Women and LGBTQI+ defenders

In May 2010, Valentina took her case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and won. The court found her rights had been violated and ordered Mexico to end the use of military justice in cases where soldiers commit crimes against civilians. It also ordered the investigation of Valentina's case in a civilian court, taking into account a gender and cultural diversity perspective in the identification, judgement and sentencing of those responsible. 

It would take Valentina another eight years to secure justice. Finally, on 1st June 2018, a local court in Guerrero emitted a guilty verdict against the military members responsible for the rape and torture Valentina suffered. 

This is a paradigmatic case on a national and international level as it recognises the testimony of the victim as a fundamental probatory element and signals that crimes of this nature often occur without the posibility of access to witnesses. It sets a precedent for the development of the term "sexual torture" and "military institutional violence" and consolidates Valentina as a reference point in the defense of women's rights.

The TZK'AT Network of Ancestral Healers of Community Feminism from Ixmulew is an organization of indigenous women defending life, women's rights, natural resources and territory, in different regions of Guatemala.The organisation was formed by 10 women human rights defenders in October 2015. Many members are part of other organizations and movements in defence of the territory, the rights of indigenous peoples and women.

These women defenders have a history of being politically persecuted, suffering stigmatization, death threats, territorial political displacement and criminalization as a result of their work in defence of these rights. Likewise, all of them have experiences of ancestral healing processes and in indigenous communities they work as healers, midwives, herbalists, etc.

PBI has accompanied the TZK'AT Network since February 2018.

Dina Meza is a celebrated independent journalist and defender of freedom of expression. She is the director of human rights organisation ASOPODEHU, founder and current President of PEN Honduras, an organisation that supports journalists at risk.

She is also the founder and editor of the online newspaper ‘Pasos de Animal Grande’ where she publishes information on human rights violation and corruption in Honduras. In addition, Dina provides legal and educational support to at-risk professionals, journalists and social communicators. In 2007, she received the special Amnesty International UK prize for journalists at risk, and in 2014 she was awarded the Oxfam Novib / PEN International Freedom of Expression prize.

Her Work

Due to Dina Meza’s high public profile and her classification as a dissident, she is unable to publish her work in the mainstream media.  The Honduran state is actively censoring issues surrounding human rights abuses and state crimes. For this reason, she uses her online platform to draw attention to state violence against activists and human rights defenders. Her website to reach up to 30,000 hits a month. Her work focuses on supporting women, indigenous populations, youth groups, LGBTI communities and social communicators.

Dina has been involved in many high profile campaigns and actions. Following the contested elections in November 2017, Dina has provided extensive coverage of the excessive use of force by the Honduran state security forces against protesters. In 2016, she carried out in-depth reporting around the murder of high-profile environmental activist, Berta Caceres, and is part of the #Justice4Berta campaign. She also provides a platform to highlight lesser known struggles, particularly rural defenders and indigenous communities defending their land and environment against the devastating effects of economic megaprojects. 

Repression

Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders and journalists. Dina faces daily harassment and intimidation. As well as having her phone tapped, she receives regular anonymous threatening phone calls, is followed by cars without number plates, and has armed men coming to her house to intimidate her and her family. Dina has had to move house several times since starting this work. This threatening behaviour led Dina to spend 5 months in exile in 2013. As a woman, Dina faces additional risks, including threats of sexual violence against her and her daughter, and gender-related stigma for the work she carries out.

PBI have been accompanying Dina Meza since May 2014, PBI provides her with protection at a time of high level of violence towards journalists in Honduras.

Situation for the LGBTI community

Honduras has been named the ‘most dangerous country in Central America for members of the gay and lesbian community’.

In Honduras, the LGBTI community has noted an increase in violence and crime against its members since the coup d’état in 2009. Between 1994 and 2008, 20 violent deaths were recorded, which multiplied significantly over the following six years. From 2009 until the end of 2014, there were 184 violent deaths. The group that registered most victims was gay men, with 103 murders; followed by 71 murders of transgender people and 15 lesbians. In October 2015, in the absence of official and updated figures, the number of murders of LGBTI people stood at 24, increasing the death toll to 204 since the coup d’état.

The main problem, according to Donny Reyes, coordinator of Arcoiris Association, “is that the LGBT collective is not considered a priority group in the distribution of government aid. Other groups, like over-60’s and the disabled are given priority”. Arcoiris is therefore working to find food, housing support and biosecurity materials like bleach, soap, gloves and masks to help the LGBTQI+ collective. In order to raise the necessary funds, Arcoiris has requested humanitarian aid. “But at the moment, it is not going very well for us”, they explain.

So far, they have managed to obtain a few parcels of food aid from the Secretary of Development and Social Inclusion with the support of the National Human Rights Commissioner, though not without great difficulty. However, even when they get food aid, the problems do not end there. “We leave the parcels at strategic points because we are not permitted to be in the streets, and we can’t go door to door. But the people often do not have the means to travel, either because there is no public transport or because they cannot afford a taxi. We’ve heard that some of the parcels we left were stolen. On top of that, delivering the parcels is becoming more and more difficult and complicated. When someone from our group goes out to deliver the parcels, we’re afraid that something bad could happen to them. How can we guarantee the safety of the teams that move about the city?”.

A greater risk

Within this context, the risks faced by transgender women have increased hugely. “I am worried for my friends, because many of them go outside to work when there is a lockdown”, one member of the Muñecas Trans Women’s Collective of Arcoiris comments. The lack of work opportunities means that sex work in the streets of Tegucigalpa is one of the very few options this group has to make a living. In the midst of a pandemic and its restrictions, they must break the quarantine order and risk being arrested or becoming victims to violence.

In recent weeks, we have received reports of at least 10 attacks against trans women by soldiers, the National Police and private security agents, including verbal and physical attacks, threats and the use of tear gas. “They take advantage of the fact that we are violating the lockdown order to threaten us and hit us. But we need to pay our rent and buy food. Going out on the street is our only option”, says Adriana (not her real name), a trans woman who recently suffered an attack by soldiers in the centre of Tegucigalpa. Some of them have even reported being coerced into performing sexual acts in order to avoid being arrested.On 5 May, Honduras recorded its first hate crime during the health emergency when a 23 year old trans woman in the Caribbean city of La Ceiba was murdered. Although the arrival of COVID-19 has intensified the violence against the LGBTQI+ collective, this is not a new development. According to the Observatory of Violent Deaths of the LGBTI Community in Honduras, part of the Cattrachas Lesbian Network, so far in 2020 there have been at least six murders of LGBTQI+ individuals, one trans woman among them. Over the past ten years, organisations have reported over 315 hate crimes, of which almost a third were against trans persons. Of all these crimes, 92% remain unpunished.