Gender & Sexual Solidarity: News & Updates

IRTF is grateful to the 200 supporters who gathered on October 27 at Pilgrim Church in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood for IRTF’s annual Commemoration of the Martyrs. In addition to marking the 44th anniversary of the martyrdom of Cleveland’s missioners in El Salvador (Jean Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel, alongside Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke), we commemorated 36 human rights defenders killed in Central America and Colombia this past year because they dared to speak truth to power.

Our keynote speaker, Lorena Araujo of the largest campesino organization in El Salvador (CRIPDES), held the crowd’s attention with horrific stories of mass arrests, detentions and deaths currently happening under their government’s State of Exception, now in its third year. With more 88,000 imprisoned (and more than 300 deaths in prison), El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world—surpassing the astronomical rate of incarceration in the United States. 

As the people of El Salvador face the greatest challenge to their democracy since the end of the civil war in 1992, they invite us to renew and deepen our solidarity.

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After the elections in Guatemala, the “Pact of the Corrupt” tried to prevent the transfer of power to the democratically elected Bernardo Arevalo, who surprisingly won. But indigenous people managed to organize quickly and prevent this from happening. It was not an obvious battle for them to defend the representative democracy of a system from which they are excluded. Women, who are even more discriminated against in this system, have played a central role in this.
Abigail Monroy, Maya Kaqchikel and ancestral authority of Chuarrancho, said that now “we have a president who understands the people and is willing to work with the people”, but it is also “just a turning point on a long road”.

In this monthly newsletter, please read about : 1) ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends, 2) US Government Policy: Some legislators and DHS trying to do more to offer humanitarian relief to migrants, 3) Migration Impacts on Women, 4) At the Border, 5) Beyond Borders: Health and Safety in the Age of Migration in Mexico, 6) Changing Demographics: Migrants to the US Come from Different Corners of the Globe, 7) Danger in the Darién Gap: Human rights abuses and the need for human pathways to safety, 8) Texas Gets Tough on Migrants, 9) Economic Benefits of Immigration – both documented and undocumented migrants, 10) Biden Can Claim Record Numbers of Removals.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Here is what you can do to take action this week and act in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of this newsletter.)

A) Join a Solidarity Delegation to Southern Mexico:  November 11-16, 2024

B) Stop Criminalizing Migrants Traveling through the Darién Gap

C) Volunteer to Assistant Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland: Catholic Charities

D) Volunteer to Assistant Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland: NEO Friends of Immigrants

E) Get Paid to Assist Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland

F) Act Now for Welcoming, Dignified, and Just Immigration

Read the full IRTF Migrant Justice Newsletter each month at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog  

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) submitted an application to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the case of Leonela Zelaya, a transgender woman from Honduras who faced extensive gender-based violence and discrimination. Zelaya, a sex worker, was brutally attacked by police in 2004 and later found dead under suspicious circumstances, with evidence suggesting she was a victim of transfemicide. The Honduran state failed to adequately investigate the crime or prevent violence against LGBTI individuals, violating multiple human rights treaties.

The IACHR found Honduras responsible for violating Zelaya's rights to life, personal integrity, dignity, and non-discrimination, among others. They recommended comprehensive reparations for these violations, including financial compensation, healthcare for affected parties, and improvements in law enforcement training and public awareness campaigns to prevent future violence. The case underscores broader issues of systemic discrimination and impunity faced by LGBTI individuals in Honduras, highlighting the ongoing struggle for justice and equality in the region.

The UN Human Rights Committee reiterated its concern about the large scale of intimidation and violence and the high rates of killings of human rights defenders committed by both State agents and private individuals or groups. The Committee was also disturbed by the difficulties faced by victims in accessing justice, the lack of effective investigations, and the delays in judicial proceedings. It called on Honduras to adopt effective measures to protect human rights defenders, particularly environmental and land rights defenders, journalists, trade unionists, agrarian and peasant activists, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and LGBTI people. The State party should also promptly and thoroughly investigate these human rights violations, bring those responsible to justice, and provide full reparations to victims. 

El Salvador has been under a state of exception since March 2022. As a response to combat the country’s powerful street gangs, this “temporary measure” suspended constitutional rights, such as the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. Cristosal presents its findings of our two-year investigation on the impact. The effects of these punitive policies have had a ripple effect throughout Salvadoran society, which is disproportionately felt by women.  Drawing from 3,643 reports from victims and their families, Cristosal has found deplorable detention conditions, lack of medical care, and cases of torture.  With mass detention and the deaths of at least 265 people in custody (including four infants), “the justice system has failed and is complicit in the systematic violation of the human rights of the Salvadoran people.”

Click here to read the press release from Cristosal.

Growing up queer in Nicaragua - by Julia Chinamo.

“I viscerally remember that moment in my life because it was so, so painful for me,” he shakes his head. “My dad then hit me, not with a belt, but he hit me with a hose and when the hose split open on my back, he hit me with the electrical cord from the iron…I received so many blows that my right eye swelled shut and my lip was split open and then my dad threw me out into the street with all my clothes. For me, it felt like that day was the last day of my life.”

In 2008, following the Sandinista party’s return to power, a law was passed overturning the penalization of homosexuality and making it illegal to discriminate against someone based on sexual orientation. Since then, the Sandinista government has also passed laws specifically guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, public institutions have administrative regulations in place to ensure that no one faces discrimination for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“If I compare Nicaragua with other countries in the world,” explains Julio, “we have regulations, public policy, legal framework, and laws that support us. Here you cannot violate the rights of a trans woman because she is a trans woman - you cannot deprive her of her life, her freedom. I consider that Nicaragua is an example for the whole Central American region and for all of Latin America.”

Julio is an activist, and his personal struggles and triumphs are intrinsically linked with those of his larger community and his country.