New world news from Time: I Helped Negotiate the Iran Nuclear Deal. Here’s How Joe Biden Could Revive It

A common expression we used during the negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 was cautious optimism. It aptly sums up what will be felt in Brussels, Paris, London and Berlin on reports that President-elect Biden plans to re-join the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as it is formally called.

It won’t be easy for a Biden administration to get back to the deal that President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from in 2018, despite huge amounts of good will from Europe. For starters, many members of Congress never warmed to the idea of an agreement with Iran. Even at the moment we reached an interim agreement in 2013, some wanted to put new sanctions on Iran. This would have killed the deal before it began. Nearly all the Republican candidates for President in 2016 said they would either toughen the JCPOA or scrap it altogether.

The Iranians were aware of the hostility; they raised their concerns during negotiations about whether a new administration would honor the agreement. The answer was there was no reason to believe an effective deal would be abandoned. Therein lies the problem. For some, “effective” did not include allowing Iran to have a civil programme. For others, it required Iran to change its behavior in the region. Yet others said the agreement or individual parts of it was too short-term: they wanted Iran tied for longer to a non-nuclear future.

Biden understands all this. He has an experienced team to plan what to do and can call on the expertise of many who were involved in negotiating the JCPOA. Still, it won’t be easy. Finding a way to get support in Congress will be challenging when, as things stand, the Democrats may not have control of the Senate. To put a revived JCPOA on firm foundations, he needs to be able to guarantee that if Iran sticks to its part of the bargain, the U.S. will too.

There is also a question of the other parties to the deal that make up the “P5 + 1” of Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany. The JCPOA belongs to all of them, and any discussions will need to include them. I had high hopes for this unique grouping — it seemed well placed to take on other challenges, and I was optimistic the deal would lead to other projects in which the P5+1 would work together to produce a safer world.

Those hopes have now been dashed, and not just by President Trump. Trust was never simple between everyone, and relationships have changed dramatically over the last four years. The U.K. has left the E.U. China’s influence has grown. Russia is more assertive. There will be resistance to further “asks” of Iran — especially if the U.S. is not offering more in return.

Yet the Iranians will be relieved to have survived the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign — and undoubtedly many will hope Biden’s election represents the opening of a new chapter. But there will be little appetite in Tehran to do more, if asked. Iran will expect a revived JCPOA to recognize what economic damage has been done over the past two years. While moderates in the country will be relieved and pleased that the agreement may return in some form, other Iranians will not. There will be hardline voices arguing that the Americans cannot be trusted.

So, what should the President-elect do? Here is a possible agenda:

1. Shore up the team

Get the European Union to convene the P5+1. Speak to the leaders of each country specifically on this and ask them to get their Foreign Ministers ready to meet with the new U.S. Secretary of State. Decide who is going to lead negotiations.

2. Position the JCPOA as the first deal, not the last.

The 2015 agreement was never meant to be the endpoint for negotiations. It addressed one huge, specific concern—Iran’s uranium enrichment program—and rather successfully. Until President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, Iran kept to its side of the bargain. All of us were aware of the many other issues that needed tackling, from ballistic missile systems to its ambitions in the region, but this was the boulder in the doorway that had to be moved before we could walk through and solve the rest. Biden and his team need to paint the picture of how this can fit into a bigger regional strategy — taking into account the recently-agreed Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab nations.

3. Put the JCPOA on a stronger footing.

That will mean working with Congress, finding ways to give certainty to the agreement as long as everyone abides by it, and establishing longer-term objectives as a means to gain support. Returning to the JCPOA with only Presidential authority to keep it in place might work for the short term, but it is not a sustainable approach.

None of this will be easy, but all of it will be worthwhile. Reducing tension in the region, putting the U.S. back at the heart of resolving international issues and making us all a little safer: these are worthwhile objectives for a new year.

 

New world news from Time: Israel’s Netanyahu Flew to Saudi Arabia for Secret Meeting With MBS: Reports

(JERUSALEM) — Israeli media reported Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Saudi Arabia for a clandestine meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which would mark the first known encounter between senior Israeli and Saudi officials.

Hebrew-language media cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying that Netanyahu and Yossi Cohen, head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, flew to the Saudi city of Neom on Sunday, where they met with the crown prince. The prince was there for talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

A Gulfstream IV private jet took off just after 1740 GMT from Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, according to data from website FlightRadar24.com. The flight traveled south along the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula before turning toward Neom and landing just after 1830 GMT, according to the data. The flight took off from Neom around 2150 GMT and followed the same route back to Tel Aviv.

