Sexual orientation and gender identity at the United Nations

Signatories to the UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity are colored in blue and signatories to the opposing statement in green. Data are current as of October 2009.

Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations had not touched on the issue of sexual orientation or gender identity until December of 2008, when a Dutch/French-initiated, European Union-backed statement was presented to the United Nations General Assembly. The statement, originally intended to be adopted as resolution, prompted an Arab League/United States-backed statement opposing it. Both statements remain open for signature and neither of them has been officially adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The U.S. switched sides in 2009. In 2011 at the UNYA Evatt National finals, historic developments were made to further international recognition of LGBT rights.

The proposed declaration includes a condemnation of violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity that undermine the integrity and dignity. It also includes condemnation of killings and executions, torture, arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights on those grounds. In the declaration text, para 7 that "we recall the statement in 2006 before the Human Rights Council by fifty four countries requesting the President of the Council to provide an opportunity, at an appropriate future session of the Council, for discussing these violations." and para 8 that "we commend the attention paid to those issues by special procedures of the Human Rights Council and treaty bodies and encourage them to continue to integrate consideration of human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity within their relevant mandate.", indicate The Yogyakarta Principles which provide definitions in detail on sexual orientation and on gender identity as a document on international human rights law, despite the Principles are not referred directly.

It was praised as a breakthrough for human rights, breaking the taboo against speaking about LGBT rights in the United Nations. Opponents criticized it as an attempt to legitimize same-sex civil partnerships or marriage, adoption by same sex couples, pedophilia (although all major psychological and scientific institutions have rejected such a link), and "other deplorable acts" and curtail "freedom of religious expression" against "homosexual behavior".

On June 17, 2011, South Africa submitted a request to the United Nations Human Rights Council requesting the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to draft a report detailing the situation of LGBT citizens worldwide to follow up and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The resolution passed 23 to 19 with the three abstentions being Burkina Faso, China, and Zambia. It was the first such resolution and was hailed as "historic."

The report, which came out in December 2011, documented violations of the rights of LGBT people, including hate crime, criminalization of homosexuality, and discrimination. High Commissioner Navi Pillay called for the repeal of laws criminalizing homosexuality; equitable ages of consent; comprehensive laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation; prompt investigation and recording of hate crime incidents; and other measures to ensure the protection of LGBT rights. The text of the report itself is dated on 17 November 2011

Background

Same-sex relationships legal   Same-sex marriage   Other type of partnership (or unregistered cohabitation)   Same-sex marriage recognized, but not performed   Homosexuality legal but same-sex unions not recognized

Same-sex relationships illegal   Minimal penalty   Large penalty   Life in prison   Death penalty

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Homosexuality is currently illegal in 76 countries and punishable by death in five. In the 1980s, early United Nations reports on the AIDS-HIV pandemic made some reference to homosexuality, and the 1986 Human Freedom Index did include a specific question, in judging the human rights record of each nation, with regards to the existence of criminal laws against homosexuality.

In its 1994 decision in Toonen v. Australia, The UN Human Rights Committee, which is responsible for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), declared that such laws are in violation of human rights law.

In 2003 a number of predominantly European countries put forward the Brazilian Resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission stating the intention that lesbian and gay rights be considered as fundamental as the rights of all human beings.

In 2006, with the effort of its founder, Louis George Tin, International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) launched a worldwide campaign to end the criminalisation of same-sex relationships. The campaign was supported by dozens of international public figures including Nobel laureates, academics, clergy and celebrities.

In 2008, the 34 member countries of the Organization of American States unanimously approved a declaration affirming that human rights protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Following meetings between Tin and French Minister of Human Rights and Foreign Affairs Rama Yade in early 2008, Yade announced that she would appeal at the UN for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality; the appeal was quickly taken up as an international concern.

Co-sponsored by France, which then held the rotating presidency of the European Union, and The Netherlands on behalf of the European Union, the declaration had been intended as a resolution; it was decided to use the format of a declaration of a limited group of States because there was not enough support for the adoption of an official resolution by the General Assembly as a whole. The declaration was read out by Ambassador Jorge Argüello of Argentina on 18 December 2008, and was the first declaration concerning gay rights read in the General Assembly.

Support

Several speakers addressing a conference on the declaration noted that in many countries laws against homosexuality stemmed as much from the British colonial past as from religion or tradition.

Voicing France's support for the draft declaration, Rama Yade asked: "How can we tolerate the fact that people are stoned, hanged, decapitated and tortured only because of their sexual orientation?"

UK-based activist Peter Tatchell said of the declaration:

"This was history in the making… Securing this statement at the UN is the result of an inspiring collective global effort by many LGBT and human rights organisations. Our collaboration, unity and solidarity have won us this success. As well as IDAHO, I pay tribute to the contribution and lobbying of Amnesty International; ARC International; Center for Women's Global Leadership; COC Netherlands; Global Rights; Human Rights Watch; International Committee for IDAHO (the International Day Against Homophobia); International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC); International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA); International Service for Human Rights; Pan Africa ILGA; and Public Services International."

Signatories

85 of the United Nations' then 192 member countries sponsored a new version of the declaration issued at the March 2011 session of the UN Human Rights Council, including every member of the European Union* and most Western nations. States that only signed in 2006 or 2008, and have not signed the new statement are noted below as well.

Africa Cape Verde (2008 only) Central African Republic Gabon (2008 only) Guinea-Bissau (2008 only) Mauritius (2008 only) Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe (2008 only) Seychelles Sierra Leone South Africa Americas Argentina Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia initiative Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador

Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru (2006 only) United States initiative Uruguay Venezuela Asia Israel Japan Mongolia Nepal South Korea (2006 only) Thailand Timor-Leste Europe Albania Andorra Armenia Austria * Belgium * Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgaria * Croatia Cyprus * Czech Republic * Denmark * Estonia * Finland * France * initiative Georgia Germany * Greece * Hungary * Iceland Ireland * Italy * Latvia * Liechtenstein Lithuania * Luxembourg * Macedonia Malta * Moldova (2006 only) Monaco Montenegro Netherlands* initiative Norway

Poland * Portugal * Romania * San Marino Serbia Slovakia * Slovenia * initiative Spain * Sweden * Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom * Oceania Australia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Marshall Islands Nauru New Zealand Palau Samoa Tuvalu Vanuatu

Opposition

Among the first to voice opposition for the declaration, in early December 2008, was the Holy See's Permanent Observer at the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who claimed that the declaration could be used to force countries to recognise same-sex marriage:

"If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations. For example, states which do not recognise same-sex unions as 'matrimony' will be pilloried and made an object of pressure."

A key part of the Vatican opposition to the draft Declaration relates to the concept of gender identity. In a statement on 19 December, Archbishop Migliore noted:

"In particular, the categories 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity', used in the text, find no recognition or clear and agreed definition in international law. If they had to be taken into consideration in the proclaiming and implementing of fundamental rights, these would create serious uncertainty in the law as well as undermine the ability of States to enter into and enforce new and existing human rights conventions and standards."

However, Archbishop Migliore also made clear the Vatican's opposition to legal discrimination against homosexuals: "The Holy See continues to advocate that every sign of unjust discrimination towards homosexual persons should be avoided and urges States to do away with criminal penalties against them."

In an editorial response, Italy's La Stampa newspaper called the Vatican’s reasoning "grotesque", claiming that the Vatican feared a "chain reaction in favour of legally recognised homosexual unions in countries, like Italy, where there is currently no legislation."

The United States, citing conflicts with US law, originally opposed the adoption of the nonbinding measure, as did Russia, China, the Holy See, and members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission issued a statement saying that the draft declaration "challenges existing human rights norms." The Obama administration changed the US position to support the measure in February 2009.

An alternative statement, supported by 57 member nations, was read by the Syrian representative in the General Assembly. The statement, led by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, rejected the idea that sexual orientation is a matter of genetic coding and claimed that the declaration threatened to undermine the international framework of human rights, adding that the statement "delves into matters which fall essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of states" and could lead to "the social normalization, and possibly the legitimization, of many deplorable acts including paedophilia." The Organization failed in a related attempt to delete the phrase "sexual orientation" from a Swedish-backed formal resolution condemning summary executions, although recently the phrase was removed with 79 votes to 70, and then subsequently restored by a vote of 93 to 55.

Signatories

57 UN member nations have co-sponsored the opposing statement in 2008:

Africa Algeria Benin Cameroon Chad Comoros Côte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Gambia Guinea Kenya Libya Malawi Mali Mauritania Morocco Niger Nigeria

Rwanda Senegal Sierra Leone Somalia Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zimbabwe Americas Saint Lucia Asia Afghanistan Bahrain Bangladesh Brunei Indonesia Iran

Iraq Jordan Kazakhstan Kuwait Lebanon Malaysia Maldives North Korea Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria initiative Tajikistan Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Yemen Oceania Fiji Solomon Islands

UN Human Rights Council Resolution

A resolution submitted by South Africa requesting a study on discrimination and sexual orientation (A/HRC/17/L.9/Rev.1) passed, 23 to 19 with 3 abstentions, in the Human Rights Council on June 17, 2011. This is the first time that any United Nations body approved a resolution affirming the rights of LGBT people. The resolution calls on the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to draw up the first U.N. report on challenges faced by gay people worldwide. Her report, due by December 2011, should document discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The votes on this resolution were as follows:

African States (13) South Africa initiative Angola — No Burkina Faso — Abstain Cameroon — No Djibouti — No Gabon — No Ghana — No Libya — Suspended Mauritania — No Mauritius — Yes Nigeria — No Senegal — No Uganda — No Zambia — Abstain

Asian States (13) Bahrain — No Bangladesh — No China — Abstain Japan — Yes Jordan — No Kyrgyzstan — Absent Malaysia — No Maldives — No Republic of Korea — Yes Pakistan — No Qatar — No Saudi Arabia — No Thailand — Yes

Eastern European States (6) Hungary — Yes Poland — Yes Republic of Moldova — No Russian Federation — No Slovakia — Yes Ukraine — Yes

Latin American & Caribbean States (8) Argentina — Yes Brazil — Yes Chile — Yes Cuba — Yes Ecuador — Yes Guatemala — Yes Mexico — Yes Uruguay — Yes

Western European & Other States (7) Belgium — Yes France — Yes Norway — Yes Spain — Yes Switzerland — Yes United Kingdom — Yes United States — Yes

See also

• The Yogyakarta Principles
• Yogyakarta Principles in Action
• Brazilian Resolution
• LGBT rights by country or territory