[Blog/Commentary] [UK] Denmark cannot escape responsibility for Fernanda

[Stephanie Stevens]

UnCommon Sense, UK


14 Sep 2012

Denmark cannot escape responsibility for Fernanda

Posted by Natacha Kennedy


The Pan-American Human Rights organisation,
The United Nations Association,
The Danish Institute for International Studies,
OASIS human rights organisation in Guatemala
and now
Amnesty International;
all say that Guatemala is one of the most dangerous places in the
world for a transgender person. These organisations all provide ample
evidence of widespread and systemic murder, harrassment, torture and
official persecution. Charred bodies, stabbed, shot, tortured or just
"disappeared" are the norm in a country where the average life
expectancy of a trans person is 25.

The Danish Refugee Board does not think so however, and the Danish
Prime Minister Helle Thurning-Schmidt does not want to get her hands
dirty by involving herself. The official Danish policy is that it does
not grant asylum to trans people because they are trans. However this
does not mean that trans people do not suffer persecution, just that
Denmark refuses to acknowledge that they do. Just because you refuse
to see something does not mean it doesn't exist.

Yet, by sending Fernanda Milan back to Guatemala they are in clear
breach of international law which states that it is illegal to deport
someone to a country where they are likely to be killed or tortured.
Whether or not Denmark has a policy of granting asylum to trans people
they cannot ignore, either legally or morally, the actual situation on
the ground in Guatemala. If Fernanda is sent back in three days' time
she will die. Most people think she will not see 2013. some consider
that she will not see October, some are of the opinion that she may
not even get out of the airport alive.

If the Danish government does deport her, they will, in doing so, be
responsible, both directly and indirectly, for her death, and that is
something trans people around the world will not allow Helle
Thurning-Schmidt to forget. In the end the buck stops at her office.
She may not "recognise" gender identity as a reason to grant asylum,
but if Fernanda is sent back to her death the consequences for the
Danish Prime Minister will be real and will last a lifetime.


http://uncommon-scents.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/denmark-cannot-escape-responsibility.html