An NHRI Guide on responding to COVID-19 impacts on LGBTI people 7. Advocating for laws, policies, and practices that alleviate the impact of the pandemic on LGBTI people Monitoring and reporting on human rights violations that LGBTI people face during the pandemic can amplify the NHRI’s important voice in calling for legal protections. NHRIs can advocate for changes in laws, attitudes, or practices by the government, the judiciary, the media, among businesses, the general public, and others.128 Since the onset of the pandemic, several countries have decided to amend existing legislation or put new laws and regulations in place to respond to the health crisis. For instance, restrictions on gatherings have been upheld for extended periods of time in a number of countries. In some cases, these restrictions were used to ensure community meetings or for instance Pride events could not take place. In such cases, the NHRI can urge the government to withdraw undue restrictions. NHRIs can participate in consultation processes or submit an opinion, to make sure that the situation and needs of LGBTI people are reflected in these legal changes. Importantly, NHRIs can remind the government of its obligations when it plans to roll back existing human rights under the disguise of pandemic measures.129 NHRIs may have been calling for legislative reform before and are now documenting additional violations as evidence of why that reform is needed. Alternatively, NHRIs may learn about new challenges and needs that require a new legal response.130 POSSIBLE ACTIONS • Use the evidence collected by the NHRI on the impact of the pandemic on LGBTI people and call for comprehensive and inclusive anti-discrimination legislation. • Engage NGOs in the advocacy of the NHRI’s reports on the pandemic’s impact on vulnerable groups, including LGBTI communities. • Submit an opinion on the need to introduce legal gender recognition procedures, point to difficulties that trans, non-binary, and intersex people, whose documents may not match their identity or appearance, have faced during the pandemic, when accessing state benefits, vaccinations, or tests. • Call for vaccination and testing to be available to the public without ID cards, to ensure that trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming people can access them on an equal basis with others. • Urge the government to repeal criminalisation provisions that prevent LGBTI people from seeking healthcare services during the pandemic or from reporting cases of domestic or family violence during lockdowns. 128 23 Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Sex Characteristics, APF, p. 182. 129 OHCHR, COVID-19 and the Human Rights of LGBTI people. 130 Ibid.