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The violent death of a transgender asylum seeker in Guatemala over the weekend underscores the need for effective coverage for others who were forced to flee their country, today added members of the LGBTI community, UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and related movement restrictions, violence and persecution against others due to their gender and sexual orientation continues unansyed.
The 27-year-old asylum seeker, whose call is reported for her family’s coverage, had fled gender-based violence and gang persecution in her local El Salvador and had applied for asylum in Guatemala in 2018.
“We express our sincere condolences to the circle of relatives and enjoy those of this woman who seeks to rebuild her life in Guatemala after being forced to flee her country for violence and persecution,” said Giovanni Bassu, UNHCR Regional Representative for Central America and Cuba.
UNHCR urges States to bring to justice those guilty of crimes against persons on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, while taking decisive action to prevent long-term crimes of this nature. In El Salvador, three police officers were sentenced to 20 years in prison last week for the murder of Camila Daaz Cerdova. This is the first conviction in El Salvador for the murder of a transgender person.
UNHCR also reiterates its call on governments to ensure that all persons unable to obtain such coverage in their countries have comprehensive and fair asylum procedures in accordance with foreign law without restriction.
In Northern Central America, other transgender people are occasionally victims of brutal harassment and violence, mainly through criminal gangs. According to a 2019 report through the El Salvador-based LGBTI organization and unHCR’s partner COMCAVIS Trans, most other LGBTI people, especially transgender women, are occasionally forcibly displaced in their own countries, escaping gang threats, attempted murder, and physical and sexual violence. . Sometimes many suffer years of violence and persecution before seeking asylum in other countries.
UNHCR is alarmed that the threat of violence is greater as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the other 160 people assisted through COMCAVIS Trans since the start of the pandemic, 79 had been forced to flee persecution and gang threats.
In addition to the accumulation of sexual and gender-based violence that has been documented by strict closures in the region, other LGBTI people in Central America have also had limited access to support.
Working with partners in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, UNHCR continued its normal network coverage projects despite the difficulties imposed by the pandemic, in an effort to create effective coverage situations for people forcibly displaced in the countries of origin and asylum. UNHCR has also increased its assistance programmes to provide money to other LGBTI people in vulnerable situations.
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© UNHCR 2001-2020
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