Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Ramps Up Pressure for Special LGBT Rights

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | August 9, 2012

WASHINGTON, DC, August 10 (C-FAM) In the span of one month, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued eleven press releases decrying episodes of violence against “gay,” “lesbian,” and “trans” persons across the American continent. The Inter-American Commission blames the countries where these attacks took place for failing to investigate and prosecute hate crimes and calls on them to provide special protections for persons on the basis of their sexual orientation and identity.

This recent flurry of concern on the Inter-American Commission’s website indicates that a new specialized Unit on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Bisexual and Intersex Persons (LGTBI) established in November 2011 is becoming operational. The specialized unit is tasked with tracking LGTBI issues within the Inter-American Commission.

The episodes of violence took place in Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, Brazil, and Jamaica. The press releases, published between June 18 and July 16, all contain the following boilerplate language directed at those governments:

“The IACHR reminds the State of its obligation to investigate such acts on its own initiative and to punish those responsible. The Inter-American Commission urges the State of [country] to conduct an investigation that takes into account whether this murder was committed because of the gender identity or sexual orientation of the victim.”

The Inter-American Commission claims that these countries fail to properly investigate and prosecute such crimes, and that “[t]he ineffectiveness of the state response fosters high rates of impunity, which in turn lead to the chronic repetition of such crimes, leaving the victims and their families defenseless.” The Commission also recommends the “adoption of policies and public campaigns and the amendments necessary to bring laws into line with the inter-American instruments on human rights.”

The boilerplate language does not address the different levels of competence in investigating and prosecuting crimes across the continent, and appears to invite treating crimes as presumptively hate crimes unless proven otherwise. For example the Commission’s press release treats the murder of Mollie Judith Olgin in Texas as a hate crime, but police investigating the crime have found no indication of that, despite efforts to pursue that theory.

The specialized LGTBI Unit is inspired in part by the Yogyakarta Principles, a radical document prepared by United Nations experts and human rights activists to pave the way towards universal recognition of new special rights for homosexuals and other persons based on their sexual preference and identity. The document has been used to promote new rights at the United Nations and in Europe, and features on the Inter-American Commission’s website, where the Commission explains that it embraces “the notion of each person’s [sexual and gender] self-identification.”

Media reports of violence against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity have galvanized homosexual activists in Latin America, who have garnered enough political support to enact hate crimes legislation in several countries. In July, Chile became the latest country to enact such legislation, following the murder of a young homosexual by Neo-Nazis in March.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is part of the Organization of American States (OAS). Last year, a resolution of the OAS General Assembly came close to asking member countries to enact hate crimes legislation.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter