Throughout their lives, lesbian women in Peru experience different types of violations to their integrity and well-being, ranging from psychological violence – enhanced by the discourse of conservative opinion leaders, public officials, and religious chiefs – to forms of sexual violence, such as “corrective rape” and physical violence nurtured in a society that continues to tolerate sexism and homophobia.
Considering such an alarming scenario, on 25 November 2021, a coalition of Peruvian and international civil society organizations*, including No Peace Without Justice, presented an alternative report to Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which reflects the lack of protection and invisibility in which lesbian women live in Peru.
The report is based on the collection of normative data, the work and cases carried out by the institutions that contributed to its drafting, and identifies specific recommendations to be made by CEDAW to Peruvian State in its upcoming review, aimed at guaranteeing and supporting the rights of lesbian women in the country. Those recommendations would help to advance human rights-based policies in a region where fundamentalist groups and anti-rights movements have long denied the rights of LGBTI+ individuals, including lesbian women.
Today more than ever, it is essential to bring visibility to and take action for women within the LGTBQI+ community. We call for unity and collective work to promote the well-being and fulfillment of the human rights of all women irrespectively of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Download the Report submiited to CEDAW (in pdf format)
* The organizations that presented the report are: Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (CLADEM‐Perú), Instituto Internacional sobre Raza, Igualdad y Derechos Humanos, Lesbianas Independientes Feministas Socialistas (LIFS), Demus Estudio para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer, Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán, Movimiento Manuela Ramos, Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD), No Peace Without Justice
(NPWJ), Más Igualdad, Articulación Feminista Marcosur (AFM), Colectivo de Mujeres Sonqo Warmi Cusco, Articulación de Lesbianas Feministas de Lima.
