New UN report calls for changes to legal environment to enhance HIV response in Pakistan

A new report, jointly released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Country Team and the National AIDS Control Programme of Pakistan, calls for adoption and revision of laws and policies to create a more effective national HIV response that will mitigate the impact of HIV and promote and protect the human rights of key populations and vulnerable groups, particularly men who have sex with men and transgender people.  Read more

Kenya is making progress on gay rights, says AG Githu Muigai

Speaking at the 21st Universal Periodic Review, at the United Nations, Attorney General Githu Muigai said that Kenya has made progress on rights of the country’s gay community.

As Kenya’s human rights records is being assessed, the Attorney General was responding to recommendations made by Slovenia, Sweden, Brazil, and Chile that Kenya should decriminalize same sex relations and adopt non-discrimination law covering Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)

"It is not Government policy to discriminate against persons based on their sexual orientation and gender identity," Githu said Despite these statements, same sex relations remain criminalized in Kenya. Read More

How far has SOGII advocacy comae at the UN and where is it heading?

Tremendous achievements have occurred in the past decade enabling human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex persons worldwide to be more effectively addressed by the UN. The steady engagement of SOGI (sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex) advocates with UN mechanisms and States has led to increasing visibility of these issues in UN spaces.

Assessing sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex activism and key developments at the UN 2003-2014 Read More

LGBT Activists Meet at UN, Promise to Keep Fighting

On Human Rights Day, homosexual activists converged on UN headquarters to make the case that “LGBT rights are human rights.” Undersecretary General Jan Eliasson called the promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender rights (LGBT) an “unfinished human rights revolution.” He lamented the lack of international progress, but said gains had nevertheless been “spectacular.”

Panelists called for redefining family in light of the persistence of UN member states not to recognize an equivalence between same-sex couples and the union of a man and a woman.  Fifteen UN member states, calling themselves the “LGBT core group,” hosted the event. Despite considerable resources and influence, so far they have failed to gain traction among the wider membership and are limited to hosting side events and press conferences.

Multiple negotiations over the past year, which marks the 20th anniversary of the International Year of the Family, have shut out the notion of “various forms of the family”—a term homosexual activists prefer instead of the definition of family from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Read More

Watch the event here

UNICEF releases its first official, public position on sexual orientation, gender identity and children

The 6-page position paper is available now: All children, irrespective of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, have the right to a safe and healthy childhood that is free from discrimination. The same principle applies to all children irrespective of their parents sexual orientation or gender identity.

Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights make clear that human rights are universal. No person — child or adult — should suffer abuse, discrimination, exploitation, marginalization or violence of any kind for any reason, including on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Read More 

European Parliament votes for UN development strategy to include LGBTI

The European Parliament voted for a report defining its input into the global future development policy. The report contains strong wording on LGBTI rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights. According to the Parliament, development policy should pay particular attention to “the protection and respect of the rights of migrants and minorities, including LGBTI people and people living with HIV.” Furthermore, the Parliament prioritises “universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.” 

The report comes at a time of an increase in anti-LGBTI legislation, most recently in Gambia. Attempts by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to delete paragraphs on sexual and reproductive health and rights, were defeated by a wide margin. Read More

UN Committee Raises Concern About LGBT Conversion Therapy in U.S.

For the first time in its history, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) expressed concern over the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy being used on LGBT youth in the United States.

This historic development comes after leaders from the National Center for Lesbian Rights’  #BornPerfect campaign, Samantha Ames and Samuel Brinton, testified before the Committee.

Along with other signatories to the Convention Against Torture, the U.S. is reviewed by CAT about its compliance with the convention, which prevents both torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. In addition to conversion therapy, issues such as police violence, detention of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and the sexual abuse of children by priests were raised as matters for the U.S. to address.   Read More