Source NTN 24

In El Salvador, violence victimizes hundreds of LGBTI people, who are threatened, killed or disappeared every day, « said the UN agency.

The agency of the United Nations Organization (UN) for refugees condemned Tuesday the murder of trans-Salvadoran activist Jade Camila Díaz, committed by unknown perpetrators, and called on the authorities to carry out a full investigation until they find those responsible.

« UNHCR expresses its utter condemnation and deep dismay at the murder of Jade Camila Díaz, trans community leader, » the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement.

Díaz, 27, had disappeared on November 6 and her body was located last Saturday in the mighty Torola River, in the northeastern department of Morazán, according to the AFP.

UNHCR recalled that Díaz, together with the Comcavis Trans organization, « tirelessly defended » the rights of LGBTI people and recently participated in consultations to design a mechanism for the protection of that population.

The UN agency called on local authorities to carry out « the necessary investigations » to prevent « alleged hate crimes from remaining in impunity. »

« In El Salvador, violence victimizes hundreds of LGBTI people, who are threatened, killed or disappeared every day, » said the UN agency.

He added that « many others are forced to move internally or across international borders to save their lives. »

According to figures from Comcavis Trans, more than 600 murders of sexually diverse people have been registered since 1993 in El Salvador.

Also, from January 2018 to September, 151 cases of forced displacement of LGTBI people were reported.

The murdered activist was building a collective of trans women in San Francisco Gotera, provincial capital of Morazán.

Díaz’s murder is the second of a trans woman in less than two weeks in El Salvador, after Anahy Miranda Rivas was attacked by strangers in late October.

So far this year, six trans women have been killed.

Díaz’s body was found with her hand tied and the body weighted down with a bag of stones according to activist Bianka Rodríguez. Last September Rodríguez received the 2019 Nansen Prize awarded by UNHCR for her fight for the LGBTI community.

Organizations that promote sexual diversity estimate that the life expectancy of a trans woman in El Salvador does not exceed 35 years