A letter from IGLHRC’s partner Colectiva Mujer y Salud, a Dominican feminist group helping with relief efforts in Haiti

Dear friends,

I returned from Haiti this morning and it is hard to put into words what I witnessed there. The smell of death clouds your senses. Thousands of people are trapped and crying beneath the rubble, and you are unable to help them. People seem to be staring into another world, their eyes flashes of lightning fleeing the horror.

People walk around, coming and going, but headed nowhere. They are wanderers carrying their pain and misery, wanderers carrying their broken dreams. They just walk and walk – it’s as if by walking they will free themselves of the tragedy.

The streets are full of decomposing bodies. Yesterday afternoon they decided to bury their dead in common graves. They probably decided that it was necessary in order to overcome the tidal wave of smells, and they must have asked their gods and goddesses and their ancestors for forgiveness.

Improvised camps have been set up everywhere that was untouched by the tragedy: squares, parks, streets, empty lots, etc. But no one dares enter the small buildings that have been left standing; being under a roof inspires dread, insecurity, and fear. The earth is still dancing, readjusting its plates, finishing its cycle.

Yesterday there was still no medical assistance at the camps. In the streets, people were trying to heal their wounds and stave off death by the only means they had: hope. Their skin shows signs of dehydration and the only roof over their heads is the sun. Luckily, the rain has held back its tears, so when night falls, the people can lie down on the ground, wrapped up in their sorrow.

Hunger and thirst have left their faces listless, drained of energy, and showing a resigned agony. They must sleep in the same places where they relieve themselves.

My friends, it is impossible to ignore the cries beneath the rubble, the cries for their wounds, for their bruises, for their dead, the cries for the pseudo life they are now living. It is impossible not to hear them today, in the middle of my meetings. I tried to shut out these cries, but I could not.

I decided to look for our friends Lise, Colette, Ann Marie, Miriam, Nikette, Susy, Magui, Olga, and the others. I went to their offices: some had been reduced to rubble; others were half-destroyed and deserted. Someone informed me that Ann Marie* had died. I cried and cried, and then I carried on.

In addition to its people, the infrastructure of Haiti has been shattered: the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Economics and Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Public Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior, Public Works, the armed forces, the internal tax building, hospitals, etc. The State no longer exists.

Help is slow in coming because there is no one to coordinate it. The airport has no control tower, there is not enough room for more planes to fly in, and there is no light to allow work after dark. The United Nations organized an airlift, but it is not enough.

Social organizations such as ours are establishing a Binational Commission to try to create a platform for receiving aid in Haiti. We are trying to give our friends a bit of hope so that they stay united, and so that we may organize aid coordination. It will take some time, but we will succeed. Haitians have a special strength and they will recover from this.

Friends, right now solidarity is the only thing holding us together. Solidarity is the only thing strong enough to hold back the pain and make our Haitian sisters feel hopeful when they think about the future.

Warmest wishes,
Sergia
Santo Domingo
January 15, 2010

*Anne Marie Coriolan was a militant feminist and the founder of SOFA (Solidarity with Haitian Women). She attended the most recent meeting of Encuentro Feminista, a feminist forum, held in Mexico City.

Queridas amigas, regresé en la madrugada de hoy de Haití, todo lo que pueda contar es poco. El olor a muerte nubla la razón, los miles de cuerpos atrapados y llorando debajo de los escombros te hacen sentir una migaja, las personas parecen mirar a otro mundo, sus ojos parecen relámpagos que huyen del horror.

Las gentes son caminantes que van y vienen sin rumbo, deambulantes que cargan dolor y miseria, deambulantes que cargan sueños en ruinas. La gente camina, camina, camina.. es como si al caminar se liberaran de la tragedia.

Las calles están llenas de cadáveres en descomposición, ayer en la tarde decidieron, enterrar a sus muertos en fosas comunes, es probable que pidiendo perdón a sus dioses, diosas y ancestros, decidieran sobrevivir al terremoto de los olores, y enterrar a los suyos en fosas comunes.

Las personas han construido improvisados campamentos en cada espacio que la tragedia haya dejado libre, en plazas parques, calles, solares vacíos, aun en las poquísimas estructuras que quedan levantadas, la gentes no entra a ellas , estar bajo algún techo genera temor, inseguridad, miedo, pues aun la tierra sigue danzando, reacomodando sus placas, cerrando su ciclo.

Todavía ayer no llegaba asistencia médica a los campamentos, y en las calles las personas intentaban curar sus heridas y alargar la muerte mediante lo único que tenían a mano: la espera. La deshidratación marca la piel, pues su único techo es el sol, por suerte la lluvia ha contenido sus lágrimas y a la caída del sol las personas podían tirarse al suelo, arropados con su dolor.

Las caras lánguidas por el hambre y la sed, mermaban las energías y mostraban un cuadro de tranquila agonía. El lugar de reposo, es también el mismo lugar para hacer las necesidades fisiológicas.

Amigas, el llanto debajo de los escombros y el llanto por las heridas, por los golpes, por los muertos ,el llanto por la cuasi vida, es imposible borrarlo, es imposible dejar de escucharlo, hoy, en medio de reuniones he intentado poner oídos sordos a esos llantos, pero siguen ahí.

Decidí buscar a nuestras amigas, a Lise, a Colette, Ann Marie, a Miriam, a Nikette, a Susy, a Magui, a Olga y a otras, y fui a visitar sus oficinas, algunas estaban convertidas en polvo, otras semi destruidas y no encontré a ninguna. Una persona me informó que Ann Marie murió, lloré, lloré, lloré y seguí.

No solo las personas, también la infraestructura del Estado sucumbió: Palacio Presidencial, Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas, Ministerio de Educación, Ministerio de Salud, Ministerio Publico, Ministerio del Interior, Obras Publicas, Fuerzas Armadas, Edificio de Impuestos Internos, hospitales en fin, el Estado no existe.

La ayuda es lenta, porque no hay con quien coordinar, el aeropuerto no tiene torre de control, no tienen espacio para que lleguen más aviones, no hay luz para trabajar en la noche. Naciones Unidas abrió un puente aéreo, pero no es suficiente.

Las organizaciones de sociedad civil, constituimos una Comisión Binacional para intentar crear una plataforma en Haití que pueda ser receptora de la ayuda, estamos haciendo intentos por infundirles un poco de fuerza a las amigas y amigos que no partieron, para que estructuremos una coordinación, tomará un poco de tiempo, pero vamos a lograrlo, las Haitianas y Haitianos son de una fuerza especial y se van reponer.

Amigas, en este momento la solidaridad es el único aliciente, la solidaridad es la única fuerza que logrará contener el dolor y hacer que nuestras hermanas haitianas sientan emoción de mirar el futuro.

Un abrazo a todas

Sergia
Santo Domingo
15 de enero 2010

*Anne Marie Coriolan, militante feminista, Fundadora de SOFA. Estuvo presente en el pasado Encuentro Feminista celebrado en México

Read the op-ed Meanwhile, in Senegal by IGLHRC’s Cary Alan Johnson and Ryan Thoreson in MetroWeekly which contextualizes the vehement global response against the proposed Anti-Homosexuality bill in Uganda in light of other instances of grave human rights violations against LGBT people in Africa.

Excerpt:

But while condemning new oppressive laws is important, it is just as important — and perhaps more pressing — to take measures to hold governments accountable for the daily violence and lifetimes of discrimination that LGBT people face in the more than 80 countries around the world that continue to criminalize homosexuality and the many more that impose penalties for those who challenge gender norms.

Take Senegal, for instance, where homosexuality has been illegal since 1965. The last two years have seen a dramatic escalation in homophobic persecution and violence, largely unnoticed by the international community and the world media. The country has experienced waves of arrests, detentions, and attacks on individuals by anti-gay mobs, fueled by media sensationalism and a harsh brand of religious fundamentalism. Police have rounded up men and women on charges of homosexuality, detained them under inhumane conditions, and sentenced them with or without proof of having committed any offense. Families and communities have turned on those suspected of being gay or lesbian. In cities throughout the county, the corpses of men presumed to have been gay have been disinterred and unceremoniously abandoned. As the international community has laudably warned Uganda on the progress of its nonsensical law, arrests on charges related to homosexuality in Senegal — five men in Darou Mousty in June, a man in Touba in November, and 24 men celebrating at a party in Saly Niax Niaxal on Christmas Eve — continue largely unnoticed.

Read the full article »

IGLHRC’s Monica Mbaru was interviewed by Afronline (http://www.afronline.org) about LGBT community in Uganda and Africa.

Excerpt:

Where does this idea of homosexuality as a Western concept come from?

When politicians want to derail or take people’s attention away from a problem to another one, when they just don’t want to take responsibility or when it is convenient to push the idea that something is not African. And this is the routine. Let’s take corruption: it is not Western or African, it is a human thing, a human behaviour.

Hossein Alizadeh

The following is a translation of a story written by the State-run Fars News Agency, and published January 7, 2010 on BBC Persian’s Website. While the decision of the government not to classify transgender people as mentally disturbed is an important step forward, the language used by the government officials is both unfortunate and shows the challenges that the trans community faces in Iran.

The Director of Socially Vulnerable groups at the State Agency for National Well-Being says that the Iranian Military will no longer classify transgender people (who are eligible a for medical discharged from the compulsory military service) as “people with mental disorders.”

In his January 6th interview, Mr. Hasan Mousavi Chelk said: “So far, transgender people were exempt from the military based on their situation as “mentally disturbed.” But by including this classification in their discharge paper, they have faced numerous problems. Therefore it was decided to end the practice.”

The new policy comes after two years of consultation between the National Well-Being Agency and the Iranian Armed Services. The new regulations will allow transgender people to be classified either as “people with hormonal imbalance” or “diabetics.”

Mr. Chelk says most of the Iranian public is not informed about transgender people, whom he describes as “people with sexual identity disorder.” He says the Iranian government considers transgender people as its citizens and has a favorable view towards them.”

According to Mr Chelk, there are currently 4,000 self-identified transgender people in Iran.

(translation by Hossein Alizadeh)

Read the original story on Fars News »

Read the story on the BBC »

The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, met with approximately 30 advocacy leaders last week to highlight the State Department’s efforts to condemn an “Anti-Homosexuality” bill that is being debated in Uganda. The briefing was organized by the Public Affairs Bureau and provided a candid recount of U.S. diplomatic efforts to speak out against this unprecedented assault on basic human rights. Read more details in the new DC Agenda.

Excerpt:

Jon Tollefson, a State Department spokesperson, told DC Agenda that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged on several occasions to the top U.S. diplomat engaged in Africa that he would stop progress on the anti-gay bill.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson received this assurance from Museveni on Oct. 24 during an in-person meeting with the president in Uganda and again during a phone conversation with Museveni on Dec. 4, Tollefson said.

“To have the Africa Bureau, the State Department and the White House so publicly working against homophobia, not just in Uganda, but in Rwanda, Burundi and elsewhere, is a major change of course,” said IGLHRC Executive Director Cary Alan Johnson who attended Friday’s meeting. “Ambassador Carson was unequivocal, and I believe that he will do everything in his power to help Uganda avoid this Bill.”

Photo: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Entebbe, July 2003. Photo by Paul Morse.

By: Ging Cristobal, IGLHRC Project Coordinator for Asia and Pacific Islands

Having been to many demonstrations, parades and rallies in the Philippines, it seemed to me that the LGBT imMORAL rally held in front of the Commission of Election office in Manila City last Wednesday, November 23, 2009 was somehow different. Despite the usual flamboyance for which LGBT demonstrations are known, most of the LGBT activists present seemed pained, aware that something quite serious and political was happening. The 150+ LGBT people and supporters, assembled in front of Manila Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in the Philippines, chanted “LGBT hindi immoral, ipaglaban ang dangal!” ( LGBT are not immoral, fight for your self-respect/dignity!)

View photos of the event »

Together with LGBT groups and supportive women’s groups, we marched through the streets of Manila to call for the accreditation of Ang LADLAD, an LGBT party seeking to run for a seat in Congress, and to remind the Philippines society that LGBTs will no longer tolerate the bigoted treatment we experience in our communities, workplaces, families, and our country.

This protest was organized to publicly oppose the homophobic and discriminatory decision made last November 11, 2009 by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ban Ang LADLAD from running in the 2010 national elections. The Comelec vehemently stated that the application of Ang LADLAD “must fail” because the petition is “dismissible on moral grounds” since Ang LADLAD “advocates immorality and homosexuals are a threat to the youth.”

Despite the occasional surface sign of cultural tolerance, discrimination against LGBT people is still an ever-present norm here. This discrimination ranges from individual and subtle to systemic and blatant. Prejudiced and bigoted remarks and treatment are so normalized that LGBT people have learned not to contest them, hoping for some measure of respect.

But: A transgender woman is passed over for a promotion because of her gender identity or can’t find work at all; only one lesbian parent attends her child’s school activity because the parents of the other children are uncomfortable seeing two women together as parents; only one member of a couple of same sex parents can be the legal parent of their adopted child and the other must be considered, “just a friend;” a butch lesbian will have to let go of her partner’s hand once they are noticed for fear of harassment; a man shoots a lesbian in the face because she was dating his daughter; transgender women are sexually harassed while their unrepentant attackers claim they were asking for it; and gay men are arrested for vagrancy and was released after being extorted by the police.

In short, the rights of LGBT people are not consistently respected by society, and the Comelec’s decision to deny accreditation as a political party to Ang LADLAD, a party that seeks to improve the lives of LGBT people in the Philippines, makes institutional discrimination clear. This discrimination and homophobia has been encouraged by the Philippines’ conservative Catholic history and society.

The Comelec decision shows that the government endorses and adopts this discriminatory attitude. It is proof that the state sees LGBT people as second class citizens, a minority group not to be taken seriously, and a group of sinners that need to be saved from their immoral lives. Comelec has spelled out these ideas in their decision.

The LGBT imMORAL protest march shows that LGBT people want change and we want it now. Legal and political reforms are necessary, but in addition, as LGBT people living in the Philippines, we also need to push the envelope to demand respect in all aspects of our lives.

A week after the imMORAL protest march, the Philippines LGBT community held its annual LGBT Pride March on December 5, 2009. Because of the Comelec’s decision, the parade was not only a declaration that yes, we are out and proud, but also a statement that we will continue to claim our rights. As taxpayers, as citizens of the Philippines, we deserve respect and equal treatment as enshrined in the Philippine Constitution and international law.

We will continue to fight for our rights.

Thursday, December 10th 2009 at 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
ECOSOC Chamber, UN Headquarters, New York

Webcasts of the event are available here:
English:
http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/specialevents/2009/se091210pm2.rm
Spanish:
http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/specialevents/2009/se091210pm2-orig.rm

The side event will explore grave and extreme human rights violations and discrimination occurring on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Such violations include attacks on the security of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the practice of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, and arbitrary arrest or detention.

Moderator:
Hans Ytterberg, Director-General, Swedish Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality

Panelists:

• Vivek Divan, Consultant with the UN Development Program, formerly with the
  Lawyer’s Collective in India, on the team that won the anti-sodomy law case in Delhi.
• The Rev. Kapya Kaoma, Anglican priest from Zambia now leading churches in the
  Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and PRA Project Director.
• Indyra Mendoza, Director of the Honduran lesbian and feminist organization Cattrachas.
• Victor Mukasa, Program Associate, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
  Commission, and co-founder of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG).
• Sass Rogando Sasot, Activist, one of the founding members of the Society of Transsexual
  Women of the Philippines.

In collaboration with a coalition of non-governmental organisations defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Today is the 21st annual World AIDS Day, held on December 1st each year to raise awareness of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and to honor the memory of those who have died from HIV/AIDS and those who continue to live with the disease. This year’s World AIDS Day theme is Universal Access and Human Rights.

According to the World AIDS Campaign, the global incidence of HIV/AIDS is on the rise. There are over 33.4 million people living with HIV today and there were 2.7 million new cases in 2007. There were also a total of 2 million HIV-related deaths in 2007.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is committed to combating stigma-based discrimination in HIV/AIDS healthcare for all people, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Transgender people and men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS across the globe. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2005, over 71 percent of male adults and adolescents in the U.S. infected with HIV/AIDS were MSM. In Asia, MSM are 19 times more likely to acquire HIV infection than adults in the general population, and in China the odds are 45 times as high. Despite the vulnerability of high-risk LGBT populations, access to treatment, counseling, prevention and care is often denied to LGBT individuals because of discriminatory laws, policies and attitudes.

Similarly, international health care programming is not effectively targeting LGBT groups in need: In 2007, IGLHRC published a report analysing how the international funding community, governments, and NGOs fail LGBT people when HIV/AIDS programming does not address same-sex practicing people.

According to Michel Sidibé, the executive director of UNAIDS, the international community’s failure to address the health needs of LGBT people is not only a human rights travesty, but a public health crisis: “The failure to respond effectively has allowed HIV rates to reach crisis levels in many communities of men who have sex with men and transgender people.”

The World Health Organization has found that only 9 percent of men who have sex with men received any type of HIV prevention service in 2005 and UNAIDS has found that less than one percent of the HIV prevention needs of men who have sex with men were being met in 2006.

In a letter to Secretary of State Clinton sent on March 27, 2009, IGLHRC asked the Obama administration to increase funding to HIV programs for LGBT communities worldwide, and to discontinue funding anyone who perpetuates human rights abuses against LGBT people. The Global AIDS Coordinator’s office responded, affirming the administration’s commitment to addressing the HIV/AIDS needs of LGBT populations.

IGLHRC also continues to fight discriminatory laws that would accelerate the spread of HIV. Burundi is one of a few countries in Africa receiving funds from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) to expand their HIV intervention to include MSM. After Burundi’s National Assembly passed a provision criminalizing same-sex activity, IGLHRC and the Association pour le Respect et les Droits des Homosexuels (ARDHO) issued an appeal, asking the entire membership of Burundi’s Senate to vote against the legislation, arguing that it would accelerate the spread of HIV, by preventing MSM and other sexual minorities from accessing HIV prevention, treatment and care. On February 17, 2009, 36 out of 43 Senators voted to strike down the provision.

Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill would effectively ban any kind of community or political organizing around non-heteronormative sexuality and would seriously compromise HIV prevention activities and treatment in Uganda, which rely on the ability to talk frankly about sexuality and provide condoms and other safer-sex materials.

Join the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) in calling for the swift dismissal of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 and the protection of all Ugandans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Under international human rights law, everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Sexual and reproductive health is a fundamental aspect of this right and includes the right of full access to HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling, treatment and care. International organizations and national governments must take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure that all sexual and reproductive health, education, prevention, care and treatment programmes and services respect the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities, and are equally available to all without discrimination.

To ensure that LGBT people living with or at risk of HIV/AIDS have access to the resources they need, the international community must continue to pressure governments to uphold their national and international human rights obligations and to respect, protect, and promote the lives and dignity of HIV positive and LGBT people everywhere.

To find out more about World AIDS Day visit:
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Campaign
US Department of Health and Human Services AIDS Awareness Days
UNAIDS

November 20th, 2009 marks the 10th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. On this day we remember those who have been killed by hatred and prejudice against transgender people and raise public awareness to combat violence against transgender people.

On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we also celebrate the tremendous work of transgender activists and human rights defenders committed to promoting and protecting the human rights of transgender people. This is a powerful opportunity to insist that transgender rights are human rights, and that all members of the global community have an obligation to stop violence against transgender people.

Every year, transgender people face the omnipresent threats of murder, violence, imprisonment, and pervasive discrimination. The tragic deaths of over 200 trans people reported in the last two years alone-and the countless others that go unreported around the world–are sobering reminders of transgender people’s vulnerabilities to individual and state-sponsored violence and discrimination because of their gender identity and gender expression.

Between January 2008 and June 2009, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, the highest rates of murder reports of transgender people came from the Americas: 82 murders were reported from Brazil, 20 from Venezuela, 16 from the US, 11 from Colombia, 10 from Guatemala, 10 from Mexico, 5 from Honduras, 4 from Venezuela, 3 from Argentina and 3 from the Dominican Republic. Murders of transgender people have also been reported in seven European countries in the same period (Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Serbia, Russia and Turkey), four Asian countries (Iraq, Malaysia, Singapore and India), and two Oceanic countries (Australia and New Zealand).

It is vital that States address and end the impunity for violence against transgender people such as the recent brutal murders of Kenia Mayli, Jessica Andreina, and Sabrina Garcia Cajas in Guatemala, the murder of Xiomara Duran in Caracas, Venezuela, the attacks on a transgender man, Ian Breppe, in La Matanza, Argentina and the attacks on Clara Andrade Galdames and Grace Morales León in Valparaíso City, Chile.

Join the Organización Trans Reinas de la Noche (OTRANS) and IGLHRC in calling on Guatemalan authorities to condemn and seek justice in the murders of Kenia Mayli, Jessica Andreina, and Sabrian Garcia Cajas, and to prevent the murders of trans people in the future.

Governments must not only investigate these crimes fully and fairly, but also actively employ measures and programs that will prevent violence and discrimination against transgender people in the future, such as training police to protect and work respectfully with LGBTI communities.

State-sponsored persecution of transgender people must also cease, including the ongoing harassment of trans activists by the police in Delhi, India and the recently intensified police harassment of transgender and transsexual persons in Turkey using the Law of Misdemeanours to legitimize fines, detentions, evictions, extortion, and violence.

Join the Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association in Ankara and IGLHRC in requesting that the Law of Misdemeanors in Turkey be rewritten to protect the rights of transgender and transsexual persons to move, associate, and express themselves freely, and to prevent police from fining, blackmailing, evicting, arresting, and attacking trans people using this law.

In addition to the direct threat of violence, transgender people around the world face extensive discrimination in every sphere of life, including in access to basic human necessities such as education, housing, and health care. In 2008, for example, police in Bangalore, India sent a notice, accompanied by verbal threats, requiring 40 homeowners in Bangalore to evict 100 hijras who rented rooms or apartments from them and in October 2009, Jose Garcia, a 19-year-old student in Belmopan, Belize, was expelled from school because he dressed and acted in what was considered to be a feminine manner.

Transgender activist Nairobi Castillo, from the Dominican Republic, also emphasizes the significant difficulties of transgender people in accessing health care in the video to the left:

The health issue is one of the most serious we have in our country. We don’t have primary health service for trans women. When a trans woman goes to a hospital she is treated like an alien from space.

States can fight this discrimination with laws and policies that respect the gender identities of all people.  For example, states can require workers and professionals at hospitals to call trans, transgender, travesti, and transsexual patients by their chosen names.

Everyone has the right to life under international human rights law. No one should be arbitrarily deprived of life because of gender identity. Everyone, regardless of gender identity, has the right to security of the person and to protection by the State against violence or bodily harm, whether inflicted by government officials or by any individual or group. Everyone is entitled to enjoy all human rights without discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Laws should prohibit any such discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against any such discrimination.

To ensure the human rights of transgender people, the international community must continue to pressure governments to uphold their national and international human rights obligations and to respect, protect, and promote the lives and dignity of transgender people everywhere.