The African Leadership Centre (ALC) is delighted to announce the next research seminar.

The session will host a seminar presentation titled: In the Name of Vicky: Prosecuting Transfemicide in Honduras: This study delves into the groundbreaking legal precedent established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which found a state responsible for the death of a transgender woman for the first time in Latin American history.

The verdict represents a critical shift at the human rights level, as it demonstrates a clear blow to cisheteronormativity, advancing transgender rights in the process. The legal system has traditionally been complicit in the erasure and suffering of transgender and gender-diverse individuals, with the refusal to even acknowledge the existence of transgender identities and the failure to prosecute crimes contributing to widespread impunity.

However, the Inter-American system and its Court of Human Rights have shown decisively that it can be a tool for the empowerment of transgender people, helping to integrate and listen to their concerns and interests in a way that most national courts have been unable or unwilling to do due to a cisheteronormative bias.

While law and judicial interpretation alone cannot change social reality, they can aid in the process of social transformation. Therefore, this case is not the end of the fight for transgender rights, but rather the beginning of accountability, requiring a reframing of the legal, political, and social theater to create more space to acknowledge the humanity and dreams of the transgender community.

This event is taking place online. Please register to join.

Speaker

Dr Gloriana Rodriguez Alvarez, Lecturer, African Leadership Centre, King's College London

Discussant

Wadeisor Rukato, Senior Analyst Sofala Partners, and ALC Alumna

Chair

Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko, Lecturer, African Leadership Centre, King's College London