A Strategy For All

It's rare that we get excited about a UN document. We're excited. 

The Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of UNAIDS recently approved a new five-year strategy for 2016 to 2021. For all the UN bodies, these strategy documents serve to guide the organization. Usually, they are jargon-filled, top-down documents that look good but have little meaning for the people that the agencies are supposed to serve.

UNAIDS has shown itself to be exceptional. Its new Strategy, "On the Fast-Track to end AIDS" is a remarkable document that not only people living with HIV and those working on it, but that anyone involved in health and development should definitely read.

It is the first time we have seen a comprehensive human rights-based approach (HRBA) be genuinely at the core of a strategic plan of a UN agency. Almost every page of the document refers to our rights, and links them to the specific steps that UNAIDS will undertake in the next few years. It is a excellent example of how to use the Human Rights (HR) framework to build a program on. Read more via IMAXI

 Read the strategy at UNAIDS

UN: President of Zimbabwe tells United Nations “We are not gays”

Robert Mugabe, the 91-year-old leader of Zimbabwe, deviated slightly from his prepared remarks during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, to do something that he does frequently: slur against homosexuality. "We are not gays," he shouted. And it's worse than it sounds.

Mugabe made the comment in the course of a point about "double standards," which is usually dictator code for "I'm tired of Western countries calling out my human rights abuses," and about "new rights," which is usually code for "I long for the days when discrimination against certain groups was considered acceptable."   Read More via Vox 

UN: Saudi Arabia insists UN keeps LGBT rights out of its development goals

Saudi Arabia is insisting the UN removes gay rights from the organisation’s Global Goals/Sustainable Development Goals, saying it is “counter to Islamic law”. The protest comes from the Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, who told the UN General Assembly that “mentioning sex in the text, to us, means exactly male and female. Mentioning family means consisting of a married man and woman,” AP reported.

He stated Saudi Arabia has the right not to follow any agenda that runs “counter to Islamic law”. Though the SDGs set a series of “ambitious targets” for UN member states, related to poverty, equality and ending climate change, overt references to LGBT equality were removed from the final agreement.  Read More via Independent 

United Nations entities call on States to act urgently to end violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex adults, adolescents and children.

In an unprecedented joint initiative, 12 UN agencies issued a powerful joint call to action on ending violence and discrimination against LGBTI adults, adolescents and children.  

“This is the first time that so many members of the UN family have joined forces in defence of the basic rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people,” said the UN Human Rights Office’s Chief of Global Issues, Charles Radcliffe. Read more via the UN

excerpt: All people have an equal right to live free from violence, persecution, discrimination and stigma. International human rights law establishes legal obligations on States to ensure that every person, without distinction, can enjoy these rights. While welcoming increasing efforts in many countries to protect the rights of LGBTI people, we remain seriously concerned that around the world, millions of LGBTI individuals, those perceived as LGBTI and their families face widespread human rights violations. This is cause for alarm – and action. Read the full statement 

WHO: Treat all people living with HIV, offer antiretrovirals as additional prevention choice for people at "substantial" risk

Anyone infected with HIV should begin antiretroviral treatment as soon after diagnosis as possible, WHO announced Wednesday. With its "treat-all" recommendation, WHO removes all limitations on eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV; all populations and age groups are now eligible for treatment.

The expanded use of antiretroviral treatment is supported by recent findings from clinical trials confirming that early use of ART keeps people living with HIV alive, healthier and reduces the risk of transmitting the virus to partners. Read More via WHO 

UN: Obama notes LGBT rights in U.N. General Assembly speech

President Obama on Monday made a broad reference to LGBT rights during his speech to the U.N. General Assembly: “In this country, everybody can contribute, everybody can participate no matter who they are, or what they look like, or who they love,” said Obama. “That’s what makes us strong.”

Obama devoted a significant portion of his speech to the Syrian civil war that began more than four years ago. He described the Islamic State — which has executed at least 30 men accused of engaging in sodomy in Syria and Iraq — as “an apocalyptic cult.” Obama also criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for his support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and an agreement between the war-torn country, Iraq and Iran to share intelligence about the Sunni extremist group. Read More via Washington Blade

UN: Secretary-General on LGBT rights: “Leave no one behind”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed a high-level event of the LGBT Core Group at the United Nations, on the theme, "Leaving No-One Behind: Equality & Inclusion in the Post-2015 Development Agenda".

excerpt: "In too many countries, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people are among the poorest, most marginalized members of society. We need more data to get a clear picture – but we already know that gay affluence is largely a myth.

Studies show that gay and lesbian people suffer disproportionate discrimination and abuse. They are rejected by their families… kicked out of their homes … and pushed out of school. Too many of our LGBT brothers and sisters are jobless, homeless and struggling to survive." Read his full remarks

Two gay men who fled ISIS just made UN history

Refugee Subhi Nahas never could have predicted that so soon after being granted refugee protection he would become one of the first people in history to address the U.N. Security Council on LGBT persecution. The historic meeting, an informal session known as an “Arria,” was prompted by attacks by ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq against LGBT individuals.

The meeting, organized by the U.S. and Chilean delegations, was held behind closed doors to protect the privacy of an anonymous Iraqi gay man who used the pseudonym “Adnan” and delivered testimony via telephone. It was attended by 13 of the 15 member nations of the powerful chamber, with only Chad and Angola refusing to participate. Four countries with troubling LGBT rights records of their own — China, Russia, Nigeria, and Malaysia — declined to speak, but remained present for the entire meeting.

“This is the first time in history that the council has held a meeting on the victimization of LGBT persons,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said. “It is the first time we are saying, in a single voice, that it is wrong to target people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. It is a historic step. And it is, as we all know, long overdue.” Read More via Buzzfeed

Kenya: LGBT rights must be protected to ensure healthy lives for all

Next week, 193 governments will attend the UN’s General Assembly in New York to adopt new sustainable development goals. But for sexual minorities the question is: how serious are governments about ensuring no one is left behind in the goal to ensure healthy lives for all?

After battling with acceptance of his HIV status, Joshua* visited a local hospital because he had genital warts. He recounts the painful experience: “When the nurse found out I was gay she started shouting and asking me why I was doing such bad things.”

Some medical practitioners refuse to offer services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI), citing moral or religious reasons. Fear of such discriminatory treatment has led to low access of services by LGBTI people and threatens global progress on the HIV response. Read More via Key Correspondents 

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights fact sheet on being Intersex

OHCHR has just launched a first fact sheet on intersex, as part of the Free & Equal campaign. The document details the human rights violations and health issues faced by intersex people, and action points for UN member states and civil society. 

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. According to experts, between 0.05% and 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits – the upper estimate is similar to the number of red haired people.

Being intersex relates to biological sex characteristics, and is distinct from a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. An intersex person may be straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or asexual, and may identify as female, male, both or neither. Access the factsheet here

WHO: Discrimination to blame for HIV Rates, poor healthcare for trans people

A WHO study on transgender people and HIV notes that inadequate health care for the trans population sits squarely on those who oppose the expression of authentic gender identity. The report sums up the situation in dire terms: “Transgender people are often socially, economically, politically and legally marginalized.” The result is that transgender women have "shocking rates" of HIV, study coauthor JoAnne Keatley said. "There was a recent meta-analysis demonstrating that a transgender woman was 49 times as likely to be living with HIV [than the general population] in 15 countries in which data was looked at and analyzed."

But it’s hard to collect reliable data, as only those 15 countries offered laboratory-proven data on HIV prevalence among transgender people. Not one country in Eastern Europe or Africa could provide information to the WHO team by the time researchers needed it. The available information, though, did show a health crisis, and Keatley, who works with the Center for Excellence for Transgender Health at the University of California, and is herself trans, said discrimination is to blame. 

“What is driving the epidemic is really the refusal — I would say — of governments to pass legislation that allows [transgender people] to function in society, and allows them to participate in the workplace,” she said. Still, Keatley said she sees some progress. Read More