SUMMARY

Senator Elisa Carca has submitted a proposal to decriminalize sex work and transgender expression in Buenos Aires province. Under the current legislation, sex workers (and never pimps), as well as trans people, are arrested and abused invoking laws against "public scandal", "prostitutes and homosexuals" and "men wearing women's clothes". The proposed legislation will penalize only pimps and brothel owners. Conservative forces have already started to gather themselves against the proposal that would be discussed next week by the Buenos Aires Province Senate.

ACTION

IGLHRC joins the bill‚s author in asking for URGENT letters of support, addressed to the following Senators. If you can, please send faxes as well as emails ˆas those have more possibilities to be taken into account.

Please write to:

Buenos Aires Province Senate President.

Senator Alejandro Hugo Corvatta.
Email: acorvatt@senado-ba.gov.ar.
Fax (54 0 221)412-1440 or 429-1200 ext 4000 (Please ask „por favor, senial de fax).

Leader of the Justicialista Party.

Senator Juan Jose Amondarain.
Email jjamonda@senado-ba.gov.ar.
Fax (54 0 221) 429-1224 or 429-1200 ext 4020.

Leader of the Radical Party.

Senator Carlos Perez Gresia.
Email: cpgresia@senado-ba.gov.ar.
Fax (54 0 221) 412-1450 or 429-1200 ext 4040.

Leader of the Frepaso Party.

Senator Pedro Courtial.
Email: pcourtia@senado-ba.gov.ar.
Fax: (54 0 221) 429-1289 or 429-1200 ext 4060.

Leader of the ARI Party.

Senator Susana Moledo.
Email: smoledo@sendo-ba.gov.ar.
Email: (54 0 221) 429-1244 or 429-1200 ext 4080

And please send a copy to Senator Elisa Carca‚s office at.

dianastaubli@arnet.com.ar

MODEL LETTER

Dear Sir,

We are writing in support of the proposal submitted by Senator Elisa Carca (E-167 / 01-02) on August 17, 2001. The proposal seeks to eliminate numerous Articles of the Code of Misdemeanors which contravene international principles prohibiting discriminations well the Argentinean Constitution and the Buenos Aires Province Constitution.

The proposed legislation takes the crucial step of eliminating key articles that allow police officers to arrest transgender people merely for their choice of expression, and to punish sex workers, both male and female, in the same manner, even when they are not engaged in sex work.

We particularly applaud this effort to prevent authorities from the use of vague terminology, such as "causing a public scandal or disturbance" to persecute sex workers and transgender people. This legislation is an important step toward securing the right to freedom of expression for the people of Buenos Aires.

Sincerely,

(Your name, organization and address)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The proposal submitted by Senator Elisa Carca (E-167/01-02) is an amendment to the Provincial Code of Misdemeanors (also known as Law 8031). It was originally submitted to the Senate on August 17, 2001.

The proposal would eliminate from the following articles from the code:

• Article 68 (introduced in 1977 and amended in 1979, under military dictatorship) Any prostitute or homosexual who publicly offers her or himself, causing public scandal or disturbance or creating scandal in the house she or he inhabits will be punished with between 15 (fifteen) and 40 (forty) per cent of the average police constable salary and between 5 (five) and 30 (thirty) days of imprisonment.
• Article 92 (also introduced in 1979) Same punishment will apply to anyone who, in daily life, dresses and attempts to pass as a person of the opposite sex, making his or her identification difficult and deceiving public faith.
• Article 93 Same punishment will apply to anyone who publicly appears with his or her personal appearances altered through wigs or fake beards, make up or masks, without permission by competent authority.
• Article 94 Same punishment will apply to anyone who publicly appears with his or her personal appearance altered to look as a person of the opposite sex
• Article 69 (also from 1979) has been modified as follows:

  Originally it read: The owner or manager of a hotel or business house in which scandal takes place, [due to the practice of prostitution or vicious attitudes or practices by homosexuals], will be punished with a fine equivalent to twenty to sixty per cent of a Buenos Aires Police constable salary and ten to thirty days of arrest." The words in brackets had been deleted.

  At present, the Code of Misdemeanors is the legal instrument that police officers invoke to arrest transgender people and female or male sex workers even when they are not doing sex work. Those arrests usually involve verbal, physical and sexual harassment and abuse. Bribes are the best tool to avoid arrest.

As transvestite, women and human rights organizations have repeatedly denounced, there is a whole bribery system in place, with fixed amounts per week and month, and brutal punishment for those who refuse or are unable to pay. Activists supporting Senator Carca‚s proposal have pointed out that at least some of the opposition to the proposal is likely to be coming from the police itself, as officers will loose a significant source of revenue if the proposal is passed. The Buenos Aires Police Province has one of the worst records in the country, for its strong disregard of human rights and corruption.

In her proposal, Senator Carca points out that the Code is penalizing the victims of "sexual exploitation, poverty and marginalization", instead of those who "promote and exploit prostitution." She also condemns the fact that "transvestites and homosexuals are criminalized for who they are and not for anything that they do."

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Right to non-discrimination and to equality before the law: Article 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Article 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Article 1 and 24 of the Interamerican Human Rights Convention as well as Article 16 of the Argentinean Constitution, Article 11 of the Buenos Aires Province Constitution.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee affirmed in its decision in Toonen v Australia (1994) that existing protections against discrimination in Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) should be understood to include sexual orientation as a protected status. Numerous other human rights mechanisms of the United Nations have subsequently condemned discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Right to freedom of expression: UDHR (Article 19), ICCPR (Article 19) and IACHR (Article 13).
The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Mr. Abid Hussein, has stated that restrictions to "the ability to publicly express one's sexual orientation and gender identity--for instance through clothing and public and social behavior"--is a violation of the right to freedom of expression, and as such falls within his mandate (Letter by six UN Special Rapporteurs encouraging to report and denounce human rights violations based on sexual orientation -June 2001).

Right to work: UDHR (Article 23), International Covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights (Article 6), and Argentinean Constitution (Article 14bis) Argentina ratified the ICCPR and the ICESCR in 1986, and the IAHRC in 1984. The UDHR is considered part of customary international law and binding on all member states of the United Nations.

ABOUT IGLHRC

The mission of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is to secure the full enjoyment of the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, and/or HIV status. A US-based non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), IGLHRC effects this mission through advocacy, documentation, coalition building, public education, and technical assistance.

IGLHRC.
1375 Sutter Street, Suite 222 San Francisco, CA 94109 USA.
Telephone: +1-415-561-0633.
Fax: +1-415-561-0619.
Email: iglhrc@iglhrc.org.
http://www.iglhrc.org

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