Thousands join the 'Diversity March" in support of transgender rights

Peaceful Assembly

On 28th September 2018, as every year since 2006, thousands of people took to the streets in Montevideo, Uruguay. The 'March for Diversity' gathered thousands of citizens, LGBTI activists, members of Parliament and diplomatic figures. Some demonstrators marched with yellow and red handkerchiefs, colours chosen by activists in favour of the Ley Integral de Personas Trans (Comprehensive Law for Trans People) currently under debate in the country's legislature.

The law aims for the creation of a system of scholarships for members of the LGBTI community; an economic reparation framework for those who were victims of violence or were imprisoned for being transsexual during the military dictatorship (1973-1985) and also establishes affirmative action policies to guarantee their right to work.

Expression

After ten years of the approval of Law 18,381 on the right of access to public information, the Centro de Archivos y Acceso a la Información Pública (Cainfo), a civil society organisation in the area of access to information, reported that in recent months several institutions rejected requests of information with the justification that the information falls under the law's exception regime.

On 19th July 2018 an appeal court upheld the decision of a lower court that declared "all information generated, produced or in the power of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referring to the expenditure and/or investment made in each Diplomatic Representation or Consular Office dependent on that Secretary of State" to be of reserved nature, for a maximum of 15 years. The decision followed a request by a journalist of Así no va to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the annual expenditure between the 2010-2017 period, detailing salaries, equipment, vehicles and other expenses.

On another case, the Post Office denied an information request by media outlet El País, regarding percentage of letters sent by individuals and the percentage of those related to official or commercial issues.