Colombian NGO Colombia Diversa will speak before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington DC Thursday to denounce human rights abuses against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community.
Colombia Diversa spokeswoman Marcela Sanchez told Colombia Reports that the NGO’s presentation will focus primarliy on State abuse of members of the LGBT community, in particular transvestites.
Reports of arbitrary detention and physical violence committed by members of the Colombian policy force against the LGBT community have increased over the last five years, Sanchez said.
Sanchez alluded to the deaths of two transvestites in Bogota last week, one of whom was an active campaigner for LGBT rights. The deaths are under investigation and there is reason to believe that the murders were committed for homophobic reasons, based on the way the victims died, Sanchez said.
“It is important for the IAHCR to hear a first hand account of the human rights abuses occurring against the LGBT community in Colombia as well as the rest of Latin America,” said Sanchez.
Colombia Diversa expects the IACHR to recommend measures to the Colombia State that may be implemented in order to improve the human rights situation of the LGBT community.
Laws to protect the LGBT community are inadequate, the Colombia Diversa representative said.
The IACHR is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS).