The award Casa Asia 2022 in the Diversity and Sustainable Development category has been awarded ex-aequo to Saurabh Kirpal (India) and Shinta Ratri (Indonesia) for their contribution to gender equality in Asia, and in particular for their fight, from legal practice and social activism, in favor of the dignity and rights of LGTBIQ+ people in India and Indonesia, respectively.

Parallel to Awards Ceremony Casa Asia 2022, which will take place on Friday, July 8 in the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, Casa Asia, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, ​​the LGTBI Center of Barcelona and the Department of Equality and Feminisms of the Generalitat of Catalonia, organizes a meeting open to the public with the two award-winners. This event will take place in English with interpretation into Spanish.

Program:

Welcome words:
Raul Ramos, vice-rector of Internationalization Policy, University of Barcelona
Javier Parrondo, Director General of Casa Asia

LGTBIQ+ rights in India: progress and challenges:
Saurabh Kirpal (India), lawyer and activist

Religion and LGTBIQ+ activism in Indonesia
shinta ratri, co-founder of Pondok Pesantren Waria, Koranic school for transgender women, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Moderator:
Christopher Alvear, researcher in comparative constitutionalism in South Asia and legal advisor in Asian legal systems

At the end there will be questions from the public.

Saurabh Kirpal

Saurabh Kirpal has been a lawyer at the Supreme Court of India and the New Delhi High Court since 2004 and one of India's leading LGBTIQ+ activists.

He recently edited the book Sex and the Supreme Court: How the Law is upholding the dignity of the Indian citizen, which describes both the judicial fight against section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that he led with a group of colleagues, and the pending judicial and legal challenges to the recognition of LGBTIQ+ rights in India.

Saurabh Kirpal is also a trustee of the Naz Foundation India, one of the main Indian NGOs for the protection and defense of LGBTIQ+ people in India, and whose civil action initiated the judicial process in 2001 against section 377 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860.

Saurabh Kirpal's professional activism in defending the rights of LGBTIQ+ people has been essential in achieving the decriminalization of same-sex relationships in his country through the 2018 Supreme Court ruling in the Navtej Singh Johar case, in whose defense he actively participated.

The decriminalization by the Supreme Court of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code relating to relations between people of the same sex, a criminal type shared by those Asian countries that have inherited the British penal code after the decolonization process, not only has relevance in South Asia but in the entire Asian continent. Saurabh Kirpal's determination has made the LGBTIQ+ cause visible in India and has been a model to follow in other Asian countries.

shinta ratri

Shinta Ratri, a transsexual Muslim woman, identifies as “waria” – a term that in Indonesian designates people who are transgender or between two identities.

Ratri is the founder of the only Quranic school for her community in Yogyakarta (Indonesia), the Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah. This boarding school/school, opened in 2008, is a safe space where the LGTBI+ Muslim community can practice their religion, without the hostile reactions of other believers, and in which activities are organized that allow the transgender community to share experiences.

The journalist Ana González has made the documentary The Waria of Java about the figure of Shinta Ratri and his work at the head of the Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah school:

Christopher Alvear

Cristóbal Alvear is a researcher in comparative constitutionalism in South Asia, legal advisor on Asian legal systems and institutional advisor for Asia-Spain relations. He is also an associate professor at IE Law School and coordinator of the legal area of ​​the Spanish Association for Interdisciplinary Studies on India. During his more than twelve years of professional experience in India and Pakistan, he has been a delegate of the Spain-India Council Foundation and a Consular Officer at the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi. He has a degree in Law and Business Administration from the UPO, and a master's degree in international relations and diplomacy from the Diplomatic School of Madrid. Among his latest projects is the reference publication: Spain-India 2020: a joint reflection on the past, present and future of bilateral relations for the Spain-India Council Foundation.