A/HRC/41/38 5. Specific challenges faced by migrant women belonging to the lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex community 69. Within international human rights law, there is a well-established framework to promote respect for sexual orientation and gender identity. Consistently, human rights treaty bodies have affirmed that sexual orientation and gender identity, including gender expression, are prohibited grounds for discrimination, just like race, sex or religion. United Nations human rights mechanisms have also expressed concern with regard to human rights violations based on gender identity, including gender expression, and have called upon States to address such violations (see A/73/152). 70. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has exposed at length the many violations that lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons face around the globe: hate-motivated acts against their communities are widespread, brutal and often perpetrated with impunity. Lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons also have an increased risk of becoming victims of torture and ill-treatment, including in custody and in clinics and hospitals. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that in many countries, the law is used to punish individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity, and to restrict their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Some countries still criminalize consensual same-sex relationships, and in at least seven countries the death penalty may be applied (see A/HRC/29/23). 71. Research has demonstrated that migrants who are members of the lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex community often experience discrimination and stigmatization from both their own communities and from mainstream culture, in both their countries of origin and destination and along the migratory route. Those negative experiences may be compounded for transgender persons. For example, while in detention for irregular entry and stay, transgender women can be exposed to social isolation and be subjected to physical and sexual violence, because they are usually held with men. This approach is, in part, a reflection of the narrow scope of defining sexual violence and the limiting binary vision of “women victims and men perpetrators”, which ignores the complex realities of sexual violence, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex victims.71 H. Gendered consequences of return and reintegration 72. As noted by the Special Rapporteur in his report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-eighth session (A/HRC/38/41), there has been an increased focus in recent years on returning migrants, at the expense of other solutions and sometimes in violation of human rights. The emphasis on returns has been accompanied by an increase in pushbacks and forced return operations that are inconsistent with international human rights law. Migrant women and girls are affected differently by such return policies. 73. When migrant women return home, they can transfer skills to their peers. There is also evidence to suggest that a number of migrant women are able to sustain an increased level of autonomy and benefit from the new norms, skills and expertise that they have brought back home. The acquisition of property upon return also contributes to their status. Furthermore, reports show that a high percentage of women returning to their country of origin start their own businesses and more become self-employed, which suggests that they are in possession of more financial capital. 74. Returning migrant women are not always welcomed back, however, despite their contribution to their families, communities and even national economies. They may face stigmatization and exclusion. For example, during a visit to Bangladesh in 2013, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, heard reports that young Bangladeshi female workers were frequently sent home from countries where they worked in the Middle East, after having become pregnant as a result of sexual 71 See Ines Keygnaert and Aurore Guieu, “What the eye does not see: a critical interpretive synthesis of European Union policies addressing sexual violence in vulnerable migrants” in Reproductive Health Matters, vol. 23, No. 46 (2015), pp. 45–55. 17