Statement on Transgender Lives and the Fight for Human Dignity

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) believes that everyone deserves dignity, respect, and the freedom to live without fear. On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the memories of the transgender and gender-diverse people whose lives were taken by violence. Their deaths are rooted in systems deliberately designed to dehumanize, demonize, and divide our communities.  

ICRW’s research across regions has long shown that this violence does not emerge in a vacuum. It is fueled, normalized, and sustained by intentional policy choices. The rising transphobia we’re witnessing across the globe today is not organic or coincidental. It is part of a coordinated strategy led by organized anti-gender actors who operate across countries and institutions to undermine human rights norms. Through our research and advocacy, ICRW continues to track these actors’ influence within norm-shaping institutions and to counter the harms they seek to advance. 

Globally, transgender people are being unjustly and inhumanely targeted as part of a broader assault on gender equality, bodily autonomy, and human rights. This reality makes remembrance an act of resistance. 

We honor trans lives by naming the harm, exposing the distortions that fuel it, and refusing to let those who manipulate evidence define who is worthy of rights or dignity. And we continue to build a more equitable and just world where everyone can thrive.