IPPF, ILGA World, and Amnesty International: Fighting back against Trump administration’s anti-rights agenda
Summary:
Between January 20 and 24, Donald Trump announced a series of presidential actions, aimed at scaling up attacks toward every individual’s right to decide over their own body, identity, and life.
The plan of the Trump administration was detailed in the “Project 2025“:
- A society where women lose their rights and freedoms and are reduced to reproductive and domestic labour;
- A society where the existence of trans and intersex individuals is denied, and their rights are trampled upon;
- A society where lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are forbidden from the choice to have a family – or not – and live freely in their emotional, sexual and relational lives.
We have learnt from years of denouncing and refusing the conditions of the Global Gag Rule, that executive orders expand over political cycles, and we can’t rely on a change in government to wind back the clock. The introduction of the Foreign Aid Executive Order, the Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government, and the Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid reveal a new level of complexity designed to chill the funding landscape and promote violence against those most discriminated and marginalized.
This vision, driven by far-right ideologies, will accelerate gender-based, sexual, and LGBTQI+phobic violence, result in more deaths and restrict long taken for granted human rights.
This deadly project is not unique to the American far-right. We see it spreading across the world. We have seen both right-wing and left-wing governments gradually incorporating far-right narratives by denying the rights of trans individuals, migrants, and women. A culture of fear and silence has translated into collusion and complicity. We will stand up and speak out for sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice for ALL.
Trans people, women, refugees, and migrants are not the threat. Let’s cut through the rhetoric and name the Trump Administration’s actions for what they are:
- Attacking the rights of trans and intersex individuals is attacking women’s rights
- Deporting migrants leads to misery and death for at risk or targeted populations
- Forcibly transferring incarcerated trans women to men’s prisons amounts to risking their lives
- Cutting funding to the World Health Organization, UNFPA and others makes us vulnerable to pandemics, and cuts off healthcare to everyone, including Americans
- Blocking funding for sexual and reproductive health organizations increases the amount of abortions, but makes them less safe, resulting in pregnant people dying
- Denying trans youth access to healthcare leaves them to suffer: more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds
- Increasing militarisation and occupation results in more attacks against health care workers and the destruction of service sites makes progress impossible
- Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement contributes to an increase in natural disasters and humanitarian crises, where most unsafe abortions happen
The far-right’s program leads to the death of women, LGBTQI+ individuals, migrants, the poor, and other oppressed groups.
To combat this destructive societal vision, our organisations call for the unity of progressive movements:
- We urge governments to stop enabling anti-rights narratives: let women, trans, intersex and non-binary individuals, and migrants live with dignity. Respect our human rights. Defend our human rights. Condemn governments that attack us. We welcome political and climate refugees
- We call on feminist organisations, defenders of sexual rights, LGBTQI+ advocates, environmentalists, and ALL human rights defenders: build bridges between our struggles. Keep showing up as part of the wider liberation struggle
- To organisations with privileged access to places of power like us: use this privilege to amplify the struggles of those absent from the negotiation table. Elevate the voice of the people who are directly targeted
- To keep fighting for the end of colonisation and occupation. We speak out against the militarisation of our health service scopes, and the killing of health care workers and patients
Finally, to individuals and activists who follow us, who defend our causes, who demonstrate, share our messages on social media, and support us financially: thank you. You are not alone. Join us.
Let’s come together and fight back and win.