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Pompeo traveled with an American press pool on his trip throughout the Mideast, but left them at the Neom airport when he went into his visit with the crown prince.

While Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have reached deals under the Trump administration to normalize ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia so far has remained out of reach.

King Salman long has supported the Palestinians in their effort to secure an independent state. However, analysts and insiders suggest his 35-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, likely is more open to the idea of normalizing relations without major progress in the moribund peace process.

The kingdom approved the use of Saudi airspace for Israeli flights to the UAE, a decision announced the day after Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, met with Prince Mohammed in Riyadh. Bahrain normalizing ties also suggest at least a Saudi acquiescence to the idea, as the island kingdom relies on Riyadh.

Israel has long had clandestine ties to Gulf Arab states that have strengthened in recent years as they have confronted a shared threat in Iran.

New world news from Time: Hong Kong Democracy Activist Joshua Wong Jailed After Pleading Guilty to 2019 Protest Charges

Prominent Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua Wong was jailed Monday after pleading guilty to charges related to a protest outside police headquarters last year.

Fellow activists Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were also remanded to custody after pleading guilty. All three will be sentenced Dec. 2.

Wong, who has been arrested multiple times and was last jailed for two months in 2019 for contempt of court, was characteristically defiant in a statement prior to his court hearing.

“It is the least ridiculous outcome among others that happened recently in Hong Kong,” he said. “In the past 3 weeks, a total of 23 activists, journalists and [legislative] councillors came under arrest. Everyday we have activists standing in trials, protestors sent to jail.”

Wong, who faces a maximum sentence of three years, called the charges he faced “minimal” compared to the penalties he said other activists could receive.

The 24-year-old was arrested in September on charges related to a June 21, 2019 siege of Hong Kong Police Headquarters in the Wan Chai district of the city. Thousands of protesters had gathered outside the police station, blocking exits, throwing eggs and vandalizing the exterior to protest what they said was excessive police force during earlier protests.

Wong admitted to organizing and inciting others to take part in the illegal assembly. The protest was near the start of a summer of unrest over the Hong Kong government proposing a now-withdrawn law that would have allowed extradition to mainland China.

Wong rose to prominence as a leader of the 2014 “Umbrella Revolution.” During the 2019 protests, he became one of the most recognizable pro-democracy leaders outside Hong Kong—traveling to capitals around the world to make his case for the movement.

Wong’s arrest is part of a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory that began after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in response to 2019’s pro-democracy protests. Wong was not charged under the security law, which bans secession, sedition, terrorism and foreign interference.

In recent months, Hong Kong authorities have arrested the billionaire owner of one of the city’s most popular newspapers, an investigative journalist with public broadcaster RTHK and eight pro-democracy members of the city’s Legislative Council). Four pro-democracy lawmakers were also expelled for allegedly endangering national security, causing the rest of the opposition camp to resign en masse.

New world news from Time: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to End England’s COVID-19 Lockdown on Dec. 2

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced plans for strict regional measures to combat COVID-19 after England’s lockdown ends Dec. 2, sparking a rebellion by members of his own party who say the move may do more harm than good.

Johnson’s office said late Saturday that the government plans to return to a three-tiered system of restrictions, with areas facing different measures depending on the severity of their outbreaks. Though it is likely that a much-criticized 10 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants will be altered, the tiers are likely to include tighter restrictions than when they were first used in October even as more communities are expected to be placed in the two highest virus alert categories.

Some of Johnson’s Conservative Party allies immediately demanded an impact analysis of the proposed restrictions so lawmakers can weigh the health benefits against harm to the economy, mental health and relationships.

Steve Baker, one of 70 lawmakers who have written to Johnson with their concerns, said they can’t support the approach unless the government can show the restrictions planned for after Dec. 2 will have an effect on decreasing COVID-19 transmission, “and will save more lives than they cost.”

Johnson’s Cabinet will meet Sunday to work out details of the plan before the prime minister presents it to the House of Commons on Monday. Parliament must approve the plan before the new measures take effect.

