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Karla Avelar | |
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| Born | 7 January 1978  |
Karla Avelar (born 1978) is a Salvadoran transgender rights activist. [1] She is the executive director of Comcavis Trans. [2]
She has received several death threats, and survived assassination attempts. [3] [4] The first assassination attempt to her life was in 1992, when she was just a teen, she was able to disarm her assailant who drew a .45 at Avelar. [5]
In 2008, Avelar founded the support organization for transgender people called Comcavis Trans, [6] it was founded as a response to the needs felt by trans women participating in the various support groups (people with HIV) being discriminated against, not represented, and did not obtain the required information according to their own characteristics. [7]
She was a finalist of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in the year of 2017. [8]
Forced displacement is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations".
Transgender rights in Iran are limited, with a narrow degree of official recognition of transgender identities by the government, but with trans individuals facing very high levels of discrimination, from the law, the state, and from the wider society.
The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or "umbrella organization" of left-wing groups backed by the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro as well as the Soviet Union. A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of civil war. The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City.
A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campaigners, participants in direct action, or just individuals acting alone. They can defend rights as part of their jobs or in a voluntary capacity. As a result of their activities, human rights defenders (HRDs) are often subjected to reprisals including smears, surveillance, harassment, false charges, arbitrary detention, restrictions on the right to freedom of association, physical attack, and even murder. In 2020, at least 331 HRDs were murdered in 25 countries. The international community and some national governments have attempted to respond to this violence through various protections, but violence against HRDs continues to rise. Women human rights defenders and environmental human rights defenders face greater repression and risks than human rights defenders working on other issues.
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, sometimes called "the Nobel Prize for human rights", is an annual prize for human rights defenders. It was created in 1993 to honour and protect individuals around the world who demonstrate exceptional courage in defending and promoting human rights. Its principal aim is to provide protection to human rights defenders who are at risk by focusing international media attention on their plight, mainly through online means and advocacy work. The Award is named after British human rights activist Martin Ennals, former secretary general of Amnesty International and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
María Julia Hernández was a prominent human rights advocate who tried to speak for victims of the civil war in El Salvador. She was the founding director of Tutela Legal, the human rights office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, non-binary and otherwise queer, non-cisgender, non-heterosexual citizens of El Salvador face considerable legal and social challenges not experienced by fellow heterosexual, cisgender Salvadorans. While same-sex sexual activity between all genders is legal in the country, same-sex marriage is not recognized; thus, same-sex couples—and households headed by same-sex couples—are not eligible for the same legal benefits provided to heterosexual married couples.
The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health care. A major goal of transgender activism is to allow changes to identification documents to conform with a person's current gender identity without the need for gender-affirming surgery or any medical requirements, which is known as gender self-identification. It is part of the broader LGBT rights movements.
There have been persistent concerns over human rights in El Salvador. Some of these date from the civil war of 1980–92. More recent concerns have been raised by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. They include women's rights, child labor, and unlawful killings and harassment of labor union members and other social activists.
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Ruby Corado is an activist who founded Casa Ruby, a bilingual, multicultural LGBT organization in Washington, D.C. Established in 2012, Casa Ruby identifies its mission as "to create success life stories among Transgender, Genderqueer, and Gender Non-conforming Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual people." In July 2022, Corado was accused of mismanagement of Casa Ruby, which forced the organization to cease operations.
The TransLatina Coalition, stylized as the TransLatin@ Coalition, is a national, Los Angeles–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity advocacy group that works on behalf of transgender Latina women who are immigrants to the United States. It established and runs the Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness and works with policymakers and organizations to advance advocacy and resource support for transgender Latinas. Its staff consists of leaders from across the United States who have specific experience in meeting the needs of transgender Latinas intersecting with public health, education, and social justice, with representation in over 11 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Mexico City, with over seven organized chapters.
Immaculée Birhaheka is a human rights activist from Democratic Republic of Congo. She is co-founder and president of the women's rights organization Promotion et Appui aux Initiatives Feminines (PAIF) which works to combat sexual violence and increase the participation of women in civic life.
Robert Sann Aung is a human rights lawyer and former political prisoner in Myanmar (Burma). Robert Sann Aung is known for his pro bono legal work, defending victims of human rights abuses, student activists, and human rights defenders, including child soldiers and protesters. He has received death threats for his public views on amending the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, in the aftermath of the assassination of Ko Ni, another prominent Burmese lawyer.
Transgender asylum seekers are transgender-identifying people seeking refuge in another country due to stigmatization or persecution in their home countries. Because of their gender non-conformity, transgender asylum seekers face elevated risks to their mental and physical health than cisgender asylum seekers or those whose gender identity is the same as their sex assigned at birth, including higher risks of physical and sexual assault, torture, "conversion therapy" practices, and forced isolation. As a result, transgender people face challenges in the asylum process not experienced by others.
FiLiA is a British gender-critical feminist charity founded in 2015 that describes itself as part of the women's liberation movement. FiLiA organizes a conference, held first in 2008 as Feminism in London, in different cities, which it now describes as the "largest annual grassroots feminist conference in Europe". FiLiA is gender-critical, and states that it supports "sex-based rights" and opposes what they refer to as "gender ideology." It has lobbied against gender recognition reform and considers gender self-identification a threat to "women's protected rights." Critics describe it as anti-transgender and transphobic. FiLiA is critical of the sex industry and as a result, it considers pornography harmful. It has campaigned on behalf of women internationally, and as a result, it has held its campaigns in countries such as Iran, Cyprus, and Kenya. It has been described as one of "the most important 'gender critical' groups" alongside Women's Declaration International. FiLiA has faced protests and attempted cancellations, notably in 2023 when the venue Platform attempted to cancel the conference due to alleged transphobia.
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