Catalogue of Local Inclusive Public Policies

Public policies
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Public Policy for the Recognition of Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity and for the Protection, Restitution, Attention to and Guarantee of Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Persons

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(Español) Medellín - Colombia

Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Range of Demographic Size
1,000,000 inhabitants or more (metropolis)

3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development, among other means.

16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.

16.3 Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.

16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.

A - Full integration of population dynamics into sustainable development with equality and respect for human rights.

D - Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services

E - Gender equality

G - Territorial inequality, spatial mobility and vulnerability

American Convention on Human Rights

• Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará)

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in economic, social and cultural rights (San Salvador Protocol).

Summary

The “Public Policy for the Recognition of Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity and for the Protection, Restitution, Attention to and Guarantee of Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Persons in the City of Medellín” aims at ensuring recognition, respect for difference, cultural identity and free development of persons within this social collective, by strengthening the organizational processes and the leadership of LGBTI sectors.

For that purpose, the government and the civil society have set up, in compliance with the principle of shared responsibility, a series of activities in the city, aimed at improving life conditions of the persons in these sectors. Such initiatives are contained in the strategic plan deriving from this public policy, which provides for a series of affirmative, permanent, annual and strategic actions to be carried out under the responsibility of the Secretaría de Inclusión Social, Familia y Derechos Humanos (Secretariat of Social Inclusion, Family and Human Rights).

Implementation Date:

Start: 04 / 16 / 2011

End: End: Currently in force

Gender and sexual diversity - Diversity and sexual Identity
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Since 2007, an average of 12 murders motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity have been reported yearly. This has resulted in multiple forced population movements from one sector of the City of Medellín to another, as well as many expulsions of people to other municipalities or departments. A 2015 survey carried out by the Mayor’s Office on the LGBTI population shows that at least 50% of the respondents (of a total of 1478 surveyed people) have experienced physical and/or verbal violence at home –the environment where most of this population’s expulsions take place. In particular, transgender and transsexual people face exclusion in different situations due to the lack of a clear legislation that may recognize gender identity.
General objective: Recognizing sexual diversity and gender identity for the protection, restitution, attention to and guarantee of rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons in the City of Medellín. Specific objectives: 1. Encouraging public and private actions in the City of Medellín to guarantee, recognize and restitute the rights of LGBTI people for a full exercise of such rights. 2. Strengthening LGBTI organizational processes, organizations and citizens for a full participation, representation and management of their individual and collective interests within the discussion and decision-making spheres. 3. Generating transformation processes of cultural stereotypes, allowing for the recognition and respect of differences, cultural identity and free personality development, for a life free of violence and discrimination driven by gender identity and sexual orientation. 4. Guaranteeing articulation mechanisms between both public and private institutions and other social actors, in order to develop comprehensive public policies where the issues of sexual diversity and gender identity are included when drafting, adapting, implementing, executing and evaluating such policies.
Comité Municipal de Diversidad Sexual (Municipal Sexual Diversity Committee): This is the agency in charge of designing and monitoring the strategic and operating plan, as well as of executing such plan (both from the material and the budgetary standpoints), drafting adaptations, and continuously improving the local public policy. This Committee is formed by delegates from the secretariats and agencies under a shared responsibility principle, civil society representatives, and representatives from other organizations, such as law enforcement, the ombudsman’s office, and municipal official representatives, among others. Secretaría Técnica (Technical Secretariat): This was the agency in charge of articulating and coordinating the strategic plan, carrying out the affirmative actions and systematizing each discussion and debate meeting. This role is currently played by the Secretaría de Inclusión Social, Familia y Derechos Humanos (Secretariat of Social Inclusion, Family and Human Rights). Consejo Consultivo (Consulting Board): This is the civil society organization that cooperates in the execution, follow-up and evaluation of this public policy. The Board is formed by delegates from the LGBTI community and representatives of each of the City’s municipalities.
This public policy has been articulated with the Victims Assistance Unit, the Family Unit, the Public Policy for People with Disabilities, and the Public Policy for the Afro-Descendant Population, under the Secretariat of Social Inclusion, Family and Human Rights. Articulations have also been made with the public policies applicable to youth and citizen culture, as well as other agencies and strategies under the Mayor’s Office of Medellín. This allows for providing an inter-section assistance to different populations according to their characteristics. Workshops were organized by this public policy’s cross-application team to be given to teams in charge of the above-mentioned public policies, in order for the latter to also apply non-hegemonic sexual orientation and gender identity perspectives in their everyday work. Additionally, the LGBTI public policy team has been trained to integrate all perspectives in their work, and different events were carried out to show the general population the need of an inter-section approach, such as one providing for the relationship between sexual diversity, disability, victims and ethnic groups. The LGBTI public policy was articulated with the project to create a public policy aimed at encouraging employment opportunities and financial autonomy of people socially at risk in the city.
The “Public policy for the recognition of sexual diversity and gender identity and for the protection, restitution, attention to and guarantee of rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons” is based on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), the Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Yogyakarta Principles. At the domestic level, the 1991 Colombian Constitution recognizes the equality of all persons before the law in its section 13. Also, the Anti-Discrimination Act No. 1482/11 was passed in 2011, while the Ministry of Domestic Affairs also issued, in the same year, Executive Order No. 2893, which encourages the creation of differential projects aimed at vulnerable populations.
LGBTI Population
Society in general
Social/citizen participation
Advice
Financial/legal/technical assistence
Awareness and/or information campaigns
Education and training
Institutional strengthening
Building of partnerships, networks, associations and coalitions
Medellín’s LGBTI Public Policy has been executed through different actions, namely: 1. Pedagogical and awareness-raising processes at educational establishments. 2. Communication campaigns on sexual and gender diversity. 3. Art interventions in public spaces. 4. Awareness-raising actions on sexual diversity and gender identity at companies and organizations, both in the public and the private sectors. 5. Educational processes aimed at municipality officers and contractors in order to apply the gender identity perspective to their decisions, projects and programs. 6. Restitution of the identity right to trans persons, by generating and correcting their national identity documents. 7. Cross-actions on the non-hegemonic sexual diversity and gender identity perspective, involving all secretariats with shared responsibility on these issues. 8. Differential actions carried out at each secretariat, such as awards and incentives to LGBTI groups and/or collectives. 9. Legal assistance in the case of violation of rights of LGBTI persons and groups.
This public policy provides for a wide range of strategic lines of action in order to address multiple factors associated with this issue, such as the guarantee of fundamental rights, the strengthening of LGBTI organizations, and knowledge management and public communication processes aimed at the whole citizenship, with the purpose of transforming cultural stereotypes. An important feature of this public policy is its design aimed at an universal public, i.e., the relevant actions are not exclusively aimed at the LGBTI population. This public policy also has an inter-section approach, drawing attention to the different types of needs of the people assisted by the city. Also, LGBTI activists and academia researchers on sexual and gender diversity participated in the drafting of this policy. Therefore, this policy is the result of joint efforts by social movements and the production and communication of institutionalized knowledge.
Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Antioquia (Antioquia University’s Medical School): Through Parque de La Vida (an outreach academic unit), the University has solidly become a key partner in different actions carried out under the Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity Program. The actions contained in the public policy’s strategic plan are developed and cross-applied from this partnership.
During the design phase of this public policy, LGBTI Working Meetings were held, created by Municipal Order No. 1272/2007 and formed by representatives of the civil society that participated in LGBTI groups and collectives throughout the city. Later on, at the implementation and evaluation phases, the Consulting Board was created, representing the civil society and the LGBTI population before the Municipal Sexual Diversity Committee.
The Agreement signed for the implementation of the “Public policy for the recognition of sexual diversity and gender identity and for the protection, restitution, attention to and guarantee of rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons” in the City of Medellín provides for the creation of the Sexual and Gender Diversity Center, which was inaugurated on September 29, 2011. The creation of this Center allowed for the continuity of the actions, since the building that houses this institution is owned by Medellín Mayor’s Office, thus implying an annual allocation of maintenance and operation resources. This Center is equipped with the necessary computers, chairs, desks, printers and technical devices to carry out activities such as workshops, legal advisory services, psychosocial assistance, meetings and cultural activities, among others. Regarding human resources, the program has been assigned to the Unidad de Programas Sociales Especiales (Special Social Programs Unit – UPSE), under the Secretaría de Inclusión Social, Familia y Derechos Humanos (Secretariat of Social Inclusion, Family and Human Rights). The staff consists of a program leader, a project leader and two university professionals, plus twenty contractors. Finally, local authorities are required to allocate resources for the development of all the actions, as set forth in Agreement 08, which provides for the mandatory inclusion of sexual diversity and gender identity in their governmental plans.
The monitoring and follow-up system applicable to Medellín’s LGBTI public policy is based consists in five evaluation frequencies (six-monthly, annual, four-yearly, five-yearly, and ten-yearly). At the end of each of these periods, meetings are planned with the community for reporting, evaluation and feedback purposes. This system involves a series of product, result and capacity indicators, and the different actors with shared responsibility feed these indicators with data on a regular basis. Although the policy calls for a quantitative measure of the action plan’s goals, the progress achieved regarding assistance to the LGBTI population is determined by the qualitative development of each indicator. At each annual evaluation, a compilation of numbers, actions for improvement and achieved goals is delivered both to social organizations and to the municipal Committee. The local policy has been designed to undergo a mid-term evaluation of its goals. The main objective of this system is to establish a baseline for the city’s next LGBTI public policy. In this sense, the five-yearly evaluation will show whether there is a baseline already to make progress regarding interventions.
Local goverment
In recent years, the “Public policy for the recognition of sexual diversity and gender identity and for the protection, restitution, attention to and guarantee of rights of LGBTI persons” in the City of Medellín has reached over 21900 citizens through actions such as awareness workshops, art and cultural interventions in public spaces, and academic events, which contribute to transforming society’s stereotypes and allow any persons identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or transgender to be recognized as full citizens. As a result, during the 2015-2018 period, the number of LGBTI persons that felt discriminated due to their sexual orientation and/or condition was reduced from 54% to 40.6%. As regards affirmative actions towards the LGBTI sectors, direct interventions have been made: 127 individuals have received employment orientation, 405 individuals have received legal advisory services, 110 individuals have changed their names in their national identity documents, and 481 school rules of conduct have been amended, recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity in the city’s public schools, resulting in a higher level of inclusion of these persons in a discrimination-free educational environment.

Instrumentos

3.7 By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development, among other means.

16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.

16.3 Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.

16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.

A - Full integration of population dynamics into sustainable development with equality and respect for human rights.
D - Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services
E - Gender equality
G - Territorial inequality, spatial mobility and vulnerability
American Convention on Human Rights
• Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in economic, social and cultural rights (San Salvador Protocol).

Location

Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Range of Demographic Size
1,000,000 inhabitants or more (metropolis)

Other projects from #CiudadesInclusivas

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