UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people

From the UN website:

15 December 2011 –

The first ever United Nations report on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people details how around the world people are killed or endure hate-motivated violence, torture, detention, criminalization and discrimination in jobs, health care and education because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

The report [read HERE], released today by the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, outlines “a pattern of human rights violations… that demands a response,” and says governments have too often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Homophobic and transphobic violence has been recorded in every region of the world, the report finds, and ranges from murder, kidnappings, assaults and rapes to psychological threats and arbitrary deprivations of liberty.

LGBT people are often targets of organized abuse from religious extremists, paramilitary groups, neo-Nazis, extreme nationalists and others, as well as family and community violence, with lesbians and transgender women at particular risk.

“Violence against LGBT persons tends to be especially vicious compared to other bias-motivated crimes,” the report notes, citing data indicating that homophobic hate crimes often include “a high degree of cruelty and brutality.”

Violent incidents or acts of discrimination frequently go unreported because victims do not trust police, are afraid of reprisals or are unwilling to identify themselves as LGBT.

The report – prepared in response to a request from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year – draws from information included in past UN reporting, official statistics on hate crimes where there are available, and reporting by regional organizations and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

In the report, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calls on countries to repeal laws that criminalize homosexuality, abolish the death penalty for offences involving consensual sexual relations, harmonize the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual conduct, and enact comprehensive anti-discrimination laws.

In 76 countries it remains illegal to engage in same-sex conduct and in at least five countries – Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen – the death penalty prevails.

Ms. Pillay recommends that Member States also promptly investigate all killings or serious violent incidents perpetrated because of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, and to establish systems to record such incidents.

The High Commissioner also calls on countries to ensure that no one fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is returned to a territory where their life or freedom is at threat, and that asylum laws recognize that sexual orientation or gender identity is a valid basis for claiming persecution.

Public information campaigns should be introduced, especially in schools, to counter homophobia, and police and law enforcement officials should also receive training to ensure LGBT people are treated appropriately and fairly.

Charles Radcliffe, the chief of OHCHR’s global issues section, told UN Radio that “one of the things we found is if the law essentially reflects homophobic sentiment, then it legitimizes homophobia in society at large. If the State treats people as second class or second rate or, worse, as criminals, then it’s inviting people to do the same thing.”

He stressed that all UN Member States have an obligation under international human rights law to decriminalize homosexuality, adding it was important to persuade rather than lecture States to change their laws.

“I think we have seen the balance of opinion amongst States really shifting significantly in recent years. Some 30 countries have decriminalized homosexuality in the last two decades or so.”

Mr. Radcliffe said that while all people have freedom of religion, “no religious belief or prevailing cultural values can justify stripping people of their basic rights.”

The report, which will be discussed by Council members at a meeting in March next year, has been released as top UN officials have increasingly raised concerns about human rights violations against LGBT people.

Last year, in a speech marking Human Rights Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “as men and women of conscience, we reject discrimination in general, and in particular discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Ms. Pillay, during a public conversation last week on social media, also called for an end to bullying and other forms of persecution of LGBT people.

UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace wins UNESCO human rights award

Berlin (UNOSDP) – Wilfried Lemke, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, tonight was awarded the 2011 ‘Berliner Friedensuhr’ (‘Berlin Peace Clock’) by the Berlin committee for UNESCO.

Mr. Lemke was honoured on behalf of the UN for his unwavering commitment at the service of the world organization to mobilizing the power of sport to bring about international understanding and integration, and to combat poverty.

At a ceremony held in the atrium of the Deutsche Bank in Berlin, Germany’s State Minister for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann praised the achievements of the recipient, declaring: "Wilfried Lemke stands for reliable action and continuity, but above all humanity. Away from difficult decisions, he never shrank, proving time and again his ability to resolve conflicts and build bridges."

In front of an audience of more than 200 prominent figures from politics, sport, the private sector, and civil society, Mr. Lemke praised the United Nations for mainstreaming sport in its policies and programmes as an important element contributing to the work and objectives of the organization, in particular the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Receiving this award on behalf of the United Nations is a great honor for my Office and for me personally. It will give us an extra motivation to keep using sport as a tool for positive change all over the world," an enthusiastic Lemke declared. “Using sport is especially important in situations where traditional political means have reached their limits."

In a message read out at the event, the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ms. Irina Bokova, commended the leadership of the Special Adviser and the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), since its inception in 2001, in using sport to convey peace and development messages, especially towards young audiences. "Mr. Lemke has worked tirelessly to facilitate the social impact of sports on human development," she noted.

Since 2003, the Berlin Peace Clock has been presented as an award from the Berlin Committee for UNESCO on the basis of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights to individuals or institutions who "help to overcome barriers between races, classes, peoples, nations, cultures, ideologies, religions, political parties and individuals."

Previous recipients of the Berlin Peace Clock include numerous leading figures in world politics, world religions and world ethics including: Michael Gorbachev (1992), Ronald Reagan and Helmut Kohl (1992), Mother Teresa (1993), Professor Avi Primor, former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, for his commitment to bringing peace to the Middle East (2003), and more recently to Mr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher for his dedication to strengthening the United Nations and his commitment to the universal respect of human rights (2009).

This year, by presenting the Peace Clock to the UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, the Berlin Committee for UNESCO acknowledges and pays tribute to the powerful role sport can play in breaking down barriers and contributing to a more peaceful world.

The Berlin Peace Clock was originally created by Berlin jeweler Jens Lorenz and first set in motion the day the Berlin wall fell, on 9 November 1989.

UNHRC Statement a major step in the fight against transphobia and homophobia

The FGG is a member of ILGA, whose press release on yesterday's United Nation's statement we reproduce below:


UNHRC Statement a major step in the fight against transphobia and homophobia
22/03/2011

Compared to a similar Human Rights Council joint declaration on this topic in 2006 and to a UN General Assembly Statement in 2008, this Statement establishes as a principle that “no one should face stigmatization, violence or abuse on any ground, and that in dealing with sensitive issues, the Council must be guided by the principles of universality and non-discrimination. This was enabled by the preceding 2008 UN General Assembly Statement, which for the first time inserted sexual orientation and gender identity in the UN interpretation of the Universal declaration of Human Rights, by reaffirming the non-discrimination principle of international law, requiring that human rights apply equally to each human being.

Today’s joint declaration by 84 member countries of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, calling for an end to violence, criminal sanctions and human rights violations against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is a very significant step forward towards international consensus on LGBTI people’s rights, according to ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. ILGA considers the fact that the amount of countries willing to sign on to a declaration like this is approaching a majority of UN members, is a credit to the increased sensitivity of national governments, and the work of international, regional and local LGBTI human rights activists all over the World, particularly the International Coalition of LGBTI organizations that worked together with national governments and provided the information they requested through the process of preparing the declaration.

“We welcome the Statement just read at the UN Human Rights Council and signed by 84 Countries, as a sign of the growing international, cross-regional consensus around the need to protect people persecuted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Also to engage in a truly universal application of human rights”, said Renato Sabbadini, one of ILGA’s two Co-Secretary Generals, speaking from ILGA’s headquarters in Brussels. According to Sabbadini “The strength of this Statement makes the defence of discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexual, trans and intersex people on the basis of a mistaken sense of “tradition” or “natural order” more untenable than ever. Homophobia and transphobia are more and more acknowledged for what they truly are: the last crumbling pillars of a patriarchal order which belong with other dark pages of our past, like slavery and the Inquisition.”