The UN Committee Against Torture expressed concern about the persecution of transgender and travesti migrant women in Argentina by security forces, particularly in the Province of Buenos Aires. This was stated in a section of its report on detentions and ill-treatment. Following a submission from the organization OTRANS Argentina, the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) drafted a series of observations expressing its grave concern about the discriminatory detentions of Afro-descendant and travesti transgender people and migrants from other Latin American countries. The report refers to the degrading searches of transgender and travesti people in the street and in police stations, and emphasizes the detentions carried out "in humiliating conditions." The Committee demanded that the State end impunity for these acts, provide training to federal and provincial law enforcement officers, and protect detainees while respecting their gender identity. The UN report—released on Wednesday, May 10—is the result of an analysis of the country's situation regarding institutional violence, prison conditions, the process of Memory, Truth, and Justice for crimes against humanity, femicides, and gender-based violence. It focused on compliance with the International Convention against Torture. Four days after this response, Claudia Vásquez Haro, president of OTRANS Argentina, was attacked in her own home, where she was threatened with death.

"The State has immediate obligations"

The CCT's observations are binding on the Argentine State: "This is about torture, therefore, the State has immediate and imprescriptible obligations to prevent and redress it," Luciana Sánchez explained to Presents, lawyer for OTRANS Argentina. The CCT demanded that the Argentine State "investigate all cases of arbitrary detentions, violence, and mistreatment of people based on their foreign origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity, in order to prosecute and punish the perpetrators and suspend the agents involved." Furthermore, it demanded that federal and provincial security forces be trained to respect the dignity of individuals during personal searches. The CCT emphasizes the lack of implementation of programs in prisons and police stations in the Province of Buenos Aires for the integration of trans women and transvestites based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, at the federal and provincial levels, as well as full respect for Law 26.743 on gender identity. It emphasizes that There were 3,470 complaints of discrimination in 2016, almost double the number from the previous year. And she laments the lack of information regarding the follow-up given to these complaints. “The Committee recognizes the existence in our country of profiling carried out by the police and sustained by the justice system that is related to gender identity, Afro-descendant heritage, and xenophobia. There is racist and xenophobic profiling, and based on gender identity, transphobic profiling,” explained Luciana Sánchez.

Detained and mistreated

On March 20, OTRANS Argentina presented a report to the CCT on the critical situation experienced by trans women and transvestites in the Province of Buenos Aires. She emphasized the precarious situation they face when deprived of their liberty. The report highlighted that these conditions contributed to the deaths of Angie Velásquez and Pamela Macedo Panduro, both transgender Peruvian women under 40 years old, detained in Unit 32 of Florencio Varela. Both suffered from chronic illnesses that did not receive adequate care. “There aren’t many pronouncements regarding the existence of profiling, especially in our country, which is so resistant to racism and xenophobia. The fact that the Committee is talking about profiling also points to arbitrary detentions. Profiling is related to the arbitrariness of detentions, something that OTRANS has been strongly denouncing. The transvestite and trans women detained in Penal Unit No. 32 in Florencio Varela are transvestites, migrants, Afro-descendants, or from Indigenous communities. Here, it is being recognized that this intersectionality makes these people susceptible to being tortured by the security forces,” said Sánchez. As a result of the complaint filed last year by OTRANS Argentina with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the state agency has made progress in some areas of work to prevent and change police behavior. Thus, in March, a legal aid service was implemented, and work is underway on a protocol for police personnel.

Humiliating searches

Another key point raised by the Committee is the degrading searches of transgender and transvestite people in the street and in police stations, which are prohibited. “It’s important that the CCT (Collective Bargaining Agreement) states this because a degrading search, depending on where it takes place and what the consequences might be, can constitute arbitrary detention and torture in specific cases,” Sánchez explained.

Transvestite identity

“The Committee not only recognizes trans identity but also transvestite identity, which is unique and originates in our region, particularly in our country. It is very significant that it is being recognized in the language of international human rights bodies,” she told Presents Luciana Sánchez, a lawyer with Otrans Argentina, an organization that has long denounced institutional violence against the trans and travesti community, stated, “This report commits us to continue fighting to ensure our human rights are not violated. We will fully and effectively monitor the situation to ensure these recommendations are implemented because we will not allow the State to continue killing our trans and travesti sisters, especially in La Plata, which is a testing ground for the Security Forces, but where the violence and mistreatment are now spreading to other provinces of the country.” Claudia Vásquez Haro, president of Otrans, added, “This report commits us to continue fighting to prevent the violation of our human rights. We will fully and effectively monitor the situation to ensure these recommendations are implemented because we will not allow the State to continue killing our trans and travesti sisters, primarily in La Plata, which is a testing ground for the Security Forces, but where the violence and mistreatment are now spreading to other provinces of the country.”

About the Committee

The Committee against Torture is the United Nations body of independent experts that supervises and monitors the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CCT) by States. The Committee receives and examines complaints from individuals and organizations against a State when the State has recognized its competence to receive and examine submissions.