Government commission to fight violence against LGBT people

The government made official on Tuesday (Feb 10) the creation of the Interministerial Commission for Confronting Violence Against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, and Transsexuals. Members include officials from the Human Rights Secretariat, the Secretariat for Women's Policies, the Secretariat General of the Presidency of the Republic, as well as the ministries of Justice and Health. The commission is to be under the coordination of the National Ombudsman's Department for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic.

The commission is expected to integrate actions aimed at preventing, confronting, and reducing the several forms of violence against the LGBT community. The new group will also provide access to related figures and crime descriptions, the Human Rights Secretariat announced.

Data from the National Ombudsman's Department and the Disque 100 Human Rights hotline disclose that over 7.6 thousand gay bashing reports were made from 2011 to 2014. As for last year only, the states with the highest number of cases registered were São Paulo (53), Minas Gerais (26), and Piauí (20). Discrimination was the cause described in 85% of allegations, and psychological violence in 77%.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira