Sexual orientation removed from UN resolution

[kouchpotato]

Link

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and ARC International are deeply disappointed with yesterday’s vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The resolution urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling on states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. For the past 10 years, the resolution has included sexual orientation in the list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based.

The removed reference was originally contained in a non-exhaustive list in the resolution highlighting the many groups of people that are particularly targeted by killings - including persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, persons acting as human rights defenders (such as lawyers, journalists or demonstrators) as well as street children and members of indigenous communities. Mentioning sexual orientation as a basis on which people are targeted for killing highlights a situation in which particular vigilance is required in order for all people to be afforded equal protection.

The amendment removing the reference to sexual orientation was sponsored by Benin on behalf of the African Group in the UN General Assembly and was adopted with 79 votes in favor, 70 against, 17 abstentions and 26 absent.

“This vote is a dangerous and disturbing development,” said Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director of IGLHRC. “It essentially removes the important recognition of the particular vulnerability faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - a recognition that is crucial at a time when 76 countries around the world criminalize homosexuality, five consider it a capital crime, and countries like Uganda are considering adding the death penalty to their laws criminalizing homosexuality.”

This decision in the General Assembly flies in the face of the overwhelming evidence that people are routinely killed around the world because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, and renders these killings invisible or unimportant. The Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions has highlighted documented cases of extrajudicial killings on the grounds of sexual orientation including individuals facing the death penalty for consensual same-sex conduct; individuals tortured to death by State actors because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation; paramilitary groups killing individuals because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation as part of “social cleansing” campaigns; individuals murdered by police officers with impunity because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation; and States failing to investigate hate crimes and killings of persons because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

"It is a matter of great shame that the responsible Committee of the United Nations General Assembly failed in its responsibility to explicitly condemn well-documented killings based on sexual orientation," said John Fisher, Co-Director of ARC international. "The credibility of the United Nations requires protection of all persons from violations of their fundamental human rights, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. We thank those States which supported the inclusion of sexual orientation in the text, and will redouble our collective efforts to ensure that Member States of the United Nations maintain the standards they have sworn to uphold."

The amendment runs counter to other positive developments in UN and regional human rights systems where there is increased recognition of the need for protection from discrimination regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. At a September 2010 panel held in conjunction with a session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon unequivocally recognized “the particular vulnerability of individuals who face criminal sanctions, including imprisonment and in some cases the death penalty, on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Sixty-eight countries have also signed a joint statement in the UN General Assembly on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity which calls for an end to “human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity … in particular the use of the death penalty on this ground [and] extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.”

IGLHRC and ARC International urge all States, regardless of their vote on this amendment, to sign the UNGA joint statement affirming support of the human rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity and to continue in efforts to decriminalize same-sex conduct and to end other discrimination, including violence, on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The votes to amend the resolution were as follows:

In favor of the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (79):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Opposed to the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (70):

Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia (FS), Monaco, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

Abstain (17):

Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Belarus, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Colombia, Fiji, Mauritius, Mongolia, Papau New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Absent (26):

Albania, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Marshall Island, Mauritania, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Sao Tome Principe, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan

Posted without comment except for... what the sweet fuck?

[Serafina]

Posted without comment except for... what the sweet fuck?

Well, that's what you get when you give third-world countries as much voting power as first-world countries and it's an issue where the latter don't bother to use their political influence on the former.
The UN might be an enlightened idea, it's members certainly aren't.

[Gil Hamilton]

I find it interesting that they largely have a Third World/First World split up there, but Russia and China is in the "Remove Sexual Orientation" camp. I wonder if they are in that camp more under a "we reserve the right to execute anyone we like without international interference" attitude rather than a "we want to kill gays" attitude that alot of them have. I mean, China has one of the biggest burgeoning gay populations of any country on the planet and it is only getting bigger with their gender balance problems and China never really has a history of being against homosexuality per se.

[Phantasee]

Russia has had a moratorium on the death penalty for over a decade now.

[[R_H]]

I'm surprised to see Cuba was in favour of removing as well.

[Bakustra]

It's not really First vs. Third so much as "Europe, Americas and parts of Asia versus Africa and parts of Asia." I mean, South Africa voted to remove and Argentina voted to keep. The only American States to vote to remove are in the Caribbean, (and only one abstained). I think that there may be something else going on here.

[Samuel]

It's not really First vs. Third so much as "Europe, Americas and parts of Asia versus Africa and parts of Asia." I mean, South Africa voted to remove and Argentina voted to keep. The only American States to vote to remove are in the Caribbean, (and only one abstained). I think that there may be something else going on here.

Latin America isn't a bastion of fundamentalist insanity? I'm surprised South Africa voted to remove given they legalized gay marriage- I guess they want to bring them out in the open before they begin killing.

[Bakustra]

It's not really First vs. Third so much as "Europe, Americas and parts of Asia versus Africa and parts of Asia." I mean, South Africa voted to remove and Argentina voted to keep. The only American States to vote to remove are in the Caribbean, (and only one abstained). I think that there may be something else going on here.

Latin America isn't a bastion of fundamentalist insanity? I'm surprised South Africa voted to remove given they legalized gay marriage- I guess they want to bring them out in the open before they begin killing.

Latin America is pretty strongly Catholic, and generally (at least, this is my impression) of that branch of the Catholic church that supported Franco and situates itself firmly alongside Benedict.

My guess is that South Africa voted on the lines of African solidarity. I suspect that China may have voted similarly to go against the EU and USA.

[Talhe]

Not surprising, sadly. When you've got a United Nations women organization with Saudi Arabia and Congo as members, it's difficult to be surprised by these things.

http://www.unwomen.org/2010/11/united-n ... powerment/

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Correct. The African Union demanded solidarity on the issue because South Africa is the lone state which recognizes gays in Africa, and prefers to remain with a solidarity stance of "you westerns aren't allowed to dictate to Africa anymore" even though they disagree with the rest of Africa, which tends to hold that homosexuality is a depraved European cultural custom which was introduced to Africa by colonialism, and is best met with forced rape of lesbians and execution of gays to maintain the supposed purity of traditional African culture.

[Gil Hamilton]

There is also a big difference between the South African government and the actual actions of the population. South Africa is absolutely awash right now in anti-gay violence, where you can't be openly a lesbian in large sections of the country because of the threat of "corrective rape"; that is, a gang of men gets hold of them and tries to rape them straight, often resulting in the death of the woman, and the police typically do nothing about it.

[scythewielder]

Latin America is pretty strongly Catholic, and generally (at least, this is my impression) of that branch of the Catholic church that supported Franco and situates itself firmly alongside Benedict.

It's a bit more complicated than that, so I wouldn't want to generalize in either direction. Latin America is also full of people -including some of the current elites- who are nominally Catholic but tend to be rather selective in their practices and not nearly as dogmatic as the Church would hope. Needless to say, conservative sectors continue to exist and their influence isn't insignificant but they are certainly not as overwhelmingly powerful as they were one or two centuries ago.

In many countries there is a semi-functioning separation between church and state that has generally moved in a progressive rather than regressive direction over the years. Not without encountering resistance, no, but at least there have been more positive than negative trends throughout the region as far as the recognition of gay rights is concerned over the last decade or so. That's more than what can be said about Africa.

[Mr. Coffee]

Well, the list of "for" countries there is like a who's who of nations I'd rather stick my cock into an electric pencil sharpener than live in anyway. So yeah, big fucking fucking surprise. Pretty much the entire middle east? Check, but fuck those guys, if it wasn't for oil no one would care what they had to say anyway. Africa? Check, but that place is a colossal festering diseased shithole, so they can all die in a fire too.

Though I gotta wonder if Russia and China voted as they did out of "let's be contrary to the NATO guys" habit. Any of the resident Russians or PRC people care to comment on if they voted that way out of contrariness or is there some sort of big anti-gay cultural thing or what?

[TithonusSyndrome]

A big fuck you must be extended to the abstainers and absent, too, who could've broken this deadlock in favor of the more moral outcome. Seriously, it's not even as though abstaining was a PR boon to them, it just showed how cowardly and noncommittal they are. Just another pleasant reminder of why Kennedy said that special places in Hell are reserved for people who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.

[Lusankya]

Though I gotta wonder if Russia and China voted as they did out of "let's be contrary to the NATO guys" habit. Any of the resident Russians or PRC people care to comment on if they voted that way out of contrariness or is there some sort of big anti-gay cultural thing or what?

Well, anti-gay sentiments in the far east were actually sentiments imported from Europe, rather than any native anti-gay cultural thing. In general, the attitude was "as long as you still make babies, then fuck as many men as you like".

For what it's worth*I found this CCTV poll from 2007 a while ago, which shows the population to be largely supportive of gay rights (over 90% of the respondents were in favour of gay marriage, for example), though given that it's a 100% voluntary internet poll, I don't hold a very high opinion of its accuracy. Generally speaking though, young people have no problem with gays and older people don't really understand. And the one child policy probably does a lot to make things harder for gays, because if a child is gay, then their parents have no chance to have grandchildren. Things will get a lot better for gays, I think, when the family planning policy gets modified so that people can have two children. Then parents will have a "spare", so if one turns out gay, the other can still provide them with descendants.

I've never read anything ant-gay in the media, either, which is a strong indication that the CCP has no issues with gay people, so long as they're not going around grouping up and engaging in activities that could potentially destabilise the state (which is not an anti-gay thing, so much as their general attitude towards people in general).

[Shroom Man 777]

But have you even heard of anything pro-gay? Or just gay in general? Hearing something regarding gays may mean that gays are able to actually voice out their concerns, or at least make themselves an issue worth discussing. Whereas if gays are unable to voice out concerns, and are closeted or discouraged to the point where they aren't considered an issue, then they might not even be a blip in the radars (gaydards!). Like how gays probably weren't in the medias of 1950s USA (graph me, Shep!).

[Gil Hamilton]

I've heard the Chinese policy toward homosexuality is the Three Nos. No approval, no disapproval, no promotion. They aren't for or against it and they aren't going to talk about it.

[xt828]

Interesting to note that the entire Caribbean was either anti-gay or fence-sitting.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Caribbean countries are pseudo-third world, and are very catholic and traditional. Not really surprising. They're like little Philippineses!

[Master_Baerne]

Yeah, this isn't really surprising; there are more tiny crazy nations than large not-as-much crazy nations, and therefore the tiny nations can do thigns like this. Luckily, it happened in the UN, and has no real effect on anything.

[xerex]

The Caribbean countries are pseudo-third world, and are very catholic and traditional. Not really surprising. They're like little Philippineses!

the Caribbean arent pseudo 3rd world. They are outright third world.

also they very old school religious Catholic, Anglican and Pentecostals. The Caribbean Anglican Churches i believe have rejected the Church of England's moderate attitude towards gays.

hell modern Jamaican music is practically dedicated to killing "battymen" (gays)

though the Dominican Republic has to get props for being only Caribbean country to be in the 'keep the provision' camp.