SECTION ONE: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTI people in the Asia Pacific region Regional example: • A survey in Indonesia found that 90% of trans women were at high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to living in slums and overcrowded housing facilities.23 Ill elderly trans women have been particularly at risk and a specific crisis centre was set up to support them.24 2. Loss of income, food & housing Prior to the pandemic, LGBTI people have historically faced discrimination, harassment, violence, and marginalisation in their families and broader communities. These experiences can have a detrimental impact on LGBTI people’s physical and mental well-being, education and employment prospects, and overall socio-economic status.25 This can manifest in disproportionate rates of poverty, unemployment, and housing insecurity.26 27 Due to stigma and discrimination in education and employment, many LGBTI people and particularly trans people engage in the hospitality and service industries, or engage in sex work, survival sex, or other informal or criminalised sectors.28 Some must rely on begging to survive,29 and may be treated as criminals for doing so. Working in informal sectors or relying on day-to-day income, many LGBTI people do not have access to employment benefits, such as sick leave or the ability to work from home, and often do not have savings to rely on.30 The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and amplified the socio-economic vulnerability of LGBTI people. Many lost their source of income and have been unable to afford rent, utilities, food, and basic necessities.31 Lack of employment security, savings, or supportive communities has meant many have had to relocate to crowded or temporary housing facilities, social housing and shelters, where these were available.32 Others had to move back to unsafe families where they have been exposed to harassment and violence33 or have been made homeless. Regional examples: • Edge Effect’s briefing note on the Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people summarises accounts from local civil society groups in India, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan about the sudden loss of livelihood in their communities. In India, for instance, an activist working with the West Bengal hijra community shared that roughly one in two people lost their street-based work due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns.34 23 Crisis Response Mechanism (CRM Coalition) submission to the IESOGI, quoted in A/75/258, para. 28(a). 24 Kurniawan Ulung A., Harrowing times: the challenges facing Yogyakarta’s trans women’s crisis center, The Jakarta Post, February 20, 2022, https://www.thejakartapost.com/culture/2022/02/20/harrowing-times-the-challenges-facing-yogyakartas-trans-womens-crisis-center.html?fbclid=IwAR1PX9MbCVEiJsYHtFQVZTaKwZqtNLAoK78Nmaa4a7JjVvS5CZNLbtYDbZo. 25 Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, p. 2, https://www.edgeeffect.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/LGBTIQ-COVID19_EdgeEffect_30Apr.pdf. 26 OHCHR, COVID-19: The suffering and resilience of LGBT persons must be visible and inform the actions of States and A/75/258, para. 30. 27 A/75/258, para. 33. 28 A/75/258, para. 33-34. 29 Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, p. 2. 30 OHCHR, COVID-19 and the Human Rights of LGBTI people. 31 Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, p. 3. 32 A/75/258, para. 31 and Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, pp. 2, 5. 33 A/75/258, para. 32. 34 Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, p. 3. 8