The LGBT community in Haiti gathered more than three hundred men and women of sexual orientation stigmatized by Haitian society to tell the country to cease discriminatory practices against them.
A man, slightly disguised, who spreads his fingers in speaking at the Hotel Montana, Thursday, May 17 at the first National Congress of the Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Population of Haiti, said he was proud to belong to the LGBT community.
In the hall resounded a voice: “Lese nou viv!”
On the occasion of this event, several institutions supporting International Day against Homophobia were present at the Hotel Montana: Housing Works, the initiator of the movement that works with the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA); UNAIDS, UNDP; Sérovie; Women in Action against Sexual Discrimination (FACDIS), the Ministry of Public Health, AIDS and Promoters Target Zero and Kouraj, a newly created organization.
Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was declaired on December 1948, it was not until June 2011 that the world would see a resolution of the Council of Human Rights and an equally historic report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the laws and practices that discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identities.
The resolution recalled that “human rights are universal, and therefore should apply without discrimination to lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender persons,” said the Acting Deputy Special Representative of the UN Mission for the Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Nigel Fisher.
The LGBT community openly in front of more than three hundred members of organizations from seven area departments of Haiti, people stigmatized for their sexual orientation by Haitian society, Nigel Fisher stressed that the recognition of LGBT rights is a concept struggling to take root in the social and normative in different countries.
According to the sources of the High Commissioner, Nigel Fisher revealed a series of violations throughout the world against LGBT. “Murder, rape and physical attacks, arbitrary detention, denial of right to assemble, or discrimination in employment, education and access to health, are just some of the violence suffered by LGBT in UN member countries. Haiti is unfortunately not an exception. In a country where the socio-economic conditions are already precarious, the respect for economic, social and cultural rights is a mirage for LGBT. You are subject to marginalization and exclusion from society. Moreover, given the prevalence of HIV / AIDS in Haiti, LGBT are stigmatized by the public but also the medical profession. They can not discuss openly with doctors or seek care.”
Stories Member of an organization that defends the interests of the LGBT community, Jean-Louis of Sérovie explains: “In 2003, two of my friends were returning from a party about eleven o’clock at Poste-Marchand. Sniffing they were gay, young men beat them savagely. One of them lost an eye. A patrol of the National Police on site did not even help.
Ala pa gen nasyon chans! “Jasmin, nicknamed tati, has claimed exclusion. “My mother has eight children, I am always on hand. “His friend was raped by a group of handymen. It took him right away to a clinic for prophylaxis. He was ashamed to go to complain to the police.
President Kouraj, Jeudy Charlot assumes and proclaims her gender. Having completed his studies in law, working on his thesis project. “My subject is the issue of homosexuality in Haiti. Reality. Legal approach. We fight against homophobia in Haiti. We have a structure to fight against all forms of stigma and discrimination. We have fifty active members. We take this opportunity to thank UNAIDS that allows us to gather in this room to discuss the problems we face.”
Executive Director of Women in Action against sexual discrimination, Marjorie Lafontant supports the same battle as Charlot: “We fight for the rights of lesbians, gay, transgender, bisexual and transvestites are respected in Haiti.”
