[van-announce] **Action Alert**

[Tami S]

Thursday, July 15, 2004 marks the first anniversary of the killing of 
transgender woman Ericka, reportedly carried out by two police 
agents. In spite of efforts by LGBT human rights defenders who belong 
to the organization Comunidad Gay Sampedrana (CGS), the investigation 
into the killing of Ericka has not been pursued by the authorities 
and the police officer that was initially charged of homicide and 
another officer who was charged with complicity to murder remain at 
large.

Please send letters/faxes to arrive as quickly as possible to the 
Honduran authorities urging them to ensure the safety of LGBT 
activists. To take action, click on this link or paste it into your 
Web browser:

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10969

Keep the Pressure on the Honduran Authorities to Ensure the Safety of 
LGBT Activists 

The failure of the Honduran authorities to bring to justice the 
perpetrators of this killing highlights the prevailing impunity in 
Honduras regarding extrajudiciary executions of LGBT people in 
general and of transgender women in particular.

"China" (legal name Elkyn Suárez Mejía), the transgender activist who 
was a key witness to Ericka's murder, and had to flee Honduras in 
September 2003 after receiving a series of death threats, is now 
living in a European country where she has been granted asylum under 
the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. To 
commemorate the anniversary of Ericka's murder, she is planning to 
write to the Honduran president and place a paid advert (campo 
pagado) in a major Honduran newspaper raising her concerns about the 
impunity surrounding Ericka's murder and the persecution of the LGBT 
community in Honduras.

Other CGS members have been subject to particularly acute harassment 
and intimidation for almost a year now. The Honduran government has 
failed to provide the protection measures (medidas cautelares) that 
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requested on December 
29, 2003 for members of CGS. In January 2004 leaders of this LGBT 
organization were arbitrarily arrested, and have since reported 
further acts of intimidation including anonymous telephone calls to 
members of their families. Due to the lack of adequate protection and 
the authorities' failure to comply with their obligation of due 
diligence, CGS has been forced to hire private security and install 
security equipment to fortify their offices.

In April 2004 members of CGS made an oral presentation before the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They highlighted the 
abuses against LGBT in Honduras, including the violation of the right 
to physical integrity, freedom of association and to remain free from 
discrimination. CGS members also appealed to the Inter-American 
Commission that they be given the right to get legal status 
(personería jurídica) to carry out their work as human rights 
defenders. The Inter-American Commission's decision is pending. On 
March 26, 2004 CGS and two other Honduran LGBT organizations 
(Asociación Colectivo Violeta and Kukulcán) filed an application for 
legal status before the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They are still 
awaiting a response. 

Tami Starlight
Addictions & Gender Identity-lay counselor
Activist/advocate/feminist/environmentalist
TDOR&TAW Founder/Vancouver chair
Egale Canada - B.C/Yukon Female Rep.
604-215-3882
www.egale.ca
trans.mission at telus.net
I support equality.


The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to
heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's
just that they need more supervision. ~ Lynn Lavner
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/van-announce/attachments/20040717/314e269a/attachment.html>