The debate comes as hope grows that vaccines may ultimately provide a way out of the pandemic, and public health officials say restrictions on social and business interactions across the U.K. have begun to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Johnson’s office confirmed plans to begin a nationwide vaccination program next month, assuming regulators approve a COVID-19 vaccine. The government also says it will increase mass testing to combat the virus.

In the meantime, restrictions on day-to-day life will continue through the Christmas period.

“We’ll be going back into a tiered system, which is a far better way to tackle this on a localized approach,’’ Treasury chief Rishi Sunak told Sky News. “And with regard to Christmas, I think as frustrating as it is for all of us, Christmas is not going to be normal this year.’’

The original three-tiered regional approach was introduced on Oct. 12 as the government tried to control a surge in COVID-19 cases without resorting to a national lockdown.

Under those rules, the highest level of restrictions forced pubs and bars to close and people were advised not to travel outside their communities. The second tier barred people from meeting indoors with anyone from outside their household. Even at the lowest level, bars and restaurants were forced to close at 10 p.m. and meetings of more than six people were prohibited.

Now Johnson plans to tighten those measures.

The government’s scientific advisory group, known as SAGE, is expected to publish reports on Monday showing that the original three-tiered strategy wasn’t strong enough and recommending tougher restrictions when it returns.

The regional approach was suspended in November when Johnson finally imposed a lockdown in England. That decision came after public health officials warned that an exponential rise in new coronavirus infections was threatening to overwhelm the National Health Service as the winter flu season approached.

The lockdown closed non-essential business like many shops, gyms, bars, restaurants. It also banned most social gatherings but schools remain open.

Confirmed new cases of COVID-19 have started to drop across the U.K., with the number of positive tests during the past seven days falling 13.8% from the week before. Authorities reported 2,861 COVID-related deaths over the last seven-day period, 17 fewer than a week earlier. Still, the infection rate remains high, at 244 cases for every 100,000 people.

The U.K. has Europe’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 54,700 deaths.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told reporters Friday that while the lockdown has been successful in slowing the spread of the virus, people need to keep following the rules.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the government’s deputy chief medical officer, warned that any gains from the November lockdown could be quickly lost to a virus that takes “just seconds” to spread.

People should “keep up the pressure on this virus and push down on it as much as we can right to the end of the period (of lockdown),” he said.

New world news from Time: At Least 8 Killed in Kabul Mortar Shell Attack Ahead of Mike Pompeo’s Meeting With Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan — About 23 mortar shells slammed into different parts of the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing at least eight people and wounding 31 others, an official said.

The shells were fired from two cars, Interior Ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian said. No one took immediate responsibility for the early morning attack that also targeted the posh Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, which houses diplomatic missions.

At least one rocket landed in the Iranian Embassy compound. In a tweet, Iran’s embassy in Kabul in confirmed that a rocket came down in the courtyard of the embassy compound and “a number of shrapnel” hit the embassy’s main building, causing some damage to windows and equipment, without specifying the equipment.

“Fortunately the incident has no casualty and all the staff are in good health,” said the tweet.

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed the rocket barrage, according to SITE Intelligence Group. The IS group has carried out similar attacks in the past and claimed responsibility for recent assaults in Kabul including two devastating attacks on educational institutions that killed more than 50 people, many of them students.

As well as insurgent groups, there are several heavily armed warlords with militias living in Kabul with long-standing animosities against each other.

Pakistan, whose Prime Minister Imran Khan visited on Tuesday Kabul for the first time since he came to office, condemned the attack and warned “it is important to be vigilant against the spoilers who are working to undermine the peace efforts.” He did not identify “the spoilers.”

The mortar barrage comes as representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban continued to hold talks in Qatar, though progress has been slow. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Doha on Saturday to press for a reduction in violence in his meetings with both the Taliban and government negotiating teams. The Taliban have mostly ignored such previous requests.

Pompeo told members of the government’s team, at the outset of their meeting, that America will “sit on the side and help where we can” in the peace negotiations.

Pompeo also met with the Taliban’s co-founder, Mulllah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

There are many within the Afghan government who want February’s U.S.-Taliban peace deal scrapped. President-elect Joe Biden has previously advocated a small, intelligence based force in Afghanistan to focus on counter-terrorism.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Abdullah, head of the government’s High Council for Reconciliation, condemned the attack in a tweet calling it a “cowardly” act. The council oversees the government’s negotiating team at the table with the Taliban in Doha.

Hours before the attack rattled Kabul, a bomb attached to a car killed one security personnel and wounded three others in an eastern neighborhood of the capital, said Kabul police spokesperson Ferdaws Faramarz.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in recent months with increasingly horrific attacks often claimed by the Islamic State group affiliate. The Taliban have also continued near daily assaults on beleaguered Afghan government forces.

There have been increasing calls for a cease-fire if peace talks are to continue. The Taliban have been steadfast in their refusal, demanding that any truce be part of the negotiations.

New world news from Time: ‘It’s Like We’re Hanging in the Air.’ Iranian Activist Nasrin’s Husband On Her Temporary Release from Prison

On Nov 7, the day that Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh won temporary release from Qarchak women’s prison in Tehran, a video clip circulated on social media showing her wearing a green hijab and clasping a bouquet of chrysanthemums. A surgical mask obscured Sotoudeh’s mouth, but her cheeks rose and her eyes crinkled as she drew her 14-year-old son into a tight embrace.

For Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan, the joy of their long-awaited reunion was tempered with a sense of anxiety. “When we heard the news of her being released we were so happy,” he told TIME on Nov. 18 from their home in Tehran. “But at the same time, we realized that she had somehow been in contact with the virus in Qarchak Prison.”

Iran is the worst-hit country in the Middle East by the pandemic, according to its government figures—though even those are likely to be an underestimate. Human rights attorney Sotoudeh—who has been imprisoned since June 2018—has twice gone on hunger strike to demand authorities release other political prisoners who are at risk of infection in the country’s often overcrowded and unsanitary detention facilities. Her latest ended after six weeks, after Sotoudeh was hospitalized in dire health. Just days after authorities released the 57-year-old from prison on a five-day medical furlough, Sotoudeh tested positive for COVID-19, Kanhdan wrote on social media.

For Khandan, who has since also tested positive, the bitter irony extends beyond the fact his wife has contracted the virus she was trying to prevent other prisoners from catching. The conditions of Sotoudeh’s medical furlough mean that her recovery could expedite her return to jail. Meanwhile, if she were to undertake any political activism or make comments to the media, it could lead authorities to summon her back to jail—depriving her of the medical care she needs to make a full recovery.

Tara Sepehri Far, an Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, says such temporary releases are a common tool Iranian authorities use to suppress dissent. “Keeping people in limbo is a very effective tactic to control and constrain them,” she says. Particularly in the case of activists who have family in Iran or medical concerns, “the threat of taking people back to prison is even more effective in certain cases than taking them back to prison.”

Nasrin’s journey to the “end of the world”

Sotoudeh’s incarceration did not begin at Qarchak, but in Evin Prison—Iran’s main facility for prisoners of conscience since 1972. She spent several years at the facility between 2010 and 2013 on charges connected with her activism. After she legally represented women in 2018, who were tried for peacefully removing their headscarves in public protests against Iran’s mandatory veiling laws, a court sentenced Sotoudeh to five years in prison. That, and activities such as distributing pins in support of these women and giving a speech at the UN, contributed to the charge of “espionage in hiding.”

At another in absentia trial in 2019—which Sotoudeh had refused to attend because she was not allowed to select her own legal representation—Iranian prosecutors added charges including “propaganda against the state,” “appearing at the judiciary without Islamic hijab,” and “encouraging corruption and prostitution,” to Sotoudeh’s rap sheet. That brought her total prison term length to 38 years—a sentence the UN’s human rights body (UNHCR) has called “state retaliation for her tireless work defending human rights.”

Sotoudeh has continued that work despite her sentence. On March 16, she began a hunger strike to demand Iran release political prisoners at risk during the pandemic. That month, authorities announced they had temporarily released 85,000 prisoners in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus in the country’s prisons—and then some 100,000 by the end of April. Human rights observers say they have been unable to independently confirm those numbers, but ascertained that prisoners of conscience were mostly left out of the mass furloughs. Hundreds remained in crowded, unsanitary quarters where social distancing was impossible.

Sotoudeh’s second hunger strike, beginning on Aug. 11, was aimed at further pressuring authorities to address the situation for prisoners of conscience. It ended when she was hospitalized with heart complications and difficulty breathing on Sept. 19. Iranian doctors who reviewed Sotoudeh’s files described authorities’ decision to return Sotoudeh from the hospital to her prison cell without giving her the urgent procedure she needed as “a deliberate attempt to put her life in danger,” according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Read more: Political Prisoners Remain Behind Bars as COVID-19 Surges in Iran. This Activist Is Risking Her Life to Get Them Out

The danger to her health was compounded when instead of returning Sotoudeh to hospital for treatment in October, authorities transferred her to Qarchak, a facility notorious for its overcrowding and limited access to clean water. In Iran, it’s referred to as “the end of the world.”

Iran’s judiciary justified the move from Evin on the basis of Sotoudeh having served the portion of her sentence related to national security. She was being transferred to Qarchak, a more general facility, to serve the position of her sentence related to the charge of “encouraging corruption and prostitution”—which carries a maximum jail term of 12 years.

Iranian authorities have long used such transfers as a “punitive measure against prisoners,” says Human Rights Watch’s Sepehri Far.

The punitive measures taken against Sotoudeh, her family says, go beyond the walls of Evin and Qarchak. Authorities have closed Sotoudeh’s bank accounts and ordered some of her assets to be frozen, according to Khandan. In January 2019, Khandan was himself given a six-year suspended prison sentence that can be enforced at any time, on charges connected to his publicizing of Sotoudeh’s case. And last month, the couple’s 20-year-old daughter Mehraveh Khandan defended herself in court against charges stemming from a 2019 argument with an Evin prison guard while she was visiting her mother.

Campaigns of harassment against the relatives of Iranian dissidents—and even those killed in the accidental downing of Ukraine Airlines Flight 752 this January—have been widely reported.

“Right now the priority is just her health”

Asked whether Sotoudeh will resume her hunger strike should authorities return her to prison, Khandan says that’s a question only his wife can answer. For now, they are focused on her recovery. “She needs some time to regain her strength and think about the future,” he says, “right now, the priority is just her health.”

Going on hunger strike helped bring attention to Sotoudeh’s case, Khandan says, and pressure Iranian authorities to release other prisoners. Her own medical furlough followed campaigns from international NGOs, bar associations, and press freedom organizations. September tweets from then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also called for her release.

But the risks of hunger-striking are stark. On Aug. 27, some two weeks after Sotoudeh began her latest fast, Turkish human rights lawyer Ebru Timtik died 238 days into a hunger strike to call for a fair trial after an Istanbul court sentenced her to more than 13 years in prison on “terrorism-related” charges, according to Turkey’s Bianet. In Dec. 2018, Iranian activist Vahid Sayadi Nasiri died in Quom prison after a 60-day hunger strike.

The UN’s office for human rights on Nov. 13 welcomed Iran’s temporary release of Sotoudeh but urged authorities to quash her convictions and ensure that her release is permanent.

Until Sotoudeh is given unconditional release, Khandan can only celebrate incremental gains. On Nov. 18, Iranian authorities extended her medical leave from prison by an additional three weeks. At home, both sick with coronavirus, they spend their days in separate rooms and speak to each other through their surgical masks. Having Nasrin out of jail feels like a weight has been lifted from Khandan’s shoulders, he says, but at the same time it’s as if they are in another kind of prison: “it’s like we’re hanging in the air.”

New world news from Time: For Trans People Worldwide, The Last Year Was One of the Deadliest on Record. But the Community Has a Long History of Resilience

For Viviane Vergueiro Simakawa, Nov. 20—this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance—is about imagining futures for the transgender and gender-diverse community as much as it is about mourning and remembering lives that have been lost.

The Day was first observed in 1999, launched by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a Black trans woman who was murdered in Massachusetts the previous year, and other trans women who had lost their lives since Hester’s death. Since then, it has become an annual tradition, observed by the community and allies the world over.

“I try to keep in mind that we do not forget each other, we care for each other, and we respect each, no matter how much the system might despise our trajectories,” says Simakawa, a transfeminist activist and researcher based in north-eastern Brazil and program officer with the International Trans Fund (ITF), which works to support trans-led groups and movements across the world. The Day of Remembrance is also a means to recognizing “trancestry” in Brazil, she adds; that is, trans and gender-diverse elders who helped those from younger generations like herself to affirm their own identities.

It’s a profound observation in Brazil in particular, where 152 trans and gender-diverse people were killed between Oct. 1 2019 and Sept. 30, 2020. That’s the most deaths reported in any country in the world through that time period, one of the many sobering statistics from a new report released by the Transgender Murder Monitoring (TMM) project. Overall, the data shows the second highest number of cases in a single year, and a 6% increase in reported murders from 2019. 97% of those murdered were trans women or trans feminine people; 62% were sex workers. Employment discrimination, lack of opportunities, and barriers to legal gender recognition can force some trans people to turn to sex work, where they are at disproportionate risk of violence and police harassment.

“[Nov. 20] reminds us that violence towards one of us is violence towards all of us. It reminds us of the urgency and importance of building more self-aware, resilient, and connected trans movements,” said a joint statement from 25 social justice organizations from around the world, including the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) and Transgender Europe (TGEU), which leads the TMM project.

Read more: ‘This Isn’t Just About a Pronoun.’ Teachers and Trans Students Are Clashing Over Whose Rights Come First

Since Jan. 1, 2008, the TMM project has monitored reports of transgender murders. Since then, the number of cases recorded reached a total of 3665 in 75 countries and territories worldwide. In the U.S. 89% of those killed were trans or gender-diverse people of color. The killings of Black trans people including Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Riah Milton and Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells ignited national anguish amid the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. this year. In June, an estimated 15,000 people gathered for the Brooklyn Liberation march in New York, wearing white and paying tribute to Black trans lives.

On Nov. 20, President-elect Joe Biden released a statement promising to honor transgender lives and rights both in America and around the world. “From the moment I am sworn in as president of the United States, know that my administration will see you, listen to you, and fight for not only your safety but also the dignity and justice you have been denied,” Biden wrote.

The TMM project names every single victim where possible, many of whose deaths are often not covered or investigated extensively, such as 45-year-old Anel Valenzuela, who was killed at the beauty salon where she worked in Fortin, Mexico, or Mamta, who was killed in February by her partner in Ahmedabad, India. TMM’s researchers also note that the number of murders is likely to be higher than the report outlines, due to challenges in and a lack of data collection, as well as trans people being misgendered by families, authorities and the media.

The data in this year’s TMM report also comes in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, which has severely impacted the transgender community worldwide. “The pandemic has made survival more critical for many trans people, and definitely in our favelas and marginalized communities, this has been an important issue,” says Simakawa, who says that many of the trans-led groups the ITF works with have turned to emergency relief activities to meet basic needs, including providing food. “It’s frustrating to see how underfunded we are as a community,” she adds. Chamindra Weerawardhana, a consultant on gender identity, expression and sex characteristics at ILGA, agrees, adding that trans communities have often had to form support networks for each other amid crises—particularly those in indigenous communities in the Global South who may be affected by climate change and displacement, and others who rely on a daily wage to survive.

But such tight-knit grassroots networks and community-building initiatives are also affording many trans people the opportunity to cultivate authentic leadership and activist positions. In Brazil, Simakawa says trans and gender diverse communities are becoming more autonomous and empowered, particularly in supporting the lives of those within the trans community where federal and state institutions have failed to do so. She says the work of National Association of Travestis* and Transsexuals (ANTRA), a national organization which is responsible for collecting data for the TMM project among other goals, has been vital to trans-led resistance.

Read more: Elton John Says Members of the Transgender Community Are ‘The Bravest People in the World’

According to ANTRA’s figures, 281 trans people ran for local political posts in Brazil in this month’s elections—the first where trans candidates were able to run under their chosen names and the first elections since those in 2018, which ushered in a win for the country’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Transgender candidates Erika Hilton and Thammy Miranda were both elected to the city council in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, this week, along with a number of other candidates who won seats to their local councils. While a majority in Brazil’s Supreme Court last year voted in favor of criminalizing homophobia and transphobia, and legal gender recognition is possible for transgender people without medical criteria, there are still frequent attacks on the broader LGBTQ community from the Catholic Church, conservatives, and President Bolsonaro. In this context, Simakawa hopes that the greater involvement of trans people in institutional politics, as well as sustainable support for grassroots organizations, could help push for greater equity in issues beyond gender identity, including housing policy and environmentalism.

For Weeradwardhana, Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to acknowledge these systemic issues that contribute to the levels of violence, while recognizing the vast diversity of experiences within the transgender community. “It is a day of remembrance of those who have passed and those who have faced violence,” says Weeradwardhana, “and it is also a day to acknowledge the resilience of trans communities, people who try to protect each other, look after each other and celebrate each other and live their lives.”