A supreme decree published by the Ministry of Health of Peru a few days ago put the trans population of that country on alert. The document, signed by President Dina Boluarte and some of her ministers, classifies trans identities as mental illnesses in the latest Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS)which lists in that country the health conditions that health insurance must cover.
For Leyla Huerta, president of the trans women’s organization Féminas Perú, “what this measure has behind it is a whole policy of extermination of trans people. They seek to classify us as sick so as not to give us citizenship in this country. Not giving us a name change, not giving us the right to work, not giving us the right to identity.”
Huerta points out that The decree – which is still in force – “encourages violence against trans people because it wants to contribute to the narrative that we are not people subject to rights, it wants to position us as sick people”.
🚨 #NothingQueCurrar | We demand from @Minsa_Peru the rectification of the Supreme Decree that pathologizes LGBTI people. The State must comply with its international obligations, respecting the rights to equality, non-discrimination and comprehensive health. 📢 pic.twitter.com/71J5zApGMw
— #NothingQueCurar 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@promsex) May 13, 2024
In a statement that the same institution released two days later, after the organizations’ statement, it tried to back down and clarified that Gender and sexual diversity are not diseases or disorders and explained that it had updated the PEAS “to guarantee that care coverage is complete in mental health.”since this list is the one that all insurers must comply with.
He stressed that the ICD-10 (the international classification of diseases) remains valid in Peru, as long as the progressive implementation of the ICD-11 begins, as occurs in other countries in the region and which came into force on the 1st. January 2022 officially.
What this measure has behind it is an entire policy of extermination of trans people.
However, as LGBTIQ+ organizations warn, the decree is deeply regressive. In fact, the organization Human Rights Watch spoke out against the measure and pointed out that “The new regulation uses outdated classifications related to gender identity and sexual orientation that the World Health Organization (WHO) replaced in the most recent International Classification of Diseases, published in 2019”.
That is precisely the point that caused the greatest rejection. The organization Más Igualdad Perú, which has led the voices of protests, explains that the decree makes mention of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), a document that includes the global consensus diagnostic categories approved by the World Assembly of the Health.
However, the decree uses “version 10 (ICD-10), which was developed and published in 1992 and which contains outdated and pathologizing diagnostic categories for the LGBTIQ+ population, especially for the trans population.”
📰 This afternoon, we present a letter addressed to @minsa_peruin which 414 mental health professionals, with the support of 176 human rights organizations, where we demand to reverse the inclusion of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) pic.twitter.com/tkwrBBXGVv
— Más Igualdad Perú (@masigualdadpe) May 14, 2024
In fact, organizations such as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, a group of UN human rights experts, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the Commissioner for Council of Europe Human Rights have urged governments around the world to reform medical classifications because pathologization is “one of the main causes of human rights violations” faced by LGBTIQ+ people.
The organization even warns that the decree could also give legitimacy to so-called “conversion practices” and aggravate the mental health problems faced by the LGBTIQ+ population.
“Having incorporated into these definitions, which have been totally banned in the field of health and human rights, increases the distrust that already exists in the State regarding respect for sexual minorities and therefore has deserved the rejection of the institution,” he points out. the director of the NGO Promsex, Susana Chávez.
However, Organizations and activists reject these versions and warn that even this interpretation opens the door to so-called ‘conversion therapies’. Thus, under the excuse that “they need to be cured”, trans people could be subjected to violent, dehumanizing treatments that are today considered torture by international human rights organizations.
“The existence of so-called “conversion therapies” implies a threat to the right of every gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual, intersex or non-binary person to access quality mental health care services, and exposes them to situations degrading that can increase the level of impact on their mental health,” warns Más Igualdad Perú.
It also urges the authorities to “consult LGBTIQ+ organizations in Peru on the best way to guarantee the right to physical and mental health of their communities through public policies that are proportionate and respectful of their rights.”
The organizations, for their part, have carried out different actions. From demonstrations to a writing to the Andean Parliament. Their purpose, they say, is, first of all, to request the repeal of the official document. And second, ask that the Peruvian National Health System update and implement ICD-11.
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