Comments
This priority measure is linked with priority measure 34 on the exercise of sexual rights, with priority measure 11 on comprehensive sexuality education, and priority measure 57 on establishing mechanisms for prevention, the filing of complaints and punishment for practices of sexual and occupational harassment.
It would be advisable to include questions (variables) aimed at establishing gender identity by employing categories such as: “identity undefined”, “male”, “female”, “trans male”, “trans female”) in public policy forms and records.
Possible lines of action
1. Identify discriminatory provisions and gaps in existing legislation and regulations, that foster discrimination or that impede universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, in particular discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as it affects the LGBTTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender and intersexual) population. 2. Propose and develop policies designed specifically to eradicate discrimination in the exercise of sexual rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 3. Make sustained efforts to promote the cultural change needed to modify the social and cultural practices that reinforce and perpetuate gender inequalities based on stereotyped roles for women and men and on unequal relationships of power that subordinate and exclude women or discriminate against them. 4. Create reparation mechanisms in the event of violation of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Related instruments, forums and mechanisms
Brasilia Consensus, agreement 3.i (“Create mechanisms to support the political participation of young women in decision-making, free of discrimination based on race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, and to ensure that their forms of organization and expression are respected and not subjected to generational stigmatization”) and agreement. 5.b (“Formulate policies aimed at eliminating sexist and discriminatory contents in the media and train communications professionals correspondingly, valuing the dimensions of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and generation”).
Santo Domingo Consensus, agreement 80 (cited under priority measure 35), agreement 86 (“Develop mechanisms, including legislation, and sanctions to combat the use of information and communications technologies and social networks to perpetrate violent acts against women and girls, in particular the criminal misuse of such technologies for sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, child pornography and trafficking in women and girls, and new forms of violence, such as cyberbullying and intimidation and privacy violations that compromise the safety of women, girls, adolescent girls, young women, older women, indigenous women, Afro-descendent women, rural women, LGBTTI persons and women with disabilities”) and agreement 98 (“Elicit a commitment, through the creation of strategic networks, from the media and media professionals’ associations, to project a positive image of women, banishing the stereotypes and the violent content that perpetuate discrimination and violence against women, girls, adolescent girls, young women, older women, indigenous women, Afro-descendent women, rural women, LGBTTI persons and women with disabilities”).
As intergovernmental measures and agreements concerning sexual rights are more recent, there is no specific mechanism for such follow-up, and it would be desirable for the second session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean to consider discussing an appropriate mechanism, in cooperation with the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.
