30th March 2016: Trans Day of Visibility Press Release
Over 2,000 trans people killed in the last 8 years
Press Release in English (pdf) | Press Release in Spanish (pdf) | Press Release in Portuguese (pdf)
On occasion of the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) [1] held on the 31st of March every year, Transgender Europe (TGEU) is publishing the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project [2] update to join the voices raising awareness on this day about the multiple forms of discrimination faced by trans and gender diverse people worldwide.
This update (TMM TDoV 2016) reveals 2,016 reported killings of trans and gender diverse people in 65 countries worldwide between the 1st of January 2008 and the 31st of December 2015, more than 1,500 of which were reported in Central and South America. Further analysis of this data shows that 65% of all murdered trans and gender diverse people whose profession was known were sex workers. [3]
Throughout all six world regions, the highest absolute numbers have been found in countries with strong trans movements and civil society organisations that carry out forms of professional monitoring: Brazil (802), Mexico (229), Colombia (105), Venezuela (98), and Honduras (79) in Central and South America; the United States (132) in North America; Turkey (41) and Italy (33) in Europe; and India (54), the Philippines (40) and Pakistan (34) in Asia. [4]
The close connection between the existence of strong trans movements and professional monitoring on the one hand, and the highest absolute numbers of reports, on the other hand, point to the worrisome question of unreported cases.
TGEU’s Senior Researcher, Carsten Balzer/Carla LaGata, explains, “Beside the need for mechanisms to protect trans and gender diverse people, this connection also shows the need for trans and gender diverse organisations capable of professional monitoring and reporting of violence against their communities. This connection results in the fact that the figures show only the tip of the iceberg of homicides of trans and gender diverse people on a worldwide scale.”
While Brazil, Mexico, and the United States have the highest absolute numbers, the relative numbers show even more alarming results for some countries with smaller population sizes. Honduras, for instance, has a rate of 9.56 reported trans and gender diverse people killings per million inhabitants. [5]
It is important to note that these cases are those that could be found through Internet search and cooperation with trans organisations and activists. In most countries, data on murdered trans and gender diverse people are not systematically produced, and it is impossible to estimate the numbers of unreported cases.
For More Information: TGEU Senior Researcher, Carsten Balzer/Carla LaGata, is available for interviews and questions, and can be reached at: carla[at]tgeu.org or +49-30-53602666.
Tables 2008-2015 (pdf) | Map (pdf) | Infographic
NOTES:
In 2012, Transgender Europe published “TRANSRESPECT VERSUS TRANSPHOBIA WORLDWIDE – A Comparative Review of the Human-rights Situation of Gender-variant/Trans People”, which contextualises the TMM data: http://transrespect.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/TvT_research-report.pdf
[1] The International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) is dedicated to celebrating trans and gender diverse people, as well as raising awareness regarding the multiple forms of discrimination they worldwide.
[2] The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project started in April 2009, and since then it has been systematically monitoring, collecting, and analysing reports of homicides of trans and gender diverse people worldwide. Updates of the results, which have been presented in July 2009 for the first time, are published on the “Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” project website from two to four times a year in form of tables, name lists, and maps.
[3] A new report which takes a closer look at TMM data about the disproportionate numbers of cases of sex workers killed worldwide will be published in May 2016.
[4] The TMM TDoV 2016 update reports killings of trans and gender diverse people between January 2008 and December 2015 in all world regions: 1,573 killings in 23 countries in Central and South America, which account for 78% of the globally reported murders; 179 killings in 16 Asian countries; 137 killings in North America; 112 killings in 16 European countries; 10 killings have been reported in 4 African countries; and 5 killings in 4 countries in Oceania.
[5] Other Relative Numbers: In the case of Guyana, the rate is 5.00. In Brazil the rate is 4.00, in Mexico, 1.87, and in the United States, 0.42.
