This piece originally appeared on Open Democracy.
In February, transgender people in Ecuador were able to vote for the first time according to their chosen gender. Also in February, two transwomen of color were killed in New Orleans within 48 hours. While tremendous strides have been made in trans, intersex and gender variant rights in recent years, from de-medicalization of standards to legal recognition of non-binary gender identities, advocates recognize considerable challenges remain ahead.
In July 2016, UN Women welcomed the Human Rights Council’s appointment of an Independent Expert on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, calling for “full support to the new mandate.” LBTI advocates hoped this would translate to these issues making their debut inclusion in the main program and in the language of the draft conclusion of this year’s session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
This, however, was not the case. LBTI are on the fringe of the UN Commission on the Status of Women once again. The UNCSW is arguably the biggest annual gathering of women in the world, and is taking place over two weeks this year in New York. Out of more than 240 side events hosted by member states, only two have or will focus on LBTI issues, and only five out of more than 400 NGO-hosted fringe events.