This page gathers academic work connected to Statistical Justice and to the broader question of how official data systems recognize, misrecognize, or fail marginalized populations. The papers presented here move between empirical research, conceptual development, and policy relevance, with a particular focus on gender identity, civil registration, vital statistics, and official data infrastructures.
When death tears you apart: the omission of transgender identities in Colombian death certificates#
Authors: Sebastian Leon-Giraldo, Paola Vargas,Juli Salamanca, Yoko Ruiz,Nelson Gordillo,Aura Liliana Torres & Nayib Chalela
Year: 2025 | Journal: International Journal for Transgender Health
This peer-reviewed article examines how transgender identities are erased in Colombia’s death registration system and what that erasure means for dignity, public health, and institutional recognition. Based on qualitative interviews with transgender and non-binary community leaders across Colombia, the paper shows how administrative practices can extend exclusion beyond death itself, and argues that recognizing gender identity in death certificates is both a human rights issue and a matter of health equity.
Between Statistical Invisibility and Surveillance: Data, Gender Identity, and the Right to Health#
Authors: Sebastián León-Giraldo, Juli Salamanca and Lina Quevedo
Year: 2026 | Journal: Health and Human Rights Journal
This viewpoint examines the tension between statistical invisibility and surveillance in the collection of gender identity data. It argues that improving visibility can support health equity and rights, but requires strong safeguards, community participation, and clear purposes for data collection so that recognition does not create new forms of harm.
When Populations Are Not Counted: Statistical Justice and Gender-Identity Data in Colombia’s Official Statistics#
Authors: Sebastian Leon-Giraldo, Francisca Sanchez Osorio, Nayib Chalela, Fernande Alvarez.
Year: 2026 | Journal: Data and Policy (Under Review)
This manuscript introduces Statistical Justice as a framework for understanding how official statistics can reproduce or challenge inequality. Drawing on Colombia’s gender-identity data ecosystem, it examines the gap between legal recognition and everyday data practice, and argues that inclusion in official statistics must be designed in ways that enable recognition, redistribution, and protection.
Available soon