United Nations Moves Forward on LGBT Rights

The United Nations process to discuss a Human Rights Council resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity ended in Oslo on Tuesday with a conclusions document that calls for a special UN mechanism for ongoing attention to human rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2011, the South African government, together with a group of other supportive nations, led a successful resolution on LGBT issues that called for a high-level panel discussion as well as a report outlining the vast array of human rights abuses that take place every day across the globe based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Oslo was the wrap up event after regional meetings took place earlier this year in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. Over 200 governmental and non-governmental delegates were invited to Oslo for an event co-hosted by South Africa and Norway, representing over 60 countries for two days of intense discussions and debates. Highlights of the conference included video messages from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillar. Both strongly called for a new mechanism to regularly track and report on human rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as chronicle promising practices for combating such abuses. Many side conversations about promising developments took place with government representatives in attendance. Moldovan government officials talked about their new Equality Council, which will launch in the summer to help implement their new Anti-Discrimination Law, which should help protect against anti-LGBT bias. Vietnam is revising their Family Law, and the government is seriously considering expanding the definition of family to be fully inclusive of same-sex relationships. Many other governments discussed both their problems as well as their practices in addressing discrimination and violence.

The Council for Global Equality participated in two regional pre-meetings together with two of our member organizations, the National Center for Transgender Equality as well as the National Center for Lesbian Rights. We drew attention to the many issues here in the United States that stand in the way of full equality for LGBT Americans. We also worked with our colleagues from the regions to ensure that the array of LGBT human rights concerns would be addressed in the next steps that the UN Human Rights Council takes in its next resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Council was very pleased that the United States government’s participation in this important process was strong and steadfastly supportive of its LGBT citizenry, as well as its commitments to LGBT people globally. Other governments, particularly South Africa, were similarly clearly supportive of moving the bar higher in the next iteration of this resolution coming up in June. LGBT advocates and supportive governments around the world are ready to encourage additional governmental co-sponsors of the coming resolution, as well as to ensure that the 47 members of the HRC vote in favor of it’s passage. As Ban Ki -Moon said in his video message to the conference: Together we can make the world safer, freer, and more equal for everyone.

International Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Desmond Tutu on LGBT Rights in Africa

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, Welcomes Participants to the International Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Secretary Genral Ban Ki-moon Message Human Rights LGBT Oslo Apr2013

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South Africa and Norway are co-hosting The International Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with over 200 government and NGO’s are participating in the dialog. You can follow the discussions for a second Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity resolution at the United Nations, happening now in Oslo, on Twitter with the hashtag #hr4all. Or you can live stream video from the conference here.

Julie Dorf of The Council for Global Equality is participating in this conference and we will bring you updates from the conference periodically.

For written transcripts of the video click here.

Divided Ex-gay Movement Still Encouraging “Conversion” Therapy in Latin America

Repost from Political Research Associates

Boston, MA, April 2, 2013: Exodus International, the U.S. network of Christian ministries prominent in the “ex-gay” movement, dramatically changed its position in January 2012 when Executive Director Alan Chambers announced that he no longer believed there was a “cure” to homosexuality. This allegedly put an end to the organization’s 35-year effort to “convert…LGBTQ people to heterosexuality through ‘submission to Jesus Christ.’” However, a new report by the social justice think tank Political Research Associates, The “Ex-Gay” Movement in Latin America: Therapy and Ministry in the Exodus Network, finds that the global network remains divided in its stance on harmful “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ individuals, particularly in Latin America.

LGBT Rights Debate Unfolds at the UN (VIDEO)

Repost from the Huffington Post

For decades the word “gay” was almost never heard in formal meetings at the United Nations. Today, after a series of recent diplomatic breakthroughs, awareness of the gravity and extent of homophobic violence and discrimination — and the need to tackle it — is widespread and growing.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his human rights chief Navi Pillay have led the way. In 2010 they launched a global appeal for the decriminalization of homosexuality and for other measures to safeguard the rights of LGBT people. Since then they have taken up the issue repeatedly in public speeches and private meetings, urging governments to confront homophobic prejudice, not pander to it, and to punish violence and hatred, not love. Continue Reading

57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women ends with out inclusion of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity language

The Commission on the Status of Women (also called the “CSW”) is the UN’s global policy-making body dedicated to gender equality and the advancement of women.  To support the work of the CSW, every year UN Member States gather in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment globally.  This year, the deliberations at the CSW focused on violence against women and girls.  Since we know that lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and youth are at particular risk of violence, both within the family and in society at large, and that rates of violence against transgender women have reached truly staggering levels in many regions, it is disappointing to note that the UN could not agree on language to give voice to this oppression that is so often silenced or ignored.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who represents our country at the United Nations, expressed our country’s disappointment at the omission.  See her statement here. You can read more about the work of the CSW here: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/

UNGA Resolution on Extrajudicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions

Brief compendium of articles and explanations on yesterdays vote on the Draft Resolution on Extrajudicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions:

• General Assembly will Condemn in Strongest Terms Use of Extrajudicial Executions, Demand State End Practice, Under Terms of Text Approved by Third Committee – The United Nations

• Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on the Draft Resolution on Extrajudicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions– Amb. Susan E. Rice, U.S. Mission to the United Nations 

• Explanation of Vote in Opposition to a Proposed Amendment Removing “Sexual Orientation” and “Gender Identity” from the UNGA Resolution on Extrajudicial, Summary, and Arbitrary Executions– United States Department of State

• UN Draft Resolution Against Extrajudicial Executions Includes Gender Identity– Julie Bolcer, The Advocate

Governments Condemn Extrajudicial Executions in Seminal UN Vote

Thank you to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission for this informative statement on the vote.

Historic First Condemnation of Killings Based on Gender Identity

(New York) An international coalition of organizations dedicated to human rights celebrated yesterday’s historic vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to pass resolution A/C.3/67/L.36 condemning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.  The vote reversed the events of 2010 when the same body voted to strip the resolution of reference to “sexual orientation.” The UNGA also expanded upon its commitment to the universality of human rights by including “gender identity” for the first time in the resolution’s history.

The resolution, which is introduced biennially in the Third Committee, urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling upon states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. It was introduced by the Government of Sweden and co-sponsored by 34 states from around the world.

For the past 12 years, this resolution has urged States “to investigate promptly and thoroughly all killings, including… all killings committed for any discriminatory reason, including sexual orientation.”  Apart from Human Rights Council resolution 17/19, it is the only UN resolution to make specific reference to sexual orientation.  This year, the term “gender identity” was added to the list of categories vulnerable to extrajudicial killings.

At Tuesday’s session, the United Arab Emirates, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, presented an amendment that would have stripped the resolution of reference to “sexual orientation and gender identity” and substituted “or for any other reason.”  The UAE proposal was rejected in a vote with 44 votes in favor, 86 against, and 31 abstentions and 32 absent.  Another failed effort, led by the Holy See, would have stripped all specific references to groups at high risk for execution; however it was never formally introduced.

The Third Committee also retained language expressing “deep concern” over the continuing instances of arbitrary killing resulting from the use of capital punishment in a manner that violates international law, which some States led by Singapore attempted to have deleted. The Singapore proposal was rejected in a vote with 50 votes in favor, 78 against, and 37 abstentions and 30 absent.

The full resolution passed with 108 votes in favor, 1 against, 65 abstentions, and 19 absent.

U.S. Accomplishments During Its First Term on the UN Human Rights Council

The United States has been re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council and yesterday the U.S. Department of State released a statement highlighting the accomplishments during its first term. They note country-specific situations such as Syria, Libya and Burma among others.

The statement goes on to list accomplishments in promoting universal human rights such as freedom of assembly and internet freedom.  The release also highlights the work done to advance the rights of LGBT people around the globe.

Advancing the Rights of LGBT Persons: In June 2011 the Council adopted the first-ever UN resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. This resolution commissioned a groundbreaking UN report on the human rights abuses that LGBT persons face around the globe, and has opened a broader international discussion on how to best promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons. As a co-sponsor of this resolution, the United States demonstrated its commitment to an active role in ensuring fair treatment and equality for all people.

You can read the full release here

‘Traditional Values’ code for human rights abuse?

Repost from CNN.com by Graeme Reid, Human Rights Watch

The U.N. Human Rights Council recently passed a resolution on “traditional values of humankind” as a vehicle for “promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms.” It sounds innocuous, but its implications are ominous. Indeed, it is an immediate threat to the rights of many vulnerable groups – including women and lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) people. And it flies in the face of the founding principles of universality and indivisibility enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This is the third Russian-sponsored traditional values resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council. The second, in 2011, called for a study, and the resulting draft study is highly critical of “traditional values” as a framework, criticizing the concept as “vague, subjective and unclear.” The third, though, adopted on September 27, affirms traditional values as a valid framework for human rights.

Underpinning this is an argument that homosexuality is a moral issue and not a rights issue at all. A pernicious development is the recent proliferation of laws in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that seek to curtain freedom of speech by clamping down on “homosexual propaganda” under the pretext of “protecting children.” These laws are vaguely defined and have the effect of outlawing any supportive messages or activism around LGBT issues. Continue Reading