China Detains Women’s Rights Activists on International Women’s Day

Repost from Human Rights First by Darren Gan

Five Chinese women’s rights activists are still missing after authorities detained at least ten on March 6. Most of them were preparing a national campaign against sexual harassment in public places to mark International Women’s Day.

Feminist and LGBT activist Tingting Wei was the first to be taken away and questioned by Beijing Police. Later, local police also carted off Man Wang and Maizi Li (legal name Tingting Li) in Beijing, Rongrong Wu in Hangzhou, and Churan Zheng in Guangzhou. Continue Reading

Engel Sends Bipartisan Letter to USAID Urging Funding for LGBT Rights in Central America

Press Statement from Rep. Eliot L. Engel

MARCH 12, WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Representative Eliot L. Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was joined by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Richard Hanna (R-NY), David Cicilline (D-RI) and Chris Gibson (R-NY), in calling on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide funding for the protection of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals in the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Specifically, the letter states that given the dangerous levels of crime and violence committed against LGBT individuals in these countries, existing Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) funding should be made available to LGBT human rights groups in the subregion. In Honduras alone, more than 90 LGBT people were killed between 2009 and 2012, and many others were victims of violence and harassment.

“As former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, ‘Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.’ As we ramp up our country’s investment in Central America, we need to protect the subregion’s most vulnerable populations. This means protecting the basic human rights of LGBT individuals and ensuring that citizens of these countries are not killed or assaulted just because of who they are,” said Engel.

Read the letter here

USAID Releases Report: “Toolkit for Integrating LGBT Rights Activities into Programming in the Europe & Eurasia Region”

USAID recently released the report Toolkit for Integrating LGBT Rights Activities into Programming in the Europe & Eurasia Region, which contains resources to assist Agency staff and implementing partners to increase and improve the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community’s involvement in development programming. The Toolkit also provides guidance on how LGBT-specific concerns and interventions can be part of programming across the range of USAID sectors.

 

• Read the Toolkit
• ​​Read the USAID Impact blog about Toolkit
• Read the Washington Blade article on launch event

 

You can find other reports from various agencies on the Council for Global Equality’s website.