Health and Rights for LGBTI People in the Dominican Republic
By Abril Vargas and Pedro José Reyes, from UNDP Dominican Republic
LGBTI Pride Month is a call for visibility, a celebration of diversity, as well as a call to end the social inequality faced by LGBTI people in their countries.
Achieving SDG 3 -ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages-, and SDG 16 -promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies-, will only be possible if all people are guaranteed the full realization of the right to health and justice. This requires including LGBTI people’s right to health and justice and, to address this, we must eliminate both stigma and discrimination.
According to data from the 2020 National LGBTI Survey, 96.7% of the people surveyed said they had been victims or witnesses of some form of violence. However, reporting the acts of violence suffered is rare, respondents stated that almost nine out of ten (88.7%) have not reported incidents of violence. The most common reason was that they felt that the corresponding authorities would not do anything; while others indicated that feeling shame or embarrassment discouraged them.
In relation to accessing the right to health, the 2020 National LGBTI Survey noted that gay men and trans women surveyed reported that health personnel often assume that the symptoms they report during health consultations are invariably related to HIV, and do not take into account other conditions, such as non-communicable diseases, mental health problems or other chronic conditions, limiting the access of these populations to comprehensive health services.
The 2020 National LGBTI Survey was a historic effort in the region to collect statistical information about the lived realities of LGBTI people in the Dominican Republic. UNDP conducted the survey with support from the United States Government through USAID, the Embassy of the United Kingdom, the Institute for Research and Gender and Family Studies of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (IGEF-UASD) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), as well as the participation of civil society organizations that advocate for the rights of LGBTI people at the national level.
Although important progress has been made, it is still essential to continue advocating for the full exercise of the rights of LGBTI people, comprehensively addressing the socio-economic, political and psychosocial barriers that prevent them from living a life with dignity and in full exercise of their rights. In this regard, the Survey has five key recommendations based on the data collected:
- Develop and promote LGBTI inclusive public policies
- Eliminate the gaps in the health system when addressing the needs of LGBTI people
- Adopt measures to guarantee the standard of due diligence in the prevention, impartial investigation, recourse and reparation of discrimination against LGBTI persons within the justice system
- Strengthen the justice system to include respect for and protection of the human rights of LGBTI people
- Integrate LGBTI people and LGBTI organizations in the development, research and drafting of legislation and public policies that affect their rights and encourage their participation and representation in legislative processes
UNDP continues to support national efforts to further advance inclusion and strengthen society’s capacity to provide comprehensive services for LGTBI people. For example, in March, together with the Ministry of Health, Amigos Siempre Amigos and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), we trained 40 psychologists were trained. The training equipped them with tools and resources to offer affirmative treatment and therapies, from a gender perspective and respect for human rights, always promoting the wellbeing and integral health of LGBTI people.
Likewise, in partnership with Trans siempre Amigas (TRANSSA), Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de Personas Trans de República Dominicana and Voluntariado GLBT, a booklet on ‘’Security for all from a diversity approach’’ and a Manual on Citizen Security and Self-protection for the LGBTI Population were produced. Both documents are practical tools to inform LGBTI people and human rights activists about the necessary steps to ensure access to justice in case of human rights violations.
UNDP has also worked with the Judiciary in order to develop internal policies to ensure access to justice without discrimination for LGBTI persons, migrants and persons with disabilities. In the area of justice, training activities were supported on the human rights of LGBTI people for prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office, the National Police, the Ministry of Women, the Ministry of Health and other public institutions.
Having a clear understanding of the difficulties that exist for LGBTI people to effectively access health and justice, the next step and challenge is to develop mechanisms to dismantle the barriers that sustain stigma and discrimination towards LGBTI people. The greater the inclusion of LGBTI people and LGBTI organisations in efforts to address the socio-economic determinants that underpin these inequities, the more sustainable the country’s response will be, and therefore the more sustainable its development will be.
This article was originally published by the United Nations Development Programme in the Dominican Republic in Spanish.
