Ksenija Joksimovic

Ksenija Joksimovic

Ksenija Joksimovic

 studentkinja psihodramske psihoterapije, kvir feministkinja i aktivistkinja za ženska, LGBTQIA i manjinska prava iz Beograda. Diplomirala je andragogiju (obrazovanje odraslih) i ima trenersko iskustvo u radu sa mladima u oblasti ljudskih prava, profesionalne orijentacije i karijernog savetovanja. Jedna je od osnivačica neformalne aktivističke grupe iz Beograda „Forum mladih za rodnu ravnopravnost“ koja se bavi prevencijom rodno zasnovanog nasilja, i organizuje forum teatare širom zemlje.

Ksenija veruje da aktivizam mora biti intersekcionalan, uključujući i kritičan prema društvenim normama, da bi imao smisla.

 

Zašto su mlade LGBTIQ osobe u većem riziku od beskućništva?

Predstavnica organizacije ALTERO, Ksenija Joksimović, učestvovala je na petodnevnoj Studijskoj sesiji “DOWN & OUT: Social Exclusion of LGBTQ Young People and Homelessness”, organizovanoj od strane međunarodne omladinske i studentske LGBTQ organizacije - IGLYO i Evropske federacije nacionalnih organizacija koje rade se beskućnicima (FEANTSA). Sesija je održana u Evropskom omladinskom centru u Budimpešti, od 25.10.-31.10. 2015. godine.

Studijska sesija okupila je stručnjake i stručnjakinje, aktiviste i aktivistkinje iz različitih krajeva Evrope, kao i  Kanade i USA. Glavna tema sesije je bila istraživanje uzajamnog uticaja faktora nižeg socio-ekonomskog statusa, seksualne oriejentacije, rodnog identiteta i rodne ekspresije na položaj mladih LGBTIQ osoba u društvu.

Učesnici su imali prilike da saznaju više o strukturi Saveta Evrope i Kampanji Saveta Evrope protiv govora mržnje na internetu od Karine Chupine, ekspertkinje i trenerice Saveta Evrope. Birthe Povelsen, socijalna radnica iz Danske, je predstavila model socijalne zaštite u Danskoj, kao i preventivne mere, i mere intervencije vezane za rad sa ljudima koji su bez doma. Međutim, kako je istakla, Danska nema podatke o broju LGBTIQ osoba koji su beskućnici, jer se prilikom primanja u institucije smeštaja, ta pitanja klijentima ne postavljaju. Samim tim, institucije nemaju evidenciju o broju mladih beskućnika koji su LGBTIQ, i na taj način, oni su u sistemu nevidljivi, a njihove potrebe su neprepoznate.

Dr. Aleks Abramovich, istraživač Centra za zavisnosti i mentalno zdravlje, najveće kanadske bolnice koja se bavi mentalnim zdravljem i edukacijom, i stručnjak koji se više od decenije bavi pitanjim LGBTIQ mladih osoba koje se suočavaju sa beskućništvom, je istakao da od ukupnog broja mladih koji su beskućnici,  između 25-40% su osobe koje su LGBTIQ. Dr. Abramovich je istakao kao glavne faktore koji dovode do toga da mlade LGBTIQ osobe ostanu bez doma: beg od kuće zbog odbacivanja od strane porodice; isterivanje iz kuće od strane porodice zbog seksualne orijentacije, rodnog identiteta i rodne ekspresije mlade osobe; fizičko emocionalno i seksualno zlostavljanje; odrastanje i izlazak iz sistema socijalne zaštite, kao što su domovi za decu i mlade; i fizičko i emocionalno zanemarivanje u porodici. Dr. Abramovich je naveo da već deceniju lobira za otvaranje prihvatilišta za mlade LGBTIQ osobe koje su bez doma, jer uobičajna prihvatilišta, nisu sigurna mesta za osobe koje su drugačije seksualne orijentacije od heteroseksualne, a pogotovo za osobe drugačijih rodnih identiteta, kao što su queer i trans osobe. Ove osobe trpe nasilje i napade ne samo od drugih korisnika Svratišta i Centara za beskućnike, već i homofobiju i transfobiju od strane zaposlenih, koji često, nisu edukovani da rade sa ovom specifičnom populacijom. Kao rezultat toga, mlade LGBTIQ osobe izbegavju Svratišta i biraju da ostanu na ulici, što ih gura u seksualni rad i vodi seksualnoj eksploataciji. To direktno utiče na njihovo mentalno zdravlje, koje se ogleda u većem riziku za razvoj psihičkih tegoba, kao što je depresija i većem riziku za suicid, koje predstavljaju reakciju na neadekvatan tretman okoline. Poznat je podatak Transpulse studije iz 2010. godine, prema kojoj je u Ontariu 77% transrodnih osoba razmišljalo o suicidu, a 44% pokušalo isti. Podrška porodice se navodi kao faktor koji smanjuje rizik od suicida za 93%.

Kao rezultat Aleksovog dugogodišnjeg rada i zalaganja, kao i saradnje sa organizacijama koje se bave beskućnicima i LGBTIQ osobama, grad Toronto je podržao otvaranje prvog Svratišta u Kanadi namenjenog LGBTIQ mladim ljudima bez doma.

U Evropi, konkretno u Poljskoj, primer dobre prakse predstavlja hostel za LGBTIQ osobe koje se suočavaju sa beskućništvom, u kome osim obezbeđivanja zadovoljenja osnovnih životnih potreba, klijentima na raspolaganju stoji i psihološka i psihoterapijska podrška. Više informacija na linku: https://goo.gl/xfMwk1

Sledeći govornik Finn Cottom je govorio o situaciji u gradu Sijetlu, državi Vašington u SAD i predsatvio magazin ‘’Zine’’, koji pišu i uređuju mlade osobe bez doma.

 

Učesnici ove studijske sesije su se bavili temama kao što su: strategije lobiranja i terenskog rada, organizacijske barijere inkluzivnijem radu, savetodavne veštine i akciono planiranje, ali pre svega strategijama prevencije beskućništva mladih LGBTIQ osoba.

Voditelji programa: Tudor Kovacs, Karina Chupina, Levan Berianidzé, Anastasya Megid i Lusine, su vodili učesnike ove studijske sesije ka razvijanju grupne kohezije, koja je proizvela umrežavanje učesnika i učesnica i kreiranje planova o zajedničkoj saradnji.

Za dodatne informacije o ovoj temi, na raspolaganju su vam sledeći izvori:

 

Studije, istraživanja:

 

'Hidden in Plain Sight' : Homelessness Amongst Lesbian and Gay Youth, William O'Connor & Donna Molloy November 2001

http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/23798/hidden-plain-sight-homelessness.pdf

Ovo je odlična kvalitativna studija, koja obrazlaže višestrukost faktora koji dovode do beskućništva, kao što su: rizici, uzroci, posledice, preventivne mere i sl.

2.  Risk Factors for Homelessness Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youths: A Developmental Milestone Approach, Margaret Rosario, Eric W. Schrimshaw, Joyce Hunter, 2012

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3279927/

Veoma zanimljiva studija koja istražuje razlike između LGB mladih koji su iskusili ili nisu iskusili beskućništvo.

3. LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER YOUTH An Epidemic of Homelessness by Nicholas Ray, 2006

http://www.thetaskforce.org/static_html/downloads/HomelessYouth.pdf

Veoma obuhvatna studija koja pokušava da odgovori na pitanje zašto je tako veliki procenat mladih koji su LGBTIQ i koji su beskućnici, ali takođe sadrži i preporuke za donosioce odluka, kao i primere dobre prakse. Na strani 162. može se videti lista svih studija koje su vršene u SAD, na ovu temu.

4. The Homeless HUB: http://homelesshub.ca/content/about-us je online biblioteka na temu beskućništva. Nije namenjena isključivo LGBTIQ pitanjima, ali poseduje određene sekcije na tu temu.

5. International Homelessness Policy Review, Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Sarah Johnsen. University of York, 2012

https://pureapps2.hw.ac.uk/portal/files/479351/International_Homeless_Policy_Review.pdf

Veoma zanimljiva međunarodna (Evropska) analiza trendova u intervenciji i različitim modelima zakona, kao odgovorima na problem beskućništva.  


6. Takođe preporučujemo da posetite veb sajt FEANTSA - Evropske Federacije Nacionalnih organizacija koje rade se beskućnicima: www.feantsa.org

 

 

On LGBTQI and HIV activism and consultation ‘’ Nothing for us without us''

Consultation entitled ‘’Nothing for us without us - Unleashing youth leadership to address the challenge of HIV and LGBTQI rights in Europe’’, organized in Geneva, 15-16 July 2014, jointly by UNAIDS, ILGA-Europe and IGLYO, gathered seventeen of us, activists from all over the Europe. Our aim was to address the challenge of HIV and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people in Europe.

It looks like in the past decade HIV disappeared as a priority of the contemporary LGBTQI rights movement. Nevertheless, as it was stressed out at the consultation, across Europe crisis of HIV and human rights affecting gay and bisexual men, and transgender woman, persists. The European Men Who Have Sex With Men Internet Survey  (EMIS) reports that an average of 8% of gay and bisexual men today are living with HIV, with up to 1 in 4 living with HIV in the age group 45-49 years, in the western parts of Europe. Studies among transgender women in Europe indicate a very high prevalence of HIV - 24.5% in Italy, 18.8% in the Netherlands and 18.4% in Spain.

According to the statistics, the new wave of HIV infections is also affecting young men who have sex with men, previously at lower risk, who are living in rural areas and smaller cities. At the European level, there is a rapid growth of new infections among men who have sex with men, living in the central and eastern part of Europe. At this consultation, focus was more on men who have sex with men, transgender woman, and bisexual man, because those seems to be the key populations with the highest risk for HIV, but still, we addressed the need to be more inclusive towards others from LGBTQI spectrum, as it will be highlighted in the text later.

Several European countries have reduced funding for prevention of HIV. The rise of new infections threatens to further intensify stigma and discrimination towards LGBTQI people, especially in countries with high levels of homophobia, where populist movements who are against the human rights of LGBTQI people are more popular, like in Serbia, for example.

We were discussing about the potential of LGBTQI rights movement in Europe, to re-gain it’s role as a strong political voice and force for the HIV response.

We identified the need to put together HIV and LGBTQI activism, even though they are often separated, because sometimes activists from either one of them don’t want to be perceived as members of ‘’the other’’ group (sometimes people who live with HIV don’t want to be seen and be perceived as LGBTQI people and vice versa). It means that stigma and discrimination are not just present towards those social groups, but also between them. There is a presumption/prejudice that only people who are living with HIV/AIDS are dealing/should be dealing with HIV prevention and HIV activism in educational manner.

In that context, in order to encourage cooperation between HIV and LGBTQI activists, we need to address the educational potential of the programs (trainings, conferences, seminars, consultations) for both, LGBTQI and HIV activists. As a result, people from both fields of activism (HIV and LGBTQI), meeting in educational environment in national and international settings, can learn from each other, lower their defenses towards each other, and hopefully, create joint actions.

At ‘’Nothing for us without us’’ consultation, we identified priority fields of work for governments, local authorities and civil society organizations:

Ø  Strengthening the capacity of young LGBTQI activists and organizations to develop and implement innovative approaches (as for example: applied theatre techniques, as preventive educational tool) to address the challenge of HIV, and advance their health and human rights

Ø  Strengthening sexual education in schools, in accordance with the international technical guidance[1], that addresses the urgent needs of LGBTQI people for access to tailored, non-judgmental and anti-stigmatizing HIV information

Ø  Ensuring the rights and empowerment of LGBTQI people across Europe, to make informed choices in relation to treatment initiation and prevention strategies

Ø  Reducing stigma and discrimination related to sexual orientation and HIV status, and ending criminalization of homosexuality and an overly broad criminalization of HIV non-disclosure, exposure and transmission.

At ‘’Nothing for us without us’’ consultation, we also highlighted the need for intersectional approach to activism. Intersectionality[2], which values a ‘’bottom-up’’ approach to research, analysis and planning, begins by asking questions about how people actually live their lives and what they experience, focusing on the complexity of interrelated processes, as for example, multiple discrimination against and among marginalized social groups. Issues of race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, HIV status, educational attainment levels, are all interrelated, because we don’t live a ‘’single issue’’ lives.

This consultation was focused mostly on men who have sex with men, transgender women and bisexual men, because according to the reports, those are the key populations. Still, we addressed the need to be inclusive and to take into an account the diversity of people from the LGBTQI spectrum, like lesbians, transgender man, bisexual woman, intersex individuals and we highlighted the queer and trans population in general: people who identify themselves as queer (gender non-conforming) or gender variant (anyone whose gender varies from normative gender identity and roles of the gender assigned at birth). Because no matter how people identify themselves in terms of gender, they can still be in the risk of HIV. There is a need to be inclusive when we speak about LGBTQI activism and HIV, especially in terms of gender identity and gender expression, which is a separate concept from sexual orientation.

When we are speaking about stigma, from the perspective of intersectional approach, we have to take into an account that, for example, people who live with HIV and identify themselves as transgender, (whose gender identity differs from biologically assigned sex), and who are for example, people of color, or come from lower socio-economic status, face multiple discrimination, not just from the ‘’general population’’, but also from the different social groups they belong to, or are perceived (by others) to belong to (eg. their ethnic group, religious group, LGBT mainstream population, other heterosexual people- living with HIV or not, etc.)

We must not forget that high suicide rate attempt among transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, comes directly from experiences of harassment, discrimination, violence and rejection they face in their everyday life. If we add one more factor to that picture, like living with HIV, or with disability, situation becomes more challenging. Different factors interact and produce a marked vulnerability to suicidal behavior in transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.

That’s the main reason why intersectional approach and inclusive policies are of vital importance.

Example of good practice in Serbia, is cooperation between ALTERO – Association for personal training, education, development and empowerment and AS Center-for the empowerment of young people living with HIV/AIDS, both from Belgrade. Both organisations work together in the field of providing support for people who face stigma and discrimination, raising an awareness of citizens regarding social problems that people who are perceived as members of socially excluded groups face in everyday life, through affirmation of human rights and diversity and encouraging activism of marginalized social groups. From 2012th, and ALTERO’s project ’’Quest for peace and equality’’, which was aimed at creating forum theatre scenes after  7 day training, and performing for general public, members of AS Center and ALTERO together use forum theatre as preventive educational tool, performing not just in Belgrade, but throughtout Serbia too. Those forum theatre scenes cover the folowing topics: dicrimination on the grounds on sexual orientation and gender identity; discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS on individual and institutional level; domestic violence in the context of the reproduction of the patterns of the patriarchal society; peer pressure concerning sex life, and human trafficking prevention. Forum theatre is a type of the applied theatre called ‘’theatre of the oppressed’’. In forum theatre we, activists, perform short scenes on the topics mentioned above, and call the audience to help us, not just with their ideas and opinions, but also by, coming into ‘’the scene’’ and getting into the role of the person in the forum theatre scene. That way, activists and audience members explore together what can be done in concrete situation, so the situation of discrimination and potential violence and abuse can be prevented. In that way, audience members are not just discussing and sharing their attitudes verbally, but also, by having a chance to be ‘’in the role of another’’ they can experience how the other person can be thinking and feeling and how that shapes their behavior, which encourages people’s empathy. Forum theatre practice encourages as many 'spect-actors' as possible to intervene directly on stage as part of the investigation of an oppressive social situations .

Together we perform not just in Belgrade, but also, in different cities in Serbia (Obrenovac, Niš, Loznica and Pančevo), mostly for high school students, and youth in general, but as well for the general public and specific groups, for example: children who work and/or live on the streets, Roma youth, children without parental care, and colleague activists, as well. We also did forum theatre performances on the: Feminist activist festival on exchange of artistic ideas - ''Defense''; Adult Education Festival; Faculty of Political Sciences, all in Belgrade. We performed, as well, for the users of the Center for Youth Integration; in Primary school for adult education ‘’Jovan Cvijić’’ in Belgrade, Tourism high School; on Department of Children and Youth without parental care ’’Zvecanska’’ in Belgrade; in Info Room of the Belgrade Youth Office;  Fifth school of economics in Belgrade; Belgrade Polytechnic high school, Student cultural center in Niš, Sports and cultural center of Obrenovac, Local youth office in Loznica, the Hall of Electricity in Pancevo, etc.

ALTERO also provides psychological support, through individual and group psychodrama psychotherapy.

At consultation, ‘’Nothing for us without us - Unleashing youth leadership to address the challenge of HIV and LGBTQI rights in Europe’’, we came to the conclusion that the only way to make a change in our societies, and in the world in general, is to work together. Changes which we want to see in our societies can not happen without our active participation, involvement, contribution and cooperation.

 

 

Report written by:

Ksenija Joksimović, participant at the consultation

member of ALTERO – Association for personal training, education, development and empowerment

 

Watch ‘’Positive’’- a short film by Lux pictures about life with HIV-meeting the friends, family and partner of Beyondpositive’s editor-in-chief Tom Hayes

http://www.beyondpositive.org/2014/06/21/positive-short-film-glen-scott/

 



[1]UNESCO: International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, 2009

[2] Intersectionality: a tool for gender and economic justice (2004). Woman’s Rights and Economic Change, No.9. Retrieved from http://www.awid.org/Library/Intersectionality-A-Tool-for-Gender-and-Economic-Justice

ALTERO na konferenciji ''Ukrštanje puteva'', u Bolonji, Italija

Članica ALTERO organizacije Ksenija Joksimović, učestvovala je na konferenciji pod nazivom: ‘’Ukrštanje puteva: istraživanje raznolikosti unutar LGBTQ zajednice’’, koja je održana od 2.- 6. jula u Bolonji, Italija. Konferenciju su organizovale IGLYO- Međunarodna LGBTQ  omladinska i studentska organizacija iz Brisela, u saradnji sa Arcigay il Cassero organizacijom iz Italije. Konferencija je podržana od strane Evropske omladinske fondacije Saveta Evrope, Arcigay il Cassero i Evropske komisije.

Cilj konferencije bio je istraživanje socio-političkih i ekonomskih mehanizama koji mogu da doprinesu socijalnoj isključenosti, na individualnom,  institucionalnom nivou i nivou zajednice, kao i istraživanje mogućnosti za sistemske promene. Poseban focus rada bio je na istraživanju nedostataka u pružanju inkluzivnih usluga i politika kako organizacija civilnog društva, tako i državnih institucija.

 Program konferencije je organizovan u četiri celine koje su vodili/e relevantni/e eksperti/kinje iz sledećih oblasti: uticaj socio-ekonomskog statusa, roda i rodnog izražavanja, rasnih i etničkih identiteta i načina zadovoljavanja potreba osoba sa posebnim potrebama, na položaj LGBTQ osoba.

Posebno je razmatran fenomen višestruke diskriminacije sa kojima se suočavaju osobe koje pripadaju /su percipirane kao pripadnici/ce više od jedne diskriminisane društvene grupe (npr. trans osoba/lezbejka/gej/biseksualna osoba , nižeg socio-ekonomskog statusa, pripadnik/ca etničke manjine i sl). Takođe, pažnja je posvećena uticaju heteronormativnosti, i binarnog shvatanja rodnih identiteta (podele na muški i ženski rod) na (samo)prihvatanje mnogostrukosti rodnih identiteta, koji predstavljaju pojam nezavistan od pojma seksualne orijentacije.

 

Konferencija, koja je obuhvatila oko 40 aktivistkinja i aktivista za LGBTQ, ljudska i manjinska prava iz različitih delova Evrope, protekla je u radnoj atmosferi, koju su karakterisali dobronamernost, otvorenost za različitosti drugih, i zajedničko kreiranje sigurnog prostora za samoizražavanje, od strane kako učesnika, tako i voditelja/ki konferencije.

Posebnu zahvalnost dugujemo članovima/cama pripremnog tima i voditeljima/kama konferencije: Ugla Stefanía Jónsdóttir, Peter Miley, Pinar Byk, Euan Wolfe i Ani Giorgadze, kao i organizatorima IGLYO i Arcigay il Cassero. Veliko hvala organizaciji MIT (neprofitno udruženje iz Bolonje, za podršku transrodnim, transseksualnim osobama), na gostoprimstvu, kao i Did i Ariane iz Queer strike organizacije iz Londona, na podizanju svesti o stanju LGBTQ osoba, migranata i migrantkinja i seksualnih radnika i radnica u Velikoj Britaniji i svetu.

ALTERO obeležava međunarodni dan borbe protiv homofobije i transfobije

 Članica ALTERO organizacije Ksenija Joksimović, učestvovala je na IDAHOT (Međunarodni dan borbe protiv homofobije, bifobije i transfobije) seminaru koji je održan od 15-17. maja 2014. godine, u Evropskom Omladinskom Centru Saveta Evrope, u Budimpešti. Seminar pod nazivom ‘’Odgovori mladih ljudi na govor mržnje koji počiva na homofobiji i transfobiji’’ je organizovan u okviru Međunarodne kampanje protiv govora mržnje (No Hate Speech Movement), u saradnji sa Odsekom za ravnopravnost Saveta Evrope (SOGI Unit) i Međunarodnom gej i lezbejskom omladinskom i studentskom organizacijom (IGLYO).

Tribina i forum teatar pod nazivom „Zaštiti ljubav – spasi budućnost“

Tribina i forum teatar pod nazivom „Zaštiti ljubav – spasi budućnost“ posvećeni borbi protiv diskriminacije osoba koje žive sa HIV-om održani su 3.12.2013. od 14 do 16h na Fakultetu političkih nauka. Organizovali su je u saradji Unija studenata socijalnog rada, Klub za UN i Timska inicijativa mladih. Učesnici tribine bili su dr Biljana Begović sa Instituta za javno zdravlje, Đurica Stankov izvršni direktor organizacije AS Centar za osnaživanje mladih osoba koje žive sa HIV-om, i Vesna Avramović iz udruženja korisnika psihijatrijskih usluga „Duša“.  

Forum teatar povodom dana borbe protiv HIV/AIDS-a

Udruženje ALTERO i ove godine učestvovaće na tradicionalnoj tribini koju povodom obeležavanja Svetskog dana borbe protiv HIV-a/AIDS-a, organizuje Unija studenata socijalnog rada, u saradnji sa Timskom inicijativom mladih i Klubom za UN.

Tribina na temu „Protect Your Love - Save the Future“ će se održati u utorak, 03.12.2013.godine u SLUŠAONICI 3, Fakulteta političkih nauka (adresa: Jove Ilića 165, Beograd), sa početkom u 14h.

ALTERO na Vox Feminae festivalu u Zagrebu

Članice NVO ALTERO, Ksenija Joksimović, Martina Milutinović i Ana Stevanović, učestvovale su na sedmom VoX Feminae Festivalu koji se održava od 14-19 novembra, u Zagrebu, Hrvatska.

Vox Feminae festival promoviše stvaralaštvo žena i problematizuje pitanja roda, kroz međunarodni filmski program, promocije knjiga, izložbe, prezentacije, diskusije i nastupe muzičarki i DJ-ica.

Forum teatar u Sportsko-kulturnom centru Obrenovac

U petak, 25.10.2013. u Sportsko-kulturnom centru Obrenovac održan je javni forum teatar na temu rodne ravnopravnosti. Izvođenje forum teatra deo je projekta ‘’Forum teatar za društvene promene’’ koji je podržan od strane Rekonstrukcija ženskog fonda. Hvala publici koja je bila aktivna i zainteresovana da učestvuje u rešavanju prikazanog problema nasilja u porodici, kao i Kancelariji za mlade opštine Obenovac i Pasco projektu na svesrdnoj podršci.

 

 

Projekat '' Želim i mogu''

NVO ALTERO realizovala je tokom novembra i decembra 2009. godine projekat "Želim i mogu 2". Projekat je obuhvatao održavanje ciklusa radionica u Kancelariji za mlade opštine Obrenovac, a podržan je od strane Opštine Obrenovac.

Page 2 of 3