PBI-Canada observes the International Transgender Day of Visibility and the accompaniment of trans rights defenders

Photo: Teen Vogue.

Today, March 31, is the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Egale Canada has tweeted: “#TransDayOfVisibility2021 is about celebrating trans people & progresses made toward true equity for the trans community. Beyond that #TDOV is about renewing our commitment to educate ourselves on trans issues and to raise our voices against transphobia in all its forms.”

PBI-Guatemala posted on its Facebook page a quote from Monica Chub an Indigenous trans woman. She says: “As an Indigenous woman, I visibilize my existence next to the great woman who gave me life, about my identity she is always with me supporting me. I live in a territory where I make my rights visible and respected. My struggle is very strong, and it faces discrimination day after day.”

PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS has tweeted: “CREDHOS accompanies and supports the defence of human rights of the Trans community.”

And PBI-Honduras has posted: “The LGTBIQ+ community in Honduras is in a situation of structural violence, stigma and discrimination. Trans women face the most attacks, assaults, harassment, arrests and even murder.”

It adds: “In the face of this, organizations and people who defend LGTBIQ + rights create mechanisms for collective care and self defence and demand a system of care and protection with a differential approach.”

On this day, we encourage you to watch the 18-minute documentary Somos (in Spanish), a co-production between PBI-Honduras and PBI-United Kingdom.

PBI-UK has noted: “Somos tells the story of Arcoiris, a group of LGBT+ human rights defenders in Honduras. In recent years the organization has faced mounting attacks and threats following relentless public abuse and stigmatization.”

We also encourage you to read the 8-page PBI-Honduras publication: En busqueda de una proteccion integral para la diversidad sexual en Honduras (In search of comprehensive protection for sexual diversity in Honduras).

Peace Brigades International accompanies human rights defenders around the world, including those engaged in struggles related to gender identity.

The Yogyakarta Principles, a set of international human rights principles, affirm that “sexual orientation and gender identity are integral to every person’s dignity and humanity and must not be the basis for discrimination or abuse.”

Principle 27 calls on all states to: “Ensure the protection of human rights defenders, working on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, against any violence, threat, retaliation, de facto or de jure discrimination, pressure, or any other arbitrary action perpetrated by the State, or by non-State actors, in response to their human rights activities.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied Arcoiris since July 2015.

#DiaDeLaVisibilidadTrans

Read this document in full here.