An NHRI Guide on responding to COVID-19 impacts on LGBTI people stigmatised as vectors of disease”56. The increase in hostile rhetoric has contributed to a rise in anti-LGBTI hate crimes, often carried out with impunity or with state support. Regional examples: • Fiji’s Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission has noted an increase in hate speech and cyberbullying targeting LGBTIQ people since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.57 LGBT civil society organisations issued a statement to condemn this trend.58 • A political leader in Iraq blamed same-sex marriage for the spread of COVID-19 and called on governments to ban marriage equality.59 LGBTI people have been blamed for the pandemic in Indonesia and Thailand as well.60 Anti-LGBT rhetoric and hate crimes against trans and gender-diverse people61 rose in Malaysia after a scapegoating social media post spread rapidly62, to which LGBTQ people responded with messages of solidarity63. 5. Domestic violence and abuse Many LGBTI people have lost their source of income and have had to move back to unsafe family homes during the pandemic, where they have been exposed to high rates of harassment and violence.64 LGBTI children have been particularly vulnerable, having to depend on their families and having lost their access to school or supportive communities.65 In States where LGBTI people are persecuted, victims have been unable to report violence and receive protection and support.66 Domestic violence shelters may also be unequipped to support LGBTI people fleeing intimate partner or family violence and may expose them to further violence.67 11 56 UNAIDS, MPACT, UNAIDS and MPact are extremely concerned about reports that LGBTI people are being blamed and abused during the COVID-19 outbreak, press release, April 27, 2020, https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/ presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2020/april/20200427_lgbti-covid. 57 Krishant Naveel, LGBTIQ persons must be afforded acceptance, respect and equal treatment, particularly during these critical times- Raj, May 18, 2021,Fijivillage, https://www.fijivillage.com/news/LGBTIQ-persons-must-be-afforded-acceptance-respect-and-equal-treatment-particularly-during-these-critical-times--Raj-58fr4x/. 58 Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, JOINT STATEMENT: NGOCHR and Rainbow Pride Foundation: Stop Victim-Blaming COVID-19 Patients, March 31, 2020, Facebook, https://m.facebook.com/nt/screen/?params=%7B%22note_id%22%3 A337600057341414%7D&path=%2Fnotes%2Fnote%2F&_rdr. 59 Quoted in OHCHR, COVID-19 and the Human Rights of LGBTI people; Fazeli, Yaghoub, Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr says gay marriage caused coronavirus, Alarabiya News, March 28, 2020, https://english.alarabiya.net/News/ middle-east/2020/03/28/Coronavirus-Iraqi-Shia-cleric-blames-gay-marriage-for-coronavirus. 60 Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, p. 5. 61 OPALYN MOK, Group says violence against trans, gender-diverse people up in Covid-19 pandemic, Malaymail, November 20, 2020, https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/11/20/group-says-violence-against-trans-genderdiverse-people-up-in-covid-19-pand/1924589. 62 Qureshi Fatima, Comment: under MCO, LGBT people face violence at home, Malaysiakini, April 22 2020, https://www. malaysiakini.com/news/522037, quoted in A/75/258, para. 21. 63 Queer Lapis, We Understand the Pain: LGBTQ Malaysians Speak Up for Migrants & Refugees, https://www.queerlapis.com/migran-juga-manusia-protests/. 64 OHCHR, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. 65 OHCHR, COVID-19 and the Human Rights of LGBTI people. 66 ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, The Impact of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ Organizations in Southeast Asia, p. 15. 67 New Zealand Human Rights Commission, Human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi: COVID-19 and alert level 4 in Aotearoa New Zealand, April 30, 2020, https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/6615/8819/4763/Human_Rights_and_Te_Tiriti_o_ Waitangi-_COVID-19_and_Alert_Level_4_FINAL.pdf.