Conclusion LGBT persons deprived of their liberty are exposed to a disproportionate level of abuse and discrimination. Vulnerable amongst the most vulnerable, detained LGBT populations in all regions of the world are severely marginalised, due mainly to societal factors. It was in recognition of the gravity and worldwide prevalence of this problem that APT decided to devote the second Jean-Jacques Gautier Symposium to this topic. Monitoring bodies, especially NPMs, have a central role to play in protecting the rights of the most vulnerable persons deprived of their liberty. The preventive mandate conferred on them under the OPCAT, which guarantees them access to all detention facilities, places them in a unique position to assess the realities of incarceration. The issue of discrimination and abuse against LGBT persons deprived of their liberty has so far only been partly addressed by monitoring bodies, partly due to the specific scope of their preventive mandate, but also because of the lack of specific guidelines on the management of this population. Addressing this issue is particularly complex as it challenges a taboo deeply rooted in institutions and mentalities. It not only overturns the binary conception of sexual orientation and gender identity in the prison universe but also concerns what in reality is a very heterogeneous group. Participants thus concluded that any NPM intervention regarding LGBT persons must involve a differentiation of needs and risks specific to transgender persons on the one hand, and of homosexuals and bisexuals on the other (in addition to lesbian and gay persons respectively in the latter category). Another challenge that emerged clearly from the discussions relates to the immense diversity of contexts in which NPMs operate. These range from States that criminalise same-sex relations, or that have prisons with informal hierarchies that relegate the incarcerated LGBT population to the status of "untouchables", to countries that 29

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