A trans activist from El Salvador has become the first Salvadoran and first trans woman to be nominated for a prestigious international award, sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for human rights," in recognition of her longstanding fight to defend her own rights and the rights of her community from a young age, despite facing grave risks.
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Karla Avelar is one of three individuals nominated for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, a prize given to activists who demonstrate great courage in working to protect and promote human rights around the world.
"Karla has shown a great level of sacrifice and a creative approach to defending the human rights of the transgender community," said Martin Ennals Foundation director, Michael Khambatta, after announcing the nominees.
Central America, and especially the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, is home to high levels of violence, and El Salvador has the second-highest homicide rate in the world, "making it an extremely dangerous place to be a transgender person," said Khambatta during a news conference.
Avelar is HIV-positive and became the first trans woman in El Salvador to make her condition public in an effort to raise awareness and fight for adequate medical care for the LGBTQ community.
The activist, who grew up in the streets, was exposed to violence and drugs during her childhood and was forced to participate in sex work beginning at the age of 11.
She was attacked by police and gangs and later imprisoned for four years for self-defense. In 2013, she became the first trans woman to appear before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and denounced the Salvadoran state for discrimination and hate crimes against LGBTQ people.
The activist continues to face discrimination, violence and threats. Just last Sunday three people approached her and told her to leave her town or they would kill her. Avelar moved on Tuesday.
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Since Avelar doesn't receive protection from any official institution, the organizers of the prize — awarded by a network of 10 prestigious international NGOs — hope that her nomination will help her receive protection and ensure her safety.
In February, three trans people were killed in just one week in El Salvador, only a few of the victims of discrimination against LGBTQ people in the country. According to a local advocacy organization known as Comcavis, which Avelar founded and currently directs, at least 600 people have been victims of hate crimes in the country based on their sexual orientation or gender identity since 2004.
LGBTQ groups in El Salvador are currently fighting for a new law to recognize their identity and protect transgender individuals from hate crimes.
Among the other nominees for the Martin Ennals Human Rights Award are human rights defenders from Egypt and Cambodia.
One of them is Egyptian lawyer Mohamed Zaree, one of the central figures of the human rights movement in his country in defense of victims of torture. He is banned from leaving the country, where he continues to receive threats.
The other nominee is a group of five defenders in Cambodia called the FreeThe5KH, who have been in custody for almost a year because of their work in the Cambodian Association for Human Rights and Development.