A/HRC/45/44/Add.2 66. Since its visit to Peru, the Working Group has been informed about the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Early reports raise several surprising concerns. For example, on 30 May 2020, a law relating to the COVID-19 health emergency authorized the collection of racial/ethnic data.19 According to representatives of civil society, the law in its final form did not include an option to designate Afro-Peruvians, reportedly because no legal requirement exists to support the status of Afro-Peruvians as a “people”. The Government has not taken any measures to prevent racial bias from pervading the pandemic health response, claiming that no specific policies or differentiated protection measures were required for people of African descent, although they would receive facemasks and food baskets. The concern that COVID-19 might disproportionately affect Afro-Peruvians was dismissed as media-driven hyperbole. D. Intersectional and multiple forms of discrimination 67. Afro-Peruvians also reported complex, intersectional forms of discrimination. AfroPeruvian women stated that their access to health care was complicated not merely by economic barriers but also by stereotyping, health assumptions based on their race, cultural insensitivity, general disregard for their humanity and overall mistreatment. This was confirmed in a 2014 analysis published by the Ministry for Women and Vulnerable Groups (see para. 12 above). Afro-Peruvian women also described in detail their experiences of racialized harassment, disrespect and disregard when reporting sexual assault and domestic violence to the police. The Working Group directly relayed these concerns to local, regional and national police, but only one public official, the head of the Department of Democratic Policing, demonstrated any insight into or understanding of the nature and gravity of this concern. 68. In addition, according to representatives of civil society, the draft of the national culture policy excluded all recognition of intersectional contexts, such as for persons with disabilities, migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, women or LGTBI persons of African descent. For example, one policy acknowledged the significant problem of gender-based and domestic violence faced by Afro-Peruvian women without providing any specific measures for them. If approved, the policy is unlikely to be effective in addressing the multiple and intersecting forms of racial discrimination that Afro-Peruvians face. 69. Afro-Peruvian LGBTI persons referred to exclusion from all statistical measures (including the census), ongoing lack of visibility, “corrective” violence and sexual assault, and lack of recognition in identification documents, access to health care for transgender persons, and more. They stated that fear, harassment and violence had been normalized, that basic and routine activities were often traumatizing, and that they were disproportionately exposed to the risk of violence and impoverishment. These are chronic violations of human rights. Afro-Peruvian LGBTI persons do not benefit from any identity law that would facilitate the registration of a transgender person’s chosen name and identity; rather, such persons have to navigate an expensive, pathologizing and invasive process for legal name change, as mandated by the congress. Three witnesses, a doctor’s diagnosis of gender dysphoria, expensive fees and ongoing individual responsibility to notify each and every agency with which they interact are the high costs associated with using one’s chosen name, which create a profound denial of self-determination at the direct instigation of the State. Worse, even gender confirmation surgery is not sufficient to guarantee a legal change in gender, given that a physical inspection is also required. 70. Afro-Peruvian women and girls suffer disproportionately from a lack of access to education and from high illiteracy levels. For instance, along the northern Pacific coast, where the Afro-Peruvian population is most heavily concentrated, only 26.9 per cent of girls have access to education as against 42.3 per cent of girls from all racial groups in the same geographical area.20 Overall, Afro-Peruvians have higher illiteracy rates (6 per cent against the national average of 4 per cent), especially among women, whose illiteracy rates are twice 19 20 www.gob.pe/institucion/cultura/normas-legales/633316-005-2020-mc. Eliana Villar Márquez, “Barriers to secondary school completion for Afro-Peruvian girls”, Brookings, 6 November 2018. 13