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.
16.b
Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.
American Convention on Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Summary
This ordinance establishes the legal framework for ensuring inclusion, respect, and recognition for the gender and sexually diverse population in the Cuenca canton under conditions of equality and the eradication of all forms of discrimination through multiple strategies: affirmative action policies in support of LGBTI people and of those individuals who, not belonging to any of these categories, suffer some form of discrimination by virtue of their way of experiencing sexuality or of their free body expression in relation to their gender choices; awareness-raising and training programs offered to public officials; cross-cutting focus on diversity across all its policies, plans, programs, projects, and services
Implementation Date:
Start:
02 / 12 / 2016
End: End: Currently in force
Gender and sexual diversity - Diversity and sexual Identity Gender and sexual diversity - Equality Gender and sexual diversity - Gender violence
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The report entitled Case Study of Living Conditions, Social Inclusion, and Human Rights Enforcement of the LGBTI Population in Ecuador, published in 2013 by the National Statistics and Census Institute and based on research conducted on 2805 individuals of the LGBTI community, with a participation of 23.6% of lesbian women, demonstrated that LGBTI people represent a cluster that is still rendered invisible by a section of Ecuadorean society because of factors such as discrimination, social exclusion, and violence.
The study reveals that 12.4% of those surveyed fear that their sexual orientation will be made public and that 11.4% claim this is due to rejection, contempt, and hatred in society; 27.3% pointed out to have experienced acts of violence; 94.1% claimed to have been victim of yelling, insults, threats, and derision; and 45.8% stated to have been arbitrarily detained (National Statistics and Census Institute, 2013).
To create the juridical framework to ensure inclusion, respect, and recognition for the gender and sexually diverse population in the Cuenca canton under conditions of equality and the eradication of all forms of discrimination, as well as the incorporation of affirmative action policies in support of LGBTI people and of those individuals who, not belonging to any of these categories, suffer some form of discrimination by virtue of their way of experiencing sexuality or of their free body expression in relation to their gender choices.
The Bureau of Social Development and Production, under the Program for Diversity Inclusion, is the agency in charge of enforcing the ordinance.
The ordinance is articulated with the Program of Sexual and Gender Diversity of the Bureau of Social Development and Production.
The program connects socialization proposals and spaces for the LGBTI population (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex) to jointly promote human rights and settings for social inclusion, incorporating cultural markers from a gender and diversity perspective.
The Ordinance for the Inclusion, Recognition, and Respect of Sexual and Gender Diversity is implemented with this objective in sight.
Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, under articles 11.2, 66.9, 66.11, and 83.14—regarding the recognition of rights—providing that all persons are equal and enjoy equal rights, duties, and opportunities. No one shall be discriminated against because of ethnicity, origin, age, sex, gender identity, cultural identity, civil status, language, religion, or political ideology or affiliation.
The ordinance is further articulated with the National Plan of Good Living and the Comprehensive Rights Protection System of Cuenca.
LGBTI Population
Developing of regulations
The ordinance sets forth the regulatory framework for a multidimensional development strategy:
- Affirmative actions and public policies shall be implemented seeking real and material equality for the full inclusion of LGBTI people and for the fight against discrimination, stigma, exclusion, violence, and the different manifestations of phobias based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Affirmative actions shall be in place across all its policies, plans, programs, projects, and services regarding sexual diversity as cross-cutting issues.
- Awareness-raising and training programs shall be developed for Municipal Council staff, with an emphasis on those who offer direct assistance to the public and to society as a whole; from a rights, gender, and interculturality perspective; and with the aim of eradicating manifestations of phobias and stigmatization that target sexual and gender diversities.
- To ensure free access to different public spaces with no discrimination; free expression of identities and affections under the same conditions as the rest of the population; and free and pacific development of LGBTI personality.
- It shall be guaranteed that both the production and dissemination of ideas across all information policies of the Municipal Council are pluralistic and nondiscriminatory in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity.
As part of this framework, public servants have been trained in relation to LGBTI population’s rights, and the Program for Diversity Inclusion of the Ministry of Social Development and Production has been created, among other activities.
This is a regulation that allows the LGBTI collective to be included in the policies the municipality implements and in the Social Development budget. This regulation also fosters respect toward diversity and its expression under the same conditions as the rest of the population.
The ordinance was created jointly with civil society organizations, which currently collaborate in its execution.
The Municipal Decentralized Autonomous Government (GAD) of Cuenca canton shall keep in place mechanisms of citizen participation, political dialogue, and cross-institutional coordination for the LGBTI population within the canton’s Comprehensive Rights Protection System, such as the Cantonal Council for the Protection of Rights and the LGBTI Advisory Council, with the aim of collectively proposing public policy destined to counteract discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and for its execution by competent agencies.
Likewise, different citizen sectors and LGBTI population’s representatives shall be summoned to participate in all those activities carried out by the Municipal GAD of the Cuenca canton, such as socialization events, fora, debates, calls for participative budget plans, etc.
Sustainability is carried out not only through the institutionalization of a regulation but also through budget allocation. In fact, the ordinance provides that plans, programs, and projects for incorporation of respect and the recognition of sexual and gender diversity in the Cuenca canton, as well as the allotted resources for its execution shall be outlined in the Annual Operative Plan of the Ministry of Social and Economic Development. Nonregression and progression shall be ensured with respect to public and resource investment policies.
Also, the Five-Year Plan of Sexual Health and Reproductive Health of the Cuenca canton shall include the demands of the LGBTI population in that regard.
The ordinance provides, under article 9, an accountability mechanism: “Every year, on May 17, within the framework of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, the mayor or mayoress, through the Ministry of Social and Economic Development of the Municipal GAD of the Cuenca canton, shall announce the progress of the plans, programs, and projects implemented by the Municipal GAD for the inclusion, recognition, and respect of sexual and gender diversity in the Cuenca canton before the Cantonal Council for the Protection of Rights, which shall issue a report to be submitted to the 1st. Cantonal Council.”
Local goverment
The aim is to attain real and material equality for the full inclusion of LGBTI people and for the fight against discrimination, stigma, exclusion, violence, and the different manifestations of phobias based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Program for Diversity Inclusion sets forth a baseline user database for online and manual registration of each user. This information is stored in the registry and files of the program coordination office.
Article 9 of the ordinance provides that every year, on May 17, within the framework of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, the mayor or mayoress, through the Ministry of Social and Economic Development of the Municipal GAD of the Cuenca canton, shall announce the progress of the plans, programs, and projects implemented by the Municipal GAD for the inclusion, recognition, and respect of sexual and gender diversity in the Cuenca canton before the Cantonal Council for the Protection of Rights, which shall issue a report to be submitted to the 1st. Cantonal Council.
