COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
identity from those around them due to the fear of what may happen to them if their
identity is known.‖
19.15 The website of the Sri Lankan organisation Equal Ground - a non profit organization
seeking human and political rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) community of Sri Lanka, provides up to date
information on their activities.
19.16 The Status of Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Transgendered Persons in Sri Lanka 329
observed that ―Transgender persons have spoken of the reluctance of employers to
offer them employment. In one case reported to the WSG, a transman [female-to-male
transgender person] had been dismissed from his employment after he had been
‗discovered‘ by his employer.‖
19.17 The same report 330 added:
―Within a healthcare system that is blind to the existence of LBT communities, equality
of access to healthcare remains denied to these individuals.‖
―The absence of health care which responds to the needs of persons of different gender
identities and the criminalization of same sex orientations render it difficult for LBT
persons to access public health services in a manner that is open and informative about
their medical and personal histories and that offers them confidential and appropriate
healthcare.‖
―Criminalization renders lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and men vulnerable
to a range of violations of their human rights to health.‖
See also Medical issues
19.18 On the issue of violence the same report 331 observed that: ―Because of the invisibility of
the LBT community in Sri Lankan law and policy as well as because of the
criminalization of non-normative sexual behaviour and practice, there is an absence of
data on violence against LBT women. This leads to further invisibility of the nature and
forms of violence that affect lesbians, bisexual women and transgender persons.‖
329 The Status of Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Transgendered Persons in Sri Lanka, NGO Shadow
Report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, prepared by
the Women’s support Group, dated January 2011
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/ngos/WSG_SriLanka48.pdf date accessed 25 May
2011, p6
330 The Status of Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Transgendered Persons in Sri Lanka, NGO Shadow
Report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, prepared by
the Women’s support Group, dated January 2011
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/ngos/WSG_SriLanka48.pdf date accessed 25 May
2011, p6
331 The Status of Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Transgendered Persons in Sri Lanka, NGO Shadow
Report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, prepared by
the Women’s support Group, dated January 2011
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/docs/ngos/WSG_SriLanka48.pdf date accessed 25 May
2011, p6
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
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