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Panama 2020 LGBT Index and Exhibits

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[NAME] [FIRM] [ADDRESS] [PHONE NUMBER] [FAX NUMBER] UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW IMMIGRATION COURT [CITY, STATE] __________________________________________ ) In the Matter of: ) ) File No.: A __________ __________ ) ) In removal proceedings ) __________________________________________) INDEX TO DOCUMENTATION OF COUNTRY CONDITIONS REGARDING PERSECUTION OF LGBTQ INDIVIDUALS IN PANAMA TAB SUMMARY GOVERNMENTAL SOURCES 1. U.S. Dep’t of State, 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Panama, (Mar. 11, 2020) available at: https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on- human-rights-practices/panama/ LGBT Discrimination • “The law does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. There was societal discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which often led to denial of employment opportunities.” (p. 17) • “The PNP’s internal regulations describe consensual same-sex sexual conduct by its employees as against policy and potentially grounds for dismissal. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) human rights organizations reported harassment of LGBTI persons by security forces as a source of serious concern. On July 5, the new PNP director general stated in a national news interview that members of the LGBTI community can be members of the police force as long as TAB SUMMARY they do not conduct actions that could damage the image of the institution. According to LGBTI NGOs, no changes had been made to internal police policies prohibiting LGBTI persons from serving in the force.” (p. 17) • “LGBTI NGOs reported hospital personnel refused to provide medical services to a transgender individual in a public hospital in Changuinola, province of Bocas del Toro, early in the year. In June, after attending the Pride Parade, a young man was raped by two men after they saw a rainbow flag in his backpack. The victim sought support from a local NGO and filed a criminal complaint with the Public Ministry. As of November there had been no progress in the case.” (p. 17-18) • “As of September the 2016 class-action lawsuit before the Supreme Court of Justice requesting Article 26 of the Family Code, which refers to marriage as “the union of a man and a woman” and thus forbids same-sex legal unions, be declared unconstitutional, was still unresolved.” (p. 18) 2. U.S. Dep’t of State, 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Panama, (Mar. 13, 2019) available at: https://www.state.gov/wp- content/uploads/2019/03/PANAMA-2018.pdf LGBT Discrimination • “The law does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. There was societal discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which often led to denial of employment opportunities.” (p. 21) • “The PNP’s internal regulations describe consensual same-sex sexual conduct by its employees as against policy and potentially grounds for dismissal. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) human rights organizations reported harassment of LGBTI persons by security forces as a source of serious concern.” (p. 21) • “LGBTI individuals reported mistreatment by health-care workers, including unnecessary quarantines.” (p. 21) 3. U.S. Dep’t of State, 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Panama, (Apr. 20, 2018) available at: https://www.state.gov/wp- content/uploads/2019/01/Panama.pdf LGBT Discrimination • “The law does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. There was societal discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which often led to denial of employment opportunities.” (p. 19) • “The PNP’s internal regulations describe homosexual conduct by its employees as against policy and potentially grounds for dismissal. Harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons by security forces was a major complaint of LGBTI rights organizations.” (p. 19) TAB SUMMARY • “LGBTI individuals reported mistreatment by health-care workers, including unnecessary quarantines.” (p. 20) 4. Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Panama: Situation of sexual minorities, including treatment by society and authorities; implementation of legislation related to the treatment of sexual minorities; state protection and support services (Jul. 8, 2013) available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5429347a4.html LGBT Discrimination • “Gay couples [in Panama] have no official rights and same-sex relationships, marriages or unions are not recognized, which means that they are not entitled to the same protections and civil rights that heterosexual couples have.” (p. 1) • “[T]he presence of discrimination and homophobia in everyday life is [translation] ‘so ingrained and accepted that some [people] do not even notice [it]’”. (p. 2) • “[S]ome people were transferred to other jobs because of their sexual orientation.” (p. 2) • “Harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons by security forces was a major complaint of the [AHMNP], ... but formal complaints were rare due to the perception that the reports were not taken seriously or that complaints could be used against claimants in the absence of non-discrimination legislation.” (p. 3) • “In addition, ‘regular incidents in which security forces refused to accept complaints of harassment of transgender individuals’ were reported by the Panamanian Association of Transgender People in 2010.” (p. 3) • “An article published by La Estrella de Panamá indicates that [translation] ‘there are, in Panama, pseudo-doctors who offer treatments to “revert" from homosexuality [such as] hypnosis therapies to change the [sexual] orientation’ of a person (La Estrella de Panamá 2 June 2013). There are also centers that ‘admit patients until they are ‘cured’ from what they consider a disease’ (ibid.). Cited in this same article, a psychologist indicated that [translation] ‘hormones, hypnosis, psychotherapy and even less orthodox methods such as the electroshock have been and are used in Panama, and touted as a panacea to reverse homosexuality and cause a “change in the patient’s sexual orientation”’”. (p. 4) INTER-GOVERNMENTAL SOURCES 5. Excerpt of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Report, Recognition of the Rights of LGBTI Persons, (Dec. 2018), available at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/LGBTI-RecognitionRights2019.pdf LGBT Discrimination • “The State of Panama reported that Article 35 of the Code of Private International Law (Law No. 61 of October 7, 2015), expressly prohibited marriage between individuals of the same sex.” (p. 122) TAB SUMMARY 6. Excerpt of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Report, Violence Against LGBTI Persons, (Nov. 2015), available at: https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/violencelgbtipersons.pdf LGBT Discrimination • “In December 2014 the Inter-American Commission published the findings of its Registry of Violence against LGBT persons in the Americas, a tool used to learn about and give visibility to the alarmingly high levels of violence experienced by LGBT persons in the region. The IACHR closely monitored killings and other acts of violence during a fifteen-month period (between January 2013 and March 2014). The findings of the Registry of Violence indicate that there were at least 770 acts of violence committed against LGBT persons during this period, across 25 OAS Member States [including Panama].” (p. 73) NON-GOVERNMENTAL SOURCES 7. Human Rights Watch, Letter to the President of Panama Calling for the Deposition of Transgender People During the Quarantine, (Apr. 23, 2020), available at: https://www.hrw.org/node/341250/printable/print • “Because the quarantine measures implemented by the Ministry of Health on April 1 require women and men to remain quarantined on alternating days, transgender people are being singled out for profiling by both police and private security guards, and have in some cases been arrested and fined or prevented from buying essential goods.” (p. 1) • “In the majority of cases, we found that discrimination occurred even though individuals left their homes for essential needs on the day that accorded to the sex marker in their national identification card, in compliance with the rules established by the Ministry of Health. These people opted not to go out on the day that accorded to their gender identity to avoid conflicts with authorities.” (p. 1) • “Human Rights Watch has also documented three cases of transgender people who suffered discrimination when they left their homes on days in accordance with their gender identity (rather than with the gender marker on their national identity card).” (p. 2-3) • “Contrary to international human rights norms, in Panama, modifying legal gender on official documents requires sex reassignment surgery, placing transgender people in Panama in a particularly precarious and vulnerable situation.” (p. 3) 8. Freedom House, Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities?, (2019), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/panama/freedom- world/2020#CL LGBT Discrimination TAB SUMMARY • The country’s racial minorities and LGBT+ community continue to face obstacles to the full exercise of their political rights. In 2017, activists created a new progressive party, Creemos, with a platform that included legalization of same-sex marriage, but it failed to gain traction and earned no seats in 2019. (p. 5) ACADEMIC SOURCES 9. Hakre S, Arteaga
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