From November 16 through December 12 of 2020, the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and other Mass Atrocities organized the second edition of its online course entitled “LGBTI Rights from a Prevention Perspective.” Organized specifically for a Latin American audience, the course welcomed the participation of 20 attendees from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, and Uruguay. The curriculum was designed by AIPG alumnus and instructor Mauricio Coitiño, a public policy specialist and one of the founding members of Ovejas Negras (Black Sheep), the largest LGBTI activist organization in his home country of Uruguay, which is positioned among the regional leaders for LGBTI protections.
This edition of the 4-week course worked to address the characteristics of discrimination suffered by LGBTI people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or sexual characteristics. The course’s first week focused on concepts related to sexual and gender diversity, as well as covering the rights of members of the LGBTI community. The second and third weeks of the course covered discrimination in State practices, as well as the prevention of these discriminatory processes. The fourth week concluded the course with a broad focus on the prevention of discriminatory attitudes and practices based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sexual characteristics.
Dr. Kerry Whigham, AIPG’s Director of Research and Online Education, said:
As an organization, the Auschwitz Institute is happy to offer LGBTI Rights from a Prevention Perspective as an online training for our community of atrocity prevention professionals and other key stakeholders in Latin America. In the past, many of our institutional partners have requested additional training on this important issue, with a specific focus on the realities of Latin America, and we are proud to meet those needs.