10 Foreword in a given social context, there are no lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender non-conforming persons” and, indeed, this fiction is the source of much of the violence and discrimination that I have observed in places of deprivation of liberty. The reader of this manual, possibly about to engage in a visit that hopefully will impact persons’ lives and contribute to social change, may experience apprehension deriving from an awareness of just how little one single person can know about the enormous range of problems and needs connected to sexual orientation and gender identity in places of deprivation of liberty, a concern that I know only too well. This guide - prepared by the Association for the Prevention of Torture with great attention to the current state of international human rights law, best practices in the field of torture prevention, and the wealth of experience of the extraordinary group of experts that provided its substance – will provide an understanding of the factors of risk and the acts, patterns and extreme manifestations of torture and ill treatment against LGTBI persons, and is an invaluable blueprint for any conceptual understanding of these. While adhering to technical rigour that has proven so effective in the preventive approach, the guide makes evident different facets present in persons, objects and spaces and interactions. Its great merit – in the tradition of all the indispensable materials prepared by the APT over the four decades of its existence – is that, in doing so, it will enrich every visit to a place of detention and every human interaction that occurs in its frame. Equally important is the fact that the guide motivates the reader to understand, in practice, how such traits interact with race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, status, age, class and caste, as well as migration or economic status, to drive the dynamic processes that, in space and time, create the lived experience of persons deprived of liberty. Victor Madrigal – Borloz UN Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity