London, UK
Thomson Reuters Foundation
With 331 murders, the last year has been the second deadliest for trans people on record, activists said on Wednesday, an annual day of remembrance for homicide victims.
The figure is slightly lower than for the previous 12 months, when 369 trans and gender diverse people – who define themselves as neither male nor female – were killed, said the Trans Murder Monitoring project, which started in 2009.
Trans woman Tiffany, 19, shows a scar of a knife attack in Tegucigalpa, on 10th March, 2011. PICTURE: Reuters/Edgard Garrido
Here are some facts on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which began in 1999 to commemorate those murdered due to transphobia:
1. Almost 40 per cent of trans murders occurred in Brazil, where 130 people were killed. President Jair Bolsonaro, who has openly said he would rather his son die than be gay, has sought to rollback LGBT+ rights since his election.
2. Mexico had the second highest number of murders – 63 – in the last year, followed by the United States, with 30.
3. More than 60 per cent of victims whose occupations were reported were sex workers, who trans activists say are forced to sell their bodies due to poverty and discrimination.
4. In the United States, 85 per cent of the 30 murders were of trans women of colour, who are more likely to be unemployed. Most lived in the south of the country.
5. One transgender woman was reported killed this year in Uganda, where LGBT+ rights campaigners have expressed fears about a spate of attacks after a minister proposed the death penalty for gay sex, a threat later retracted.
6. The death of a transgender woman from multiple injuries in Malaysia in December, who was attacked by a group of youths, sparked fears of a rise in hate crimes in the Muslim-majority nation.
7. Ecuador recorded at least eight murders or violent or unclassified trans deaths this year, up from one in 2018, despite recent LGBT+ victories, such as allowing trans people to change their identity without surgery.
8. Three-quarters of 3,317 murders of trans and gender-diverse people recorded worldwide between 1st January, 2008, and 30th September, 2019, took place in Central and South America.
9. Asia was the second most dangerous continent, with 282 homicides (nine per cent), followed by North America at 250 (eight per cent) and Europe with 148 (four per cent) over the close to 12-year period.
10. In cases where the cause of death was known, shooting was the most common form of murder, followed by stabbings and beatings.
Sources: Thomson Reuters Foundation, Trans Murder Monitoring project, Stonewall, Human Rights Campaign
