International LGBT News
US refuses UN gay rights Declaration
President Bush silent on decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide
France and the European Union lead without US support
London – 8 December 2008
“The US government is one of the only western democratic nations that
has declined to support a United Nations Declaration calling for the
global decriminalisation of homosexuality. The Declaration will be put
before the UN General Assembly this Wednesday, 10 December, which is
Human Rights Day and the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights,” reports British gay human rights
campaigner Peter Tatchell of the London-based LGBT rights group,
OutRage!
“It will be the first time in its history that the UN General Assembly
has ever considered the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
(LGBT) human rights,” he said.
“Although not be binding on the member states, the declaration will
have immense symbolic value, given the six decades in which homophobic
persecution has been ignored by the UN.
For a summary of the countries supporting the Declaration, see below.
“Even today, not a single international human rights convention
explicitly acknowledges the human rights of LGBT people. The right to
physically love the person of one’s choice is nowhere enshrined in any
global humanitarian law. No convention recognises sexual rights as
human rights. None offer explicit protection against discrimination
based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” added Mr Tatchell.
“Eighty-six countries (nearly half the nations on Earth) still have a
total ban on male homosexuality and a smaller number also ban sex
between women. The penalties in these countries range from a few years
jail to life imprisonment. In at least seven countries or regions of
countries (all under Islamist jurisdiction) , the sentence is death:
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Mauritania and parts of Nigeria and
Pakistan:
See the global homophobia survey produced by the International Lesbian
and Gay Association:
http://www.ilga. org/news_ results.asp? LanguageID= 1&FileCategoryID= 9&FileID=1165&ZoneID=7
“Unsurprisingly, the Vatican and the Organisation of Islamic States
are leading the fight against the UN declaration. ”
Last week, the Papal envoy to the UN, Monsignor Celestino Migliore,
explained the “logic” of the Holy See’s opposition when he announced
the Vatican’s rejection of this week’s decriminalisation declaration,
as reported in The Times newspaper in London:
http://www.timesonl ine.co.uk/ tol/comment/ faith/article526 8745.ece
The Monsignor argued that the UN declaration would unfairly “pillory”
countries where homosexuality is illegal; forcing them to establish
“new categories (gay people) protected from discrimination. ” Such laws
would “create new and implacable acts of discrimination. … States
where same-sex unions are not recognized as ‘marriages,’ for example,
would be subject to international pressure.”
“In other words, protecting LGBT people against discrimination is an
act of discrimination against those who discriminate. Since the
Vatican is against discrimination, it opposes discrimination against
countries that discriminate. This is the mediaeval mindset of the Pope
and his placemen,” said Mr Tatchell.
“Never mind, there are already plenty of countries committed to
supporting