An NHRI Guide on responding to COVID-19 impacts on LGBTI people The impact of the pandemic on LGBTI communities, including in the Asia Pacific region8, has manifested in a multiplicity of ways, including a sudden loss of income and housing, a rise in domestic or family violence, hate crimes, and hate speech, and arbitrary arrests, detention, torture and ill-treatment. Additionally, pandemic responses at national and local levels, including through state agencies or service providers, have often left LGBTI people behind or have added to the discrimination and violence they experience.9 The full impact of the pandemic on LGBTI people may never be known. On the one hand, UN human rights experts have noted that due to criminalisation, which affects LGBTI people in approximately two dozen countries in the Asia Pacific region today10, the exact toll of the pandemic on LGBTI communities is difficult to estimate.11 When LGBTI lives are directly or indirectly criminalised or stigmatised, it is unsafe for people to speak up and seek support. Secondly, comprehensive and disaggregated official data at the national level is also lacking. Nevertheless, the data that is available, and often collected by civil society organisations, reveals the detrimental impact of the pandemic on LGBTI people across the region. On a hopeful note, some Asia Pacific countries have managed to keep the death toll to a minimum12 and five countries and territories have recorded zero cases to date.13 In terms of COVID-19 responses, a number of civil society organisations in the Asia Pacific region reported that previous outbreaks and crises, such as the SARS epidemic or the 2010 tsunami, enabled them to respond swiftly to the COVID-19 crisis.14 NHRIs in several countries have responded firmly, through advocacy, complaints handling, monitoring, and other avenues, often in consultation with local LGBTI civil society organisations. This report is to support NHRIs in promoting and protecting the rights of LGBTI people in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Section one details the impact of the pandemic on LGBTI people in the Asia Pacific region, highlighting country examples where available. Section two provides guidance to NHRIs on how they can address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LGBTI communities, highlighting existing good practices from the region. Resources are provided in the last section. Rationale In late 2021, APF held an online course for its members to strengthen the capacity of NHRI staff to engage in the work of promoting and protecting human rights in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics. The course was based on APF’s manual for NHRIs on Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics (2016) and its guidelines Part of our Everyday Work: NHRI Guidelines for Mainstreaming SOGISC Work (2017). 5 8 ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, The Impact of COVID-19 on LGBTIQ+ Organizations in Southeast Asia, 2021, p. 13, https:// aseansogiecaucus.org/images/resources/publications/20211130%20The%20Impact%20of%20COVID-19%20on%20 LGBTIQ%20%20Organizations%20in%20Southeast%20Asia%20-%20ASEAN%20SOGIE%20Caucus.pdf. 9 A/75/258, para. 7. 10 ILGA World: Lucas Ramon Mendos, Kellyn Botha, Rafael Carrano Lelis, Enrique López de la Peña, Ilia Savelev and Daron Tan, State-Sponsored Homophobia 2020: Global Legislation Overview Update, December, 2020, p. 113, https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_World_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_report_global_legislation_overview_update_ December_2020.pdf. 11 OHCHR, COVID-19: The suffering and resilience of LGBT persons must be visible and inform the actions of States. 12 Ibid. 13 These are Tuvalu, Tokelau, Pitcairn Islands, Nauru and Federated States of Micronesia. See Foon Eleisha, Niue prepared for arrival of unwanted guest - covid, RNZ, March 11, 2022, https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/463099/niue-prepared-for-arrival-of-unwanted-guest-covid. 14 See for instance in the case of China and regarding the Pacific: Outright Action International, Vulnerability Amplified: The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBTIQ People, pp. 26, 65.