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Honduras Recognizes Its Responsibility in Trans Killing

Groundbreaking Commitments in Implementing Regional Court’s Ruling

“We recognize before the international community, the Honduran people, and the family of Vicky Hernández, the responsibility of the Honduran state in the events that led to her death,” President Xiomara Castro said on May 9. Vicky Hernández, a…
Rosa Hernández, mother of Vicky Hernández, holding a picture of her daughter.
News

Africa’s Governments Can Do More to Protect Pregnant Students

African Committee Should Press Countries to Respect Girls’ Right to Education

Across Africa each year, tens of thousands of adolescent girls drop out of school or suffer discrimination or exclusion from schools because they are pregnant or have become mothers. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, teenage pregnancies have increased…
A female student wearing a school uniform walks out of a building
News

Africa: Rights Progress for Pregnant Students

Five More Sub-Saharan Countries Act to Protect Girls’ Education; Barriers Remain

On November 8, 2021, South Africa’s Department of Basic Education adopted the Policy on Prevention and Management of Pregnancy in Schools, which states students’ right to remain in school throughout and after their pregnancy, a policy that Human…
Young mothers at secondary school in Kenya
News

Honduras: Court Finds State Responsible for Trans Killing

Orders Training for Officials, Legal Gender Recognition, Damages

(New York) – The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in a landmark ruling on June 26, 2021, held that Honduras violated the rights to life and personal integrity of a transgender woman killed in 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision…
Picture of Vicky Hernández. © Red Lésbica Cattrachas
News

Uganda Lagging on Protecting Women Workers

Government Should Ratify Landmark Treaty on Workplace Violence

Stella (not her real name) had worked in Mukono as a waitress for about a year and a half and came to the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA Uganda) in 2019 to seek help because her supervisor was harassing her. What began as “uncomfortable…
Grace Twisimire, 25, sits in her shop selling clothes and plastic shoes in Kampala, Uganda, June 20, 2020.
News

Uganda: Reject Sexual Offenses Bill

Draft Law Criminalizes Consensual Sex, Lets Down Assault Survivors

Update: On August 3, 2021, President Museveni rejected the Sexual Offenses Bill and returned it to Parliament, stating that it covered offenses already provided for in the Penal Code. (Kampala) – Uganda’s Sexual Offenses Bill, 2019 both…
Brenda, a Ugandan transgender woman, was arrested and assaulted by police in the wake of the passage of Uganda’s 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Activists fear that the passage of the Sexual Offences Bill will similarly lead to anti-LGBT violence.
News

LRA’s Ongwen: A critical first ICC conviction

Eighteen years ago, in February 2003, Human Rights Watch interviewed Angela P, who was 10 years old when the brutal armed group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) kidnapped her in northern Uganda. At age 15,  she was forced to become a “wife” to an LRA…
Dominic Ongwen at his confirmation of charges hearing in ICC courtroom I on 21 January 2016 © ICC-CPI.
News

Honduras: Attack on Reproductive Rights, Marriage Equality

Congress Should Reject Constitutional Amendment

(Washington, DC) – Honduran lawmakers should reject a proposed constitutional amendment that would entrench current harsh restrictions on reproductive rights and the prohibition on same-sex marriage, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 21,…
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News

Trans People at Risk in Honduras

Government Should Protect LGBT People from Violence, Discrimination

William Alejandro Martínez, a trans man from Honduras, stood up for his rights when military police officers stopped him in Comayagüela in May 2019 and asked to see his identity card. They questioned him about his gender identity, physically assaulted…
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News

Amicus Curiae in the Case of Vicky Hernández and Family v. Honduras

Subject: Human Rights Watch Amicus Curiae in the Case of Vicky Hernández and Family v. Honduras I. Introduction Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) respectfully submits this brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“Inter-American Court” or “this…
News

Honduras: Regional Court Hears Trans Murder Case

Activists Demand Justice for Vicky Hernández at Inter-American Court

(New York) – The government of Honduras has an obligation to conduct an effective investigation into any alleged violation of the right to life, and failure to do so violates  the obligation to protect the right to life, Human Rights Watch said…
Picture of Vicky Hernández. © Red Lésbica Cattrachas
News

Do LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers Have a Future in the United States?

When Pricila, a 32-year-old trans woman, fled El Salvador in February 2019, she had good reason to fear for her life. Police had beaten and sexually assaulted her, telling her they would make her a man. Gang members attempted to forcibly recruit her.…
A group of men and women march walk while holding rainbow pride flags
News

Interview: LGBT People Flee Violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

Discrimination Follows them from Home to the US Border

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, sometimes called the Northern Triangle, often face violence and discrimination from their families, gangs, and even the police. When they try to seek asylum…
A group of men and women march walk while holding rainbow pride flags
News

Anti-LGBT Persecution in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

US Barriers to Asylum Block Path to Safety

(Washington, DC) – The governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have failed to effectively address violence and entrenched discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, leading many to seek asylum in the…
A group of men and women march walk while holding rainbow pride flags
Report

“Every Day I Live in Fear”

Summary Camila Díaz Córdova, a 29-year-old transgender woman, tried for years to escape the violence that had characterized her life in El Salvador. She made her way to the United States in 2017 to seek asylum, but after four months in immigration…
News

Trump Wants to Gut Asylum Claims. LGBTQ+ People Will Die.

The Trump administration has proposed a new federal regulation that would create insurmountable barriers to the vast majority of asylum claims, including by gutting the definition of refugee to the point where lesbian, gay, bisexual and…
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News

Court Awards Damages to 20 LGBT Youth in Uganda

Homeless Shelter Residents to Be Compensated After Arbitrary Detention

The High Court of Uganda awarded damages of UGX 5,000,000 (about US$1,340) to 20 homeless gay, bisexual, and transgender people who had been arbitrarily detained and held without access to their lawyers. Their arrests had occurred in response to…
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News

LGBT Africans Share Challenges of Life During Pandemic

AfroQueer Podcast Explores Varied Experiences of Coping with Covid-19

AfroQueer podcast recently launched a special episode in advance of its upcoming third season. Checking in with queer Africans on how they are faring during the Covid-19 pandemic, the episode was aptly titled “How are you doing?” The wide…
A Ugandan transgender woman in a town near Kampala, shortly before she fled the country. She left to escape police harassment and violence.

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