AMERICAS REGION
109. The communications sent in the current reporting period also raise concerns of growing risks faced by defenders of rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI)-persons, as well as civil society associations. During the current reporting period, such groups have been seen to be subjected to multifaceted forms of harassment, among which their stigmatization by government officials raise grave concern. Violent acts of retaliation against defenders of LGBTI rights in the region have sharply emerged during the present reporting period as an issue demanding immediate and intense consideration by governments of the region. Defenders of LGBTI rights, as well as defenders within the LGBTI community itself, are facing serious challenges in many countries of the region, in the undertaking of their legitimate human rights work, with women LGBTI rights defenders and transsexual defenders highlighted by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights as facing the gravest risk. Challenges faced by LGBTI defenders have included assassinations, threats, surveillance, violent attacks, public stigmatization by state authorities, and restrictions on their exercise of freedom of association and peaceful assembly. In order to halt the pattern of violent attacks on LGBTI rights defenders, States must initiate dialogue with the defenders in order to fully understand the threats they face and formulate plans for their better protection.
Link to full text of the report: Report-SRHRD-Communications and replies-2016-eng-fra-esp