SECTION ONE: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTI people in the Asia Pacific region Regional examples: • Fiji’s Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission has emphasised that LGBTIQ people face family rejection, physical and psychological domestic violence, and bullying in their own homes, which makes them particularly vulnerable during lockdown periods.68 Domestic or family violence cases were reported across the region. In Sri Lanka for instance, a gay man was cast out by his family during curfew hours, which exposed him to arrest and detention.69 A survey in Singapore found that half of the respondents lived in an environment during the pandemic that was hostile to them due to their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI).70 50% respondents in a regional survey targeting LGBTQ communities in the Asia Pacific region feared increased discrimination due to their sexual orientation and gender identity, and many reported being forced to leave home because of who they are.71 • In Thailand, civil society has documented LGBTI people moving back to rural areas from cities to find work during the pandemic and suffering sexual and gender-based violence in their new homes.72 14% of the respondents in a survey on the pandemic’s impact on LGBT people in Thailand said they had experienced an increase in family, intimate, or genderbased violence.73 • Domestic violence cases in China multiplied during the pandemic including among LGBTI people who also faced an increase in psychological violence.74 6. Difficult access to health services Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, LGBTI people faced significant barriers accessing general healthcare services.75 LGBTI people face widespread discrimination in healthcare, including harassment from medical professionals, denial of care, mistreatment, or even violence.76 In fear of such experiences or of being outed to families and communities, or risking arrest, many LGBTI people avoid going to the doctor when they need help.77 Due to poverty and unemployment, many LGBTI people also lack health insurance and cannot access safe quality care.78 These issues have made LGBTI people particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. 68 Krishant Naveel, LGBTIQ persons must be afforded acceptance, respect and equal treatment, particularly during these critical times- Raj. 69 Outright Action International, Vulnerability Amplified: The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBTIQ People, p. 25. 70 Submission by the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, quoted in A/75/258, para. 13. 71 APCOM, Online Survey on LGBTQ and Human Rights Violations and Abuses during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Asia Pacific launched on Human Rights Day 2021, https://www.apcom.org/online-survey-on-lgbtq-and-human-rightsviolations-and-abuses-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-the-asia-pacific-launched-on-human-rights-day-2021/. 72 Edge Effect, BRIEFING NOTE: Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ people, p. 5. 73 Submission by the Asia Pacific Transgender Network, quoted in A/75/258, para. 13. 74 Outright Action International, Vulnerability Amplified: The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBTIQ People, p. 43 and see for instance APTN, Regional Mapping Report on Trans Health, Rights and Development in Asia, p. 9, https:// weareaptn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/APTN-HealthMappingReport-FINAL_comp.pdf. 75 A/75/258, para. 18. 76 OHCHR, COVID-19 and the Human Rights of LGBTI people. 77 A/75/258, para. 18 and 29. 78 A/75/258, para. 26. 12