Coexistence and Respect for Difference

Summary

Aware of the vulnerability of LGBTI rights and considering that the base of the Social Rule of Law in Colombia is the consecration of real and effective equality, the District Administration, as an expression of the public power's design to eliminate or reduce the inequality conditions and marginalization of people or social groups and achieve living conditions

Background and Objective

In the framework of the “Public policy to guarantee the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgendered and Intersexual (LGBTI) persons”, Bogotá ensures social justice and guarantees a comprehensive attention to LGBTI persons. These actions are focused on the guarantee and protection of the same rights as those of heterosexual persons, and on the other hand, on the cultural change that is necessary to accept and respect LGBTI persons in the society. Therefore, the local institutions are working together to implement innovative actions for guaranteeing a comprehensive attention to LGBTI persons. BACKGROUND INFORMATION This initiative is in line with a set of policy frameworks. Locally Agreement 371 of 2009 where Bogota Council agreed the guidelines of the Public Policy. Decree 062 of 2014: where LGBTI Public Policy is adopted- District Development Plans. Baseline of public policy 2010 Baseline measurement 2015 Balances and perspectives 2008 and 2011 Balances and perspectives 2012 and 2015- Public Policy Bulletins Conceptual Guideline Document of LGBTI Public Policy The Colombian Political Constitution is its preamble and it is included on Articles 1, 2, 5 and 13. Internationally Articles 7 and 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights. Articles II and XVII of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man Articles 1, 2, 26 and 29 of the American Convention on Human Rights. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd articles of the"Protocol of San Salvador” Articles 10, 11, 12, 52 and 53 of the Andean Charter for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. ORIGINS The human rights situation of people belonging to the LGBTI sectors in Colombia has been generating concern both nationally and internationally since the eighties. In 2014, and according to the baseline of the public policy for the full guarantee of the rights of the LGBTI sectors of Bogotá, carried out by the city’s Planning Department, it was identified that 69.4% of the people of the surveyed LGBTI sectors expressed that they have been discriminated or that their rights have been violated for any reason. This is equivalent to 28.7 percentage points below the 2010 baseline, in which 98.1% of the people surveyed said they had been discriminated or that their rights were violated. The 2014 assessment indicated that the percentages of discrimination by sector are distributed as follows: lesbians of 62.6%, gay men of 70.5%, bisexual men of 44.9% and bisexual women of 67.1%. However, it is worth noting that it is the transgender people, women and men, who have the highest percentages ofdiscrimination: 92.9% and 88.8%, respectively. The 2014 assessment indicated that the percentages of discrimination by sector are distributed as follows: lesbians of 62.6%, gay men of 70.5%, bisexual men of 44.9% and bisexual women of 67.1%. However, it is worth noting that it is the transgender people, women and men, who have the highest percentages ofdiscrimination: 92.9% and 88.8%, respectively. Regarding the social representations that the citizens of Bogotá have about the people associated with LGBTI sectors, in 2014, 14.1% of the respondents considered that these people were a risk to the community, 5.7 percentage points below the baseline of 2010, in which 19.8% of the citizens of Bogotá perceived people in the LGBT sectors as a risk to society. Those who answered that people from the LGBT sectors can be a risk to society were asked if they had ever spoken with an LGBT person. In this way, it was obtained that only 43% of the people surveyed had done so. This leads to the conclusion that risk representation is not based on direct contact with people from the LGBT sectors, but on prejudices. According to the District Development Plan "Bogota Mejor para Todos", by 2020 the LGBTI Public Policy will contribute to two city objectives: Decrease by 18% discrimination perception, violence and social exclusion of people in the LGBTI sectors, which restrict them form the fully exercising of their rights. Decrease by 5% the number of people that consider LGBTI people as a risk to the society. During 2007, within the framework of the construction of this public policy, there was the intervention of the social movement of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgens of Bogotá. The above,through their active participation in focus groups and the realization of a citizen consultation that included representatives from different sectors of the local Administration and the private sector. These exercises served as the basis for formulating policy guidelines and contributed to the development of different participation processes and initiatives in favor of the LGBTI community. An example of this is the creation of the first community center for the care for LGBTI people , to provide them psychological and legal support. Likewise, within the framework of the construction of this policy, there are spaces for articulation with other actors of the District, such as: The Inter-sectorial Table of Sexual Diversity:with the participation of 15 district sectors, through which actions of coordination, execution and monitoring of Public Policy are carried out. The LGBT Advisory Board:This body is made up of 8 district sectors; 4 LGBTI people (with a representative for each of the 4 social sectors); 4 representatives of LGBTI persons who are experts in matters related to the defense of fundamental rights such as: access to health, education, work, life and security, and the right to participation and culture; and a representative of the Universities based in Bogota.This space analyzes the main problems for the recognition, restoration and guarantee of the rights of LGBTI people in the city and makes recommendations in this regard, together with the Administration. Tables and local advisory councils:These tables are held locally. Representatives of the LGBTIorganizations, the local mayor's office, the International Relations Office and the Institute of Participation and Community Action of Bogota, participate in these spaces. Its objective is to generate projects aimed to enhance the quality of life of the LGBTI population in the city. In financial terms, the policy has its own budget that comes from public funding.During the period from 2008 to 2016, 22 billion COP were allocated for the execution of activities that contributed to its successful development. Over time, this budget has increased since the topic has become a priority for the Districts Development Plans. On the other hand, regarding technical resources, the Sexual Diversity Office of the Secretary of Planning is the agency in charge of leading the design and coordination of the public policy. It has a team of professionals and administrative personnel that has increased over time as new tasks, responsibilities and challenges appear. However, the policy involves the cooperation of 15 district’s sectors that coordinate their actions trough an Action Plan, in order to do so; some of the agencies have a special team or even an agency such as the Sexual Diversity Office, the Deputy Office of LGBTI Issues and the Women and Gender Management.

