Brazil records highest number of transfemicides in a year

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil continues to be the most unsafe country for transvestites and transgender people, reporting for the 13th consecutive time the highest number of transfemicides in a year with 125, according to a report by the organization Transgender Europe (TGEU).

Seventy percent of all recorded murders occurred in South and Central America, with 33% in Brazil, totaling 125 murders, followed by Mexico with 65 deaths and the United States with 53.

Brazil’s National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (ANTRA) reported 175 transfeminicides in 2020 alone and mapped 80 deaths in the first half of 2021.

The European entity’s report showed that the number of murders of trans women and transvestites in the world between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021 reached 375, the highest number recorded since 2008, when such statistics began to be published.

Another data presented by the organization states that in the last 13 years, at least 4,042 trans and gender-diverse people were murdered between January 2008 and September 2021.

Likewise, 58% of the murdered trans people whose profession was known were sex workers, according to the figures published by the organization, which also pointed out that 96% of the murdered people worldwide were trans women.

Meanwhile, the average age of victims was 30 years old (the youngest was 13 and the oldest was 68); 36% of the murders occurred in the street, and 24% occurred in their own homes.

The report also indicated that the figures reported in 2021 represent a 7% increase over 2020. Similarly, other data found that there was for the first time a record in Greece, Kazakhstan and Malawi.

In its published report Transgender Europe assessed that “the data indicate a worrying trend regarding the intersections between misogyny, racism, xenophobia and hatred towards sex workers, with the majority of victims being black and colored trans women, migrants and sex workers.”

OTHER DATA FROM BRAZIL

In the first semester of 2021, some 89 trans people were murdered according to ANTRA, and in this period the entity also registered 33 attempted murders and 27 human rights violations against this population.

The data provided show that 80% of the cases were classified as cruel because there were practices such as burning, stoning and decapitation. The data also indicates that transfemicide in Brazil involves class and race categories.

Kaio de Souza Lemos, coordinator of Estudos Transviades magazine and the Brazilian Institute of Transmasculinities (IBRAT), said that the lack of police reports makes transphobia an invisible crime, hindering the planning of public policies.

In October 2021, Jornal Hoje media outlet conducted a research where it requested the number of cases of homophobia and transphobia registered in police stations in all Brazilian states, through State Public Security Secretariats by means of the Access to Information Law (LAI).

Said analysis showed that only 15 states and the Federal District reported the figures, 10 states said that their systems do not allow them to know their own statistics on these crimes, and the state of Santa Catarina provided an inconclusive answer.

Psychologist and black trans activist Gilmara Cunha said that black trans women are not recognized and vulnerability is even greater in favelas. “The favela is a space where machismo, transphobia and prejudice are reproduced. If the number of dead trans women is no longer accurately quantified, in drug-controlled favelas, it is even worse,” Gilmara Cunha said.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error