International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the CLACSO Working Group The Central American Isthmus: Rethinking the Centers, states and demands the following:
The 2021-2024 term of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador began on May 1, 2021. This legislature is characterized by its control by representatives of Nayib Bukele's ruling party, who, together with their allies, hold a supermajority. The first action of this legislature was the removal, without due process, of the justices of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General. Without the public debate processes stipulated by law, in the early hours of Sunday, May 2, new justices of the Constitutional Chamber and Attorney General were elected. These actions have been denounced by civil society and the international community as damaging to the country's democratic system.
In this context, the Legislative Assembly's Commission on Women and Gender Equity, on Friday, May 14, 2021, in its procedure of archiving 30 files containing proposed reforms and legislative initiatives, arguing that they were outdated and no longer reflected reality. We denounce the commission's negligent and arbitrary decision, as it was made without a thorough analysis of the content of each file and without any genuine individualized reasoning to support its conclusion that led to the archiving of said files.
Among the archived files are the Gender Identity Law and the Law Against Discrimination, projects that reached the legislative stage thanks to the tireless work of civil society groups and organizations fighting for the rights of LGBTI+ people. Despite their efforts since 2018, when they had campaigned for the commission to study and approve these bills, they were unsuccessful.
The current Women's Commission, through its actions, demonstrates a lack of interest in discussing these projects, showing disdain for respecting the fundamental rights of LGBTI+ people in El Salvador. It shelved the aforementioned laws without serious analysis, ignoring the proven existence of a daily reality that requires special regulations to guarantee the fulfillment of the rights of the LGBTI+ population, and especially the Gender Identity Law for Trans people in El Salvador.
Furthermore, the scope of protection of these laws is much broader and they were the opportunity for the Salvadoran State to assume its obligations to be the guarantor of the fulfillment of the human rights of all people without distinctions based on sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, sex and other diversities inherent to human beings and to establish the norms for a life free from discriminatory actions and violence of various types based on hatred and intolerance.
It is reported that, in addition to the aforementioned bills included in the files, the other files also contain requests for reforms and adjustments to existing special regulations to strengthen the guarantees of the rights of working women, strengthen the fight against femicide, and various actions of lesser impact, but always related to the guarantee of fundamental rights of women.
Given this administrative uncertainty surrounding the analysis and work of the Women's Commission, we demand that:
The commission should perform its functions objectively, professionally, and appropriately, and conduct a real analysis of each file, especially those related to legislative initiatives, to demonstrate to Salvadoran society and the civil society groups involved that these files are indeed obsolete and far removed from reality.
That the Women's Commission adhere to its functions and mandates and safeguard the rights of Salvadoran women, whether they are transgender or cisgender, from a human rights perspective.
Should the commission declare itself incompetent or consider rejecting the bills based on arguments related to the discussion being outside its functions due to the population being benefited, the Legislative Assembly must form an ad hoc commission to discuss the Gender Identity Law and address the eradication of hate crimes based on homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia in El Salvador.
We demand that the Commission demonstrate its level of commitment to guaranteeing, safeguarding, and protecting the fundamental rights of the Salvadoran population and show consistency with the principles for which it was created, beyond particular interests or a lack of state political will from the Executive or Legislative branches to eradicate violence against the trans population and Salvadoran women.
We call upon the international community, researchers, academics, organized civil society, human rights defenders, and LGBTI+ activities to draw attention to the current political setbacks in El Salvador and their effects on populations made vulnerable by discrimination, exclusion, and precariousness.
May 18th 2021
CLACSO Working Group
The Central American isthmus: rethinking the centers
This statement expresses the position of the Working Group The Central American Isthmus: Rethinking the Centers and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