Outcomes and Impacts

The implementation of this public policy has reduced the indicator associated with the violation of LGBTI people rights from 98% to 69%. Likewise, the negative perception of citizenship against LGBTI people, was reduced by 5 percentage points, from 19% to 14%. The construction of the baseline of the LGBT policy in 2010 was oriented to assess the following: The social representations that the citizenship and the public servants have about the people of the LGBTI sectors; The capacity and institutional supply of the Local Administration for the implementation of the LGBTI public policy; and The actual situation of the LGBTI people’s rights. With the baseline of this policy, the city sought to establish a starting point to generate, through strategic processes, some actions that would allow: An institutional strengthening that would increase the capacity of action and response of the institutions of the District against the violation of rights of LGBTI people; The change of meanings and cultural representations that affect the exercise of the rights of LGBTI people; and The development of a citizen culture that respects diversity, in terms of sexual orientation and gender identity.On the other hand, the follow-up to the action plan of public policy is carried out through the LGBTI Public Policy Observatory. The above, through the SIPA Virtual Follow-up Module, implemented since 2012, which yields a qualitative and quantitative measurement, with an annual periodicity. As a factor of success of the policy, there is need to consider the development of concerted actions and the involvement of the people and organizations of the LGBT sectors, in order to identify the rights of the people of these social sectors, including relevant aspects of the key actors for its implementation. The formulation and implementation of the policy is transversal to all the entities at the local level. Although the Director of Sexual Diversity is on charge of the technical secretariat and it´s follow-up, the different sectors of the district have generated actions to contribute the policy to face the needs of the LGBTI population, evidencing an effective action of the politics’ action plan of politics.

Innovative Initiative

The public policy is considered as evolutionary because one of the lessons learned was the importance of involving since the beginning of the formulation process the different LGBTI sectors in the construction of the Policy’s Action Plan in order to nourish and assure their needs are materialized in it through the promotion of spaces, workshops and other participatory exercises. The implementation of this kind of participatory strategies have increased along with the execution of the policy creating more dialogue spaces with the community at a local and cross-sectorial level. On the other hand, at the beginning, the policy’s action plan was oriented towards the guarantee of rights and diminishes the perception of discrimination, violence and social exclusion towards the LGBTI people in Bogota. However, we can know say that the actions established in the action plan have been evolving in the meantime that goals associated with a rights and cross-sectorial approach have been included and were not contemplated in the formulation process, allowing a more inclusive and integral perspective to the people of the LGBTI sectors. For 2017 - 2020 the action plan integrates: 60 actions, 227 goals and accountability indicators of the 15 district’s sectors. Another aspect to consider the policy as evolutionary is its institutional structure through the creation of agencies who have developed specific actions framed in the LGBTI public policy as the Sexual Diversity Office of the Secretary of Planning (Decree 256 of 2007), the Women and Gender Management of the Institute of Participation and Community Action (Agreement 257 of 2006), the Deputy Office of LGBT Affairs of the Secretary of Social Integration (Decree 149 of 2014), which reaffirm the strengthening of the installed capacity of the Public policy. In the creation and implementation of services and guides aimed at providing LGBTI people a more comprehensive attention and care, within the framework of the public policy, through different initiatives, such as: A local strategy for the city. Comprehensive care guides for victims of school harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Differential attention to lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. Access to justice through the Houses of Equality of Opportunities for Women. Two Community Centers located in Teusaquillo and the Martires. Refugee House for the integral attention to victims of violence of the LGBTI sectors, (unique in Colombia and in Latin America). Community dining room that serves people from the LGBTI sectors in food insecurity conditions. Unit Against Discrimination, whose purpose is to advise and legally accompany cases of discrimination; Strategies: The cultural change strategy "In Bogota it can be"which aims to foster a culture of respect and non-discrimination on sexual orientation or gender identity by transforming meanings and cultural representations that affect the exercise of the LGBTI people rights and the development of a civic culture in Bogota. The main activity of the strategy is the Week for Equality in its 7th version (carried out since 2011) has positively impacted more than 100,000 people, with messages of equality, respect and non-discrimination towards LGBTI people. The district strategy "Inclusive Work Environments"has been implemented through the generation of an installed capacity in the different institutions of the district in order to sustain the policy over time. The design of specific guides and services for the LGBTI population and the training and sensibilization of public servants on workplace harassment. This strategy included the application in 2017 of a survey of work environment with 25 questions addressed to public servants of 14 secretaries of the District to measure levels of discrimination against LGBTI persons in their entities, obtaining a response from 6,300 servers. The challenges the implementation of the policy has faced are the following: The lack of coordination and dialogue with conservative and opposition groups of the policy in order to build respect for difference. Approach has been sought with these groups through the participation and dialogue in common spaces to present actions in the frame of the policy. The lack of a national LGBTI policy and coordination mechanisms between the national and local levels. Currently, Bogota as pioneer in the formulation and implementation of the LGBTI District Public Policy has advised and participated in working groups with national entities to achieve guidelines for a national policy. The lack of understanding and ownership of the issue by public servants. This has been overcome through the Inclusive Work Environmentstrategy which in 2018 trained 892 people in the public, private and/or mixed sectors in a differential approach based on sexual orientation and gender identities and generated strategic alliances with the private sector for the labor inclusion of LGBTI people The scarce inclusion of protocols and differentiating policies in the information systems of national entities, for which the Secretary of Planning is working with the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) for the inclusion of questions with a differential approach in different surveys.

Conclusion

The Directorate of Sexual Diversity, as technical secretariat of public policy, has provided accompaniment and support to formulate politics at national and local level to the for the Ministry of the Interior and to other regions such as Cundinamarca Government (including Chia, Zipaquira and Madrid). Also, the Directorate of Sexual Diversity has worked with Tolima and Huila government to build a baseline for a multipurpose survey at the departmental level. Moreover, the Directorate of Sexual Diversity has participated in different international spaces in Spain, Mexico and Argentina, which have allowed highlighting the development and implementation of the policy and its elements and exchange experiences with leading cities in social inclusion. During the years 2015 and 2017, our work and participation through the framework events such as “Equality Week”, gave the opportunity to exchange experiences with South Africa, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Madrid, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires. While keeping this action and international cooperation Bogota is sure other cities can learn from this initiative to create a positive global impact on this matter. RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries