SECTION TWO: How NHRIs can address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTI communities GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES In 2021, the New Zealand Human Rights Commission collaborated with the Auckland District Health Board and the national Ministry of Health to formulate key messages to those working in the health sector on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. In particular, the Commission helped phrase practice advice and recommendations to health workers to ensure that transgender, intersex nonbinary, indigenous/ takatāpui and Pacific MVPAFF+122 people feel safe and included when checking in to get vaccinated. The Ministry of Health made sure that a person’s gender marker was not on the vaccine pass required to enter some venues, and educated staff at testing and vaccination centres about being inclusive of trans and intersex people. This included having a form at the front desk that people could see and fill out, listing the name and pronoun they used, and noting it may be different from the details on their health records. Staff were trained to use and respect the name and pronoun the trans or intersex person had written on that form. When these were first rolled out, some vaccination centres had Rainbow Pride events to encourage people from these communities to get vaccinated. Following the rise in discrimination, hate speech, and violence against LGBTI people in the Philippines, the Commission on Human Rights urged voters to demand better from officials and candidates during the 2022 elections and call for the urgent adoption of legislation that would protect trans women from discrimination and violence at local and national levels. 4. Monitoring the pandemic’s impact on LGBTI people NHRIs continuously carry out monitoring, through research, investigation and reporting.123 It is essential that the NHRI’s monitoring work on COVID-19 includes SOGIESC issues in its scope. Consultation with key LGBTI organisations and groups can greatly support the NHRI in this work, as those stakeholders can flag some of the key human rights violations of concern to LGBTI communities. Most States do not gather systematic data on the impact of the pandemic, and if they do, this data is rarely disaggregated on the basis of SOGIESC.124 NHRIs can do targeted research on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected LGBTI people in distinct ways and can make recommendations to the government and other stakeholders. A lot of this information will be available in local civil society reports, and NHRIs can reach out to civil society contacts for more targeted input. Data might also be available at global or regional levels. NHRIs may have already received complaints from individual LGBTI people and can refer to key trends in a report to protect the privacy of individuals involved. 122 MVPFAFF+ refers to a number of Pasifika gender identities and forms of gender expression and sexual orientation. These include Māhu, Vakasalewalewa, Palopa, Fa’afafine, Akava’ine, Fakafifine, Fakaleiti / Leiti amongst others. 123 Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Sex Characteristics, APF, p. 174. 124 A/75/258, para. 77. 20