Good afternoon.
Thank you for allowing me to speak and for listening to me.
With regard to gender violence, I'm going to continue and talk more specifically about sexual minorities. It must also be understood that, when a country decriminalizes homosexuality, that does not necessarily mean that its social and police policies will also protect sexual minorities.
A lot of gays are collectively violated, for example, their families blamed, hurt and dishonoured, and these people won't go to the police to file a police report because, once again, there will be victimization and often blackmail.
What is reported is a lot of blackmail, the rejection of families, scorn and sexual violence. The same is true of women. For example, we have women in our association right now who come for Mexico. These women, who may at first seem entirely heterosexual, are not; they are lesbian, and people think they are heterosexual because they have children.
So that also has to be taken into consideration; that is to say that there is no protection for same-sex couples or recognition of gay parentality or maternity in a number of countries. So one of the threats these people face, and one of the reasons why they do not reveal their homosexuality, is that they can lose custody of their children. That is why it has to be taken into consideration, and it is not because a country might be considered safe—one could think of Mexico, for example—that there is any security for sexual minorities, and especially for women.
I've been working with immigrants and refugees for 20 years, and you may be certain that, when women appear before you, they definitely have a history of sexual violence that will take a lot of time and a number of meetings before it is ultimately revealed. In addition, the time frames currently granted under the bill are too short to enable a person to really prepare testimony that is meaningful and that reveals her situation.