Foregrounding the voices and perspectives of groups at risk of discrimination, violence and other abuses is essential when advocating for their rights and pursuing accountability, especially when individuals from these groups are in situations of heightened vulnerabilities.
This principle of "nothing about us without us" was a cornerstone of the work of Brazil’s National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in their recent nationwide assessment of conditions of detention of LGBTIQ+ persons deprived of their liberty.
The NPM invited LGBTIQ+ rights organisations and activists to participate in the monitoring visits and to interview LGBTIQ+ persons in detention. Their involvement was crucial in establishing safe and inclusive environments in which the interviews could take place. LGBTIQ+ detainees said they felt seen and could relate to the persons interviewing them.
A Brazilian NGO – SOMOS – focused on human rights promotion and protection, with an emphasis on sexual and reproductive rights, was one of the main partners in this review and co-authored the final report with the NPM.
As part of the project, the NPM, SOMOS and local preventive mechanism of the states of Rondônia and Pernambuco visited 24 detention centres in 12 states of Brazil .
More than just a snapshot of the situation, this report – Relatório Nacional de Inspeções: População LGBTI+ Privada de Liberdade - represents an unprecedented effort by torture prevention mechanisms in Brazil to remove the ‘invisibility’ of a group that has faced an entrenched historical culture of discrimination, harassment and marginalization.
The discrimination and stigmatisation that LGBTIQ+ persons face daily in society are greatly magnified in detention contexts. Bringing to light the abuses, violence and neglect they experience when deprived of their liberty is a means to strengthen the protection of their rights and personal dignity.
“Placing the affected population at the center is one of the great distinctiveness of this monitoring initiative led by the NPM of Brazil and which enhances the legitimacy and potential impact of the findings presented in this document. We believe this report will contribute immensely to making visible the situation of LGBTIQ+ people deprived of liberty and generate a public debate aimed at building a more just and inclusive society.”
As the report painfully describes, LGBTIQ+ persons are subjected to daily stigmatisation solely because of their non-conformity to socially constructed gender norms. Many detainees shared that guards and officials refused to call them by the name with which they identified; that their dishware was often kept apart from those used by the rest of the prison population; that in many states, hormone therapy was not authorised, even when a prescription was available; and that many are subjected to extorsion by organised crime and forced to carry drugs inside their bodies.
Nearly every detainee interviewed said they had experienced prejudice or discrimination while deprived of liberty. The report included heart-breaking testimonies of victimisation of LGBTIQ+ persons, such as the constant shaming of their existence, the mocking of their self-image, the prohibition on them expressing their gender identities, and the criminalisation of their sexualities.
Since 2017, as part of our global strategy, the APT has worked extensively in Brazil to build understanding and awareness of the increased vulnerabilities of LGBTIQ+ persons deprived of liberty and to create synergies between anti-torture organisations and LGBTIQ+ rights organizations and activists. We held meetings to bring together government authorities, judicial actors, torture prevention mechanisms and activists. And we launched practical guidance for monitors– For the Effective Protection of LGBTI Persons Deprived of Liberty: A Monitoring Guide –in Portuguese in 2018.
Building on this, we will use the findings and recommendations from this report to engage authorities – in particular, within the judiciary – in a dialogue on the dangers of incarcerating a population that faces a greatly increased risk of torture and ill treatment, as well as on the urgent need to prioritise extra-custodial measures for this population.
In a recent ruling, a judge from Santa Catarina ordered the provisional release of a detainee, who declared himself as gay, due to the recurrent physical aggression he was subjected to in prison and the constant threat to his physical integrity. He mentioned that existing national standards require the State to offer special wings or cells reserved for LGBTIQ+ detainees, which was not the case at the prison in question. In his words, “securing quarters exclusively reserved for LGBT+ persons aims to ~guarantee the right to life and physical and mental integrity of this population, as well as their sexual integrity, bodily safety, and freedom of expression of their gender identity and sexual orientation”.
In recent years, Brazil has issued crucial guidelines and standards to govern the incarceration of LGBTI detainees. Resolution 348/2020 issued by the National Council of Justice is one example. However, the implementation of these standards and guidelines continue to lag. Furthermore, incarceration should always be a measure of last resort.
“As a reproduction of society outside prison, we must reflect on how the deprivation of liberty of people from this group implies a denial of access to rights in prison. In the work of social organizations, it is common to hear how trans people and transvestites face barriers to accessing social and economic rights, services and public policies. When deprived of their liberty, they carry this stigma into prison units, resulting in the fact that they will make up the part of the prison population that is most neglected by the State because they are perceived to be individuals with less rights”
Undoubtedly, important steps have been taken since the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture called on Brazil to produce data on lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in conflict with the law in 2015. Detention standards have been set by the judiciary and executive arms of government. Information has been collected and published. Oversight mechanisms are more attentive to the rights and vulnerabilities of LGBTIQ+ detainees. However, it is imperative that we build on this progress. Judicial and governmental authorities must engage with the NPM on the implementation of the recommendations presented in this report. And each one of us can consider our own role in helping build a society where no one is excluded, stigmatised or left behind.
