Eliana Rubashkyn

Eliana Rubashkyn
Born (1988-06-25) June 25, 1988
Bogotá, Colombia
Occupation Pharmacist, chemist, human rights advocate
Website soyeliana.org

Eliana Rubashkyn (born June 25, 1988) is a Colombian–New Zealander pharmacist, chemist, and blog activist, known internationally for being the first transgender woman recognised under international law as a woman without undergoing sex reassignment surgery. Her gender was recognised under the United Nations' 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.[1] Her case attracted international media attention after she was detained at Hong Kong International Airport because of the lack of congruence between her gender identity and her passport photo.[2][3][4]

Personal life

Rubashkyn was born in Colombia to Ukrainian Jewish parents who had moved there in the 1970s. She was assigned and raised male, with an intersex condition.[5]

Rubashkyn obtained her degree in pharmacy at the National University of Colombia.[6] She was then granted a scholarship to Taipei Medical University, and started her gender transition in Taiwan. Within a year, hormone replacement therapy changed Rubashkyn's physical appearance dramatically due to her intersex condition, and the Taiwanese immigration authorities required her to update her passport at the closest Colombian consulate before she could begin her second year of master's studies. She travelled to Hong Kong to do so, but when she arrived at Hong Kong International Airport's immigration facility, she was detained for over eight months because her appearance did not match her passport photo.[7][8]

Facing deportation, she suffered severe mistreatment in the airport's detention center. She was also tortured at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, where she was placed in restraints and made to endure various abusive treatments.[9][10]

International response

With the help of Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), she was granted refugee status. However, because Hong Kong is not a signatory of the 1951 refugee convention, it did not recognise her as a refugee, and her citizenship was withdrawn. In 2013, the UN sought another country to resettle her because of the lack of protections for LGBT people and refugees in Hong Kong.[11][12]

Her case drew international attention, particularly in Southeast Asia and Colombia, where transgender people are often persecuted. Her case was also noted in New Zealand, a country known for its stance on equality for LGBT people.[13][14][15]

On December 16, 2013, the UN passed a resolution recognising Rubashkyn as woman under the UNHCR refugee system. She became the first transgender person recognised as a woman in China or Hong Kong without having undergone sex reassignment surgery.[16][17]

In May 2014, New Zealand accepted Rubashkyn as a refugee and granted her asylum,[18] extending a universal recognition of her gender. Her case was the first in the world in which the gender identity of a transgender person was recognised internationally.[19][20]

A CNN story about her struggle and a short documentary about her life in Hong Kong won a GLAAD Media Award in May 2015.[21]

Rubashkyn currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand. She married an Israeli man there on June 2, 2015,[22] but was forced to use her birth name rather than Eliana on the registration.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Human Rights Campaign 2014. "Hong Kong recognized Trans woman without Sex reassignment Surgery".
  2. ↑ "Misunderstood and stateless in Hong Kong: A transgender woman's nightmare". CNN International. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  3. ↑ "Transgender Refugee goes through hell in Hong Kong". UNHCR. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  4. ↑ "Hong Kong is 'hell' Transgender postgrad student-turned-refugee struggles to be recognised as a woman". gaystarnews.com. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  5. ↑ "Gender refugee hopes for NZ citizenship". 3 Degrees - TV3 New Zealand. July 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11316450 The New Zealand Herald
  7. ↑ "The Colombian transgender woman stranded in Hong Kong". Revista Semana. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  8. ↑ "Transgender refugee goes through hell in Hong Kong to be recognised as woman". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  9. ↑ "Toilet depravation torture". Miinhui - Torture in the health system in Hong Kong. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  10. ↑ "Torture in a Psychiatric Hospital in Hong Kong". Apple Daily. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  11. ↑ http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refdaily?pass=463ef21123&id=533cf1698 Transgender Refugee goes through hell in Hong Kong - UNHCR
  12. ↑ "Stuck in limbo the tragic story of the transgender refugee Eliana Rubashkyn". Time Out Hong Kong. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  13. ↑ "Cơn ác mộng của người chuyển giới ở Hong Kong". Hot News Vietnam. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  14. ↑ "Transgender refugee stranded in Hong Kong describes struggle to be recognized as woman". Shanhaiist. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  15. ↑ "La historia de Eliana, la joven transgénero que está atrapada en Hong Kong". Diario El País. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
  16. ↑ caracol.com.co. "Transexual reconocida como mujer en China". Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  17. ↑ "行街紙隱去性別未變性博士准住女病房". Apple Daily Hong Kong. Retrieved 2014-01-02.
  18. ↑ "En libertad la transgénero presa en Hong Kong". Revista Semana. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  19. ↑ "Eliana Rubashkyn. First case of International gender recognition trough asylum". Fundacion Triangulo. Retrieved 2015-02-01.
  20. ↑ "Transexual colombiana atrapada en Hong Kong recibe refugio en Nueva Zelanda". RCN. Retrieved 2015-02-01.
  21. ↑ http://www.glaad.org/tags/eliana-rubashkyn GLAAD Awards
  22. ↑ Tan, Lincoln (2 June 2015). "Transgender refugee set to wed". The New Zealand Herald.
  23. ↑ Tan, Lincoln (4 June 2015). "Past 'haunts' transgender wedding day". The New Zealand Herald.
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