Attack against Lesbians and Gays in Lima, including minors

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Peru.

Brief description of the situation:

The International Secretariat of OMCT is concerned by the information it received regarding the illegal incursion, the arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment committed by security forces of the city of Lima against clients in bars frequented by the LGBT community (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals) in Lima’s Lince district.

According to information received from reliable sources[1], on 13 October 2006, forces of the Tactical Action Unit (SUAT), of the National police, of the motorized police and the Municipal “Serenazgo”[2] violently bursted into two bars, “Avenida 13” and “69”, respectively frequented by young lesbians and persons from the gay community. Several of these persons, including minors, were violently dragged out of the bar, beaten and forced to get into police trucks. Even though the policemen could presume there were minors among the group of women in the bar (whose number are still unknown until now), they allowed the access to reporters from different TV channels, disregarding the duty to preserve the girls’ privacy.

The International Secretariat of OMCT is preoccupied by these new assaults and ill-treatment against members of the LGBT community in the city of Lima, in this case by the Municipal Direction’s Office of Citizen Security through the Serenazgo and forces of the Tactical Action Unit. It recalls in particular the assaults committed by the Serenazgo’s members against clients in three bars frequented by the LGBT Community on 14 July 2006 (See OMCT’s Urgent Appeal PER 230806).

OMCT strongly condemns these attacks which are serious violations of the right not to be discriminated, and the rights to freedom of assembly, to privacy and to personal safety, as well as the persistent impunity in these cases. OMCT fears that if not brought to justice, the perpetrators of these acts will continue committing this type of abuse within their units.

OMCT recalls that Peru is a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international and regional human rights instruments, which, as Articles 2 and 26 of the ICCPR, protect equality before the law and the right not to be discriminated. Moreover, Article 7 of the Covenant, as well as Articles 2 and 16 of the Convention against Torture guarantee the right not to be ill-treated or tortured under any circumstances.

Furthermore, OMCT recalls that Peru is also a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and therefore it must: “(…) ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status” (Article 2.1), especially Article 19.1 referring to the duty “to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.”

One must also recall the State of Peru’s duty to “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons” (Article 4.c of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women).

Action requested:

Please write to the authorities in Peru urging them to:

1. Take adequate measures to guarantee the safety and the physical and psychological integrity of the victims of ill-treatment and other abuses committed during the events mentioned above, and of the members of the LGBT Community in Lima and in Peru as a whole;
2. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into these events, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply to them the civil, penal and/or administrative sanctions provided by law;
3. Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards, especially the Convention against Torture.

Addresses:

• S. E. Alan García Pérez, Presidente de la República, Plaza mayor s/n – Cercado de Lima – Lima Perú. Fax. + 51.1.311.39.17 / + 51.1.426.67.70, E-mail: oginf@presidencia.gob.pe
• Misión Permanente del Perú ante las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra. 71, Avenue Louis Casaï, 1216 Ginebra. FAX : + 41.22.791.77.28; FAX: + 41.22.791.77.29, mission.peru@ties.itu.int
• S. E. Luis Chuquihuara Chi, Embajador de Perú en Bruselas, avenue de Tervueren 179, Bruxelles 1150. TEL.:+32(0)2.733.33.19 E-mail: comunicationes@embassy-of-peru.be; FAX: +32(0)2.733.48.19
• Sra. Pilar Mazzetti, Ministro del Interior, Plaza 30 de Agosto s/n. E-mail: ofitel@mininter.gob.pe, Urb. Corpac - San Isidro, Fax: + 51.1.225.45.37 /+ 51.1.475.29.95,
• Sra. María Zavala, Ministro de la Justicia, Scipión Llona 350 - Miraflores, Lima 18, Fax: + 51.1.422 35 77 / + 51.1.255 98 56, E-mail: webmaster@minjus.gob.pe
• Sr. Luís Castañeda Lossio, Alcalde de Lima, Jr. de la Unión 300 / Jr. Conde de Superunda 177, Cercado de Lima, alcalde@munlima.gob.pe
• Sr. Carlos Manuel Asmat Dyer, Director, Dirección Municipal de Seguridad Ciudadana, Jr. Conde, Superunda 167 - Oficina 401, Cercado de Lima, E-mail: dmsgc@munlima.gob.pe
• Dirección Municipal de Fiscalización y Control, E-mail: dfc@munlima.gob.pe

Please also write to the embassies of Peru in your respective country.

Geneva, 27 October 2006.

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

[1] International Commission of Human Rights for Gays and Lesbian (IGLHRC); not a member of the SOS-Torture network.

[2] The “Serenazgo” (the term “sereno” is used for police officers who are on guard duty during the night) was created in 1996 to control delinquency and street prostitution after the metropolitan municipality of Lima requested concrete policies to reduce the occurrence of crime, which had increased over the past decade.