A/HRC/19/41 on the basis of partial data from 22 of its Member States.33 The European Parliament and the Council of Europe have also regularly expressed concern at incidents in which LGBT persons have been targeted and killed, including murders of gay men in the Netherlands and Sweden, and the killing of a homeless transgender woman in Portugal. 34 27. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs in the United States of America reported 27 bias-motivated murders of LGBT persons in 2010, up from 22 in 2009.35 The Trans Murder Monitoring project, which collects reports of murders of transgender persons in all regions, lists 680 murders in 50 countries during the period from 2008 to 2011.36 2. Other violence, including rape 28. Non-lethal violence directed at individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity is less consistently documented by special procedures, largely because of underreporting and a protection gap in terms of existing mandates. Nevertheless, several mandate holders have highlighted individual cases and voiced concern at the prevalence of such violence. In her 2010 report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders noted that she had sent 47 communications regarding defenders working on LGBT issues during the previous year; killings of LGBT human rights defenders were alleged in five communications, with rape and sexual violence, including against males, being reported in a further six. 37 29. Allegations of lesbians being attacked, raped, forcibly impregnated and otherwise punished because of sexual orientation come from many regions.38 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed grave concern about reported sexual offences committed against women on account of their sexual orientation. 39 The Special Rapporteur on violence against women recently reported alleged incidents of gang rapes, family violence and murder experienced by lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan and South Africa,40 where the Rapporteur noted that “lesbian women face an increased risk of becoming victims of violence, especially rape, because of widely held prejudices and myths”, including “for instance, that lesbian women would change their sexual orientation if they are raped by a man”.41 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 10 (Colombia), preliminary observations 15-18 May 2010, para. 12 (Honduras), and press release No. 59/08 (Jamaica). “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses”, Annual Report for 2009, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Warsaw, November 2010. T. Hammarberg, “Hate Crimes: the ugly face of racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Gypsyism, Islamophobia and Homophobia”, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2008. “Hate Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities in the United States in 2010”, report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, New York, July 2011. Trans Murder Monitoring results update March 2011, Trans Gender Europe, March 2011. A/HRC/16/44, para. 43. See A/HRC/17/26, para. 40. See also A/HRC/14/22/Add.2, para. 23, A/HRC/17/26/Add.1, paras. 204-213, E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 102, A/HRC/4/34/Add.3, para. 34, and the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the Russian Federation (C/USR/CO/7), paras. 40-41. Concluding observations on South Africa (CEDAW/C/ZAF/CO/4), para. 39-40. See A/HRC/14/22/Add.2, paras. 37-38, and A/HRC/17/26/Add.2, paras. 28-29. A/HRC/4/34/Add.1, paras. 632-633. Both the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences have addressed so-called “curative” or “corrective” rape, perpetrated by men who claim their intent is to “cure” women of their lesbianism. See, for example, the concluding observations of the Committee