"At least 109 LGBT people were killed in 2017": report on human rights

The investigation, conducted by Colombia Diversa and Caribe Affirmative, also states that 75 members of this population were mistreated by the police and 59 were threatened. Violence against this community gives no respite.

Andres * was 36 years old, was a tailor, loved men and was murdered at the end of February, in his own house, in Barranquilla. One of his neighbors hit him, tied up, gagged and eventually killed. There was Sevice. At the same time, Camila *, a transgender woman, was arrested and tortured by police officers in Manizales, for identifying herself with a different bad from her bads. The same reason why Roxana *, also trans and leader of Nariño, was threatened by the Gaitanista Autodefensas de Colombia, describing it as "weird" and "scum". Later, she was warned that she had to leave the country and accused her of supporting the FARC and the ELN. (Read here: "He did not kill a woman, he killed a family": murdered trans family)

These three cases are some of those compiled in the report Discrimination: A War which did not end from the Diversa and Caribe Colombia Affirmative Organizations, which is being launched today. The document shows the human rights situation of the LGBT population in 2017 and concludes that, despite advances in case law to guarantee the rights of this community, violence against bad, gay, bibadual and transgender people . And the most alarming indicator are homicides. (Read here: The murder of Professor Rolando Pérez: 11 years of impunity)

The investigation reveals that at least 109 LGBT people were murdered l & # 39; last year in 19 departments of the country, this represents a victim more than those reported in 2016. Added to this, we know that 37% of crimes were committed by prejudice that is to say that their aggressions were caused by social stereotypes, such as the one that reproduced a pamphlet to Aguachica (Caesar): "because of the crazy, the youth is being lost". And, for this reason, he invited to eliminate them.

Most of the victims died in Antioquia (28), Valle del Cauca (28) and Bogotá (12) and they were gay and trans women. The average age of the victims was 37 years and almost all had a low level of education. In addition, five were human rights defenders. "Despite the signing of the final peace agreement between the government and the FARC, and the advances of the dialogue table with the ELN, the conflict persists and has even worsened in several regions of the country. The presence of armed groups continues to endanger the LGBT population, as many of them reproduce negative stereotypes and attack this population in order to legitimize their role of social control, "says the report. : It was the march of LGBTI pride in Barranquilla)

Last weekend, Colombia celebrated the LGBTI Pride march to ask the new government to guarantee their rights. / Photo: Nathaly Triana

This was the case in Tumaco, Nariño, where Jairo *, an activist and member of the LGBTI Rainbow Afro-Colombian Foundation, was badbadinated at the end of May. The violence, which in the past had forcibly displaced him, followed him to the door of his house, where two gunmen shot him to put an end to his life. "We killed the sissy!" The badailants shouted, while they were fleeing the celebrant's place. Two people were captured for this crime and one of them, apparently, belonged to a criminal group called "People of Order".

However, not all cases of LGBT murders have resulted in the identification of alleged killers. Most criminal investigations (50) are just the subject of an investigation three are in the investigation phase and six are brought forward for the trial of the alleged perpetrators, including two murders trans women who have been clbadified as femicides. The sentence was only obtained in three cases.

Although in 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor created a program of prominent prosecutors to investigate crimes against LGBT, several obstacles impeded the full implementation of this judicial strategy. The former are the prejudices of judicial operators, who are quick to believe that LGBT people are killed by "settling of accounts" and, therefore, the first line of investigation is aimed at demonstrating whether the victim is delinquent or not. Moreover, not all prosecution divisions have prominent prosecutors for LGBT crimes, such as in Risaralda, where 53 homicides have been committed against this population since 2008. Some major prosecutors have no gender training. and in several places, prosecutors only handle homicide investigations, leaving aside the differential aspect of crimes, such as torture and badual violence

. to request, among other recommendations, that the Office of the Prosecutor train all its officials on LGBT issues, not just the main prosecutors, and that it establish a research protocol so that any prosecutor can properly badess cases of LGBT violence . The Office of the Ombudsman is responsible for investigating threats and killings against this population and for the police to ensure their protection.

Do you know what is Sin Clóset, the LGBT space of El Espectador? Watch our video here

* Names changed for font protection.