On March 22, 2011 eighty five nations joined together and signed a statement appropriately titled: “Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based On Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.” Up 15 nations from the latest attempt in 2008, this updated version includes many references not seen in either of the previous statements, including; welcoming attention to LGBT issues as a part of the Universal Periodic Review process, noting the increased attention to LGBT issues in regional human rights fora, encouraging the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue addressing LGBT issues, and calls for states to end criminal sanctions based on LGBT status.
Not only did the statement address basic human rights such as expressing "concern at continued evidence in every region of acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity brought to the Council’s attention by Special Procedures since that time, including killings, rape, torture and criminal sanctions"; but also praised the advances and developments in solving these issues over recent years. Though not everyone signed the statement, ie...Nigeria (invoking heterosexuality, God, and saying that both men and women are needed to make babies), Russia, and Pakistan, whom spoke on behalf of the 57 nations in which Muslim people are a majority. Countries that did sign the statement include: Paraguay, Ukraine, Uruguay, the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Switzerland.
Though it's terrible that we live in a world where treating other people with kindness and equality needs to be forced upon us, it's definitely great to see that there are so many people on board with this Declaration of Human Rights. As the United Nations Secretary General reminded us in his address in January 2011, "the Universal Declaration guarantees all human beings their basic rights without exception, and when individuals are attacked, abused or imprisoned because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, the international community has an obligation to respond."
You can read the statement itself at: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/03/158847.htm
A&L
No comments:
Post a Comment