Katherine Escobar
Katherine Escobar is a trans woman human rights defender and strong advocate for the defence of labour rights and LGBTQI+ rights in El Salvador. She is a member of the Seniors Citizens Committee of the Asociación para Impulsar el Desarrollo Humano (Association to Promote Human Development). She holds the position of Secretary of Training for the Unión Sindical de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores del Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (Trade Union of Workers of the Salvadorean Institute for the Development of Women). Additionally, she serves as Secretary for Women and Inclusion at the Unión Nacional para la Defensa de la Clase Trabajadora (National Union for the Defence of the Working Class), where she advocates for equality, inclusion in the workplace and LGBTQI+ rights.
The human rights defender community is regularly subjected to campaigns of defamation - they are labeled as 'traitors of the nation', 'terrorists' and 'subversive'. This tactic employed by the authorities is designed to discredit and undermine the work of human rights defenders by isolating and marginalising them, making them a vulnerable target for abuse. Community leaders and environmental activists who are opposed to large-scale mining projects face death threats and violence.
