💆‍♀️Safety

The principle of safety holds that every person has the right to be protected from violence and further harm. This encompasses physical, online, psychological, and emotional safety.

LGBTQIA+ survivors are disproportionately vulnerable to GBV and lack access to support services and redress, owing to institutional discrimination among other factors. One common concern is fear of reprisals or exacerbating the situation from various parties, including perpetrators, those protecting perpetrators, family members, and even state enforcement agencies.

LGBTQIA+ survivors are disproportionately vulnerable to GBV and lack access to support services and redress, owing to institutional discrimination among other factors. One common concern is fear of reprisals or exacerbating the situation from various parties, including perpetrators, those protecting perpetrators, family members, and even state enforcement agencies.

LGBTQIA+ persons who are seeking support may encounter additional harm, and it is essential for service providers to prioritize avoiding further harm. For example, LGBTQIA+ GBV survivors may encounter obstacles when leaving abusive situations, especially in terms of access to safe housing or support networks. Delayed support can increase their safety risks or exacerbate the situation.

️🙋How to integrate the principle of Safety into your practice?

Avoid assumptions and manage triggers: Do not assume that LGBTQIA+ survivors have the same safety concerns and needs as other GBV survivors. For example, assume that survivors would be comfortable speaking to someone from the same gender or a similar demographic. This could potentially be triggering. Check with the survivor first.

• Understand the legal context: LGBTQ+ people are criminalized under various laws and are vulnerable to legal persecution. It is important to understand the legal context in order to design and provide informed solutions and options for clients. Read more on the capacity building section.

• Identify, acknowledge, and address unique needs: This could be in the form of identifying safer housing: for example, when arranging housing for refugees, consult them on the living arrangement they preferred; or in the form of accessing community spaces and services, would they be able to join local queer events or other services; or in the form of service accompaniment, would they be able to bring a third party as accompaniment.

Best Practices: Best Interest of the Child

LGBTQIA+ children and adolescents are disproportionately vulnerable to GBV risks by among others, family members, teachers and school administrators, online users, strangers, peers. This vulnerability is further exacerbated by their status as minors as they have less agency to express themselves as well as access support and resources.

The experiences of LGBTQIA+ children and adolescents in Malaysia are severely undocumented. As such, they remain invisible. Although many LGBTQIA+ children are able to articulate and express their SOGIE in childhood, non-accepting parents and adults may dismiss their SOGIE as being unreal, influenced by social media or by LGBTQIA+ adults, or caused by traumatic events. Some parents may even blame themselves for their children’s SOGIESC or face pressure from others to ‘correct’ their children for not conforming to gender binary constructs. As a result, parents and adults take harmful measures to ‘correct’ their children.

Justice for Sisters’ has also documented SOGIE change pressure and efforts, physical, emotional, and sexual violence, isolation based on their actual or perceived SOGIESC by state and non-state actors.

When responding to LGBTQIA+ GBV child survivors, it is important to take into account the principle of Best Interest of the Child. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 3(1) defined this as where “in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”

To safeguard the child's best interests, factors including their age, gender, experiences, maturity, sexuality and sexual orientation (for older children), parental presence, relationship with the family, physical condition, disability, psychosocial situation, and safety considerations must all be considered.

Responding to GBV cases involving LGBTQIA+ minors

• Familiarise and sensitise yourself with international standards of child rights. Some important documents to consider:

  • The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

  • The Yogyakarta Principles

• Empower and encourage minors to make decisions about themselves. Respect them and their decisions.

• Recognize that LGBTQIA+ minors are navigating unique developmental aspects related to their SOGIESC. These aspects can significantly influence their overall well-being, including their physical and mental health. When a child is grappling with multiple challenges within these developmental domains, such as both their gender identity and sexual orientation, it increases the likelihood of them experiencing adverse effects.

• Currently, children are legally required to obtain parental consent in order to access private therapy services. However, physicians or clinicians are not legally required to disclose the details of therapy sessions or consultations to parents, especially if the disclosure of certain information will put the child at risk of further harm.

Further reading

• Mental Health Care for LGBT Youths (2020)

• How to support survivors of gender-based violence when a GBV actor is not available in your area: a step by step pocket guide for humanitarian practitioners (2015)

• Eliminating Discrimination Against Children And Parents Based On Sexual Orientation And/ Or Gender Identity (Unicef, 2014)