-quarters majority.
At present, in addition to Honduran women who undergo abortions, persons involved also face up to six years in prison. In addition to criminalizing abortion, existing laws also prohibit the “use, sale, distribution, and purchase of emergency contraception, carrying the same imprisonment penalties as abortion.”
“This reform is the product of a state-imposed religion on Honduras,” said gay rights advocate Kevihn Ramos.
Feminist collective Somos Muchas member Neesa Medina cited concerns over lawmakers’ decision to “ignore women’s suffering” in a country where sexual violence rates are high and 40 percent of pregnancies are unplanned or unwanted. “There are thousands of people affected by the pandemic, there is insufficient healthcare and thousands are leaving in caravans, many who are women and girls,” Medina said of the thousands of migrants fleeing Honduras.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates the number of Honduran women and girls undergoing unsafe abortions each year to be between 51,000 and 82,000, and said that “lack of accessibility of contraception, particularly in rural areas, which, together with the prohibition of emergency contraception, contributes to a high rate of unwanted pregnancy, including adolescent pregnancy.”
USA – Alabama: These Trans Women Just Won the Right to a Driver’s License Without Needing Surgery
Last week, a federal court struck down a 2012 Alabama policy requiring trans people to undergo gender confirmation surgery before correcting their IDs.
Hungary government orders disclaimers for books with gay themes
The Hungarian government has ordered a publisher to print disclaimers identifying books containing “behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles.”
The order is in response to the publication of Meseorszag mindenkie (A Fairy Tale for Everyone) a fairytale anthology published by Labrisz, an association for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. The group says the storybook includes “elderly and Roma people, people living in poverty, adopted or abused children and heroic girls, as well as lesbian, gay, and trans characters.”
The Hungarian Consumer Protection Authority said that the book constitutes unlawful commercial practice since “the book is sold as a fairytale, called so on its cover and designed accordingly, but it hides the fact that it depicts behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles.” Labrisz noted that the storybook first caused controversy when Hungarian politician Dóra Dúró shredded a copy of the book in September, stating that the book constitutes “homosexual propaganda.”
Hungary orders publisher to slap disclaimer on LGBT+ children’s book in ‘unconstitutional’ assault on free speech
Hungary has ordered a publisher of LGBT+ books to print a disclaimer on a queer fairytale anthology.
The Labrisz Lesbian Association was ordered to add the disclaimer to any book containing LGBT+ themes after it published the fairytale tome, titled Wonderland Is For Everyone, Reuters reported.×
Authors explained that the book is intended to represent everyone. It features the tale of a prince marrying a prince and a doe wishing to become a buck, as well as a reimagined Snow White, now renamed “Leaf Brown”.
But such stories are, according to the Government Office of the Capital City Budapest, a threat to society itself. Yes, really.
“The book is sold as a fairytale, called so on its cover and designed accordingly, but it hides the fact that it depicts behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles,” Reuters reported the office stating.
As a result, Labrisz was ordered to slap disclaimers on all books with LGBT+ content, including Wonderland Is For Everyone.
The group, alongside fellow LGBT+ advocacy and legal aid organisation Háttér Society, now plan to sue the government in response. It says the disclaimers are discriminatory and unconstitutional.
International and Comparative SOGIESC Law - Professor Andreas R Ziegler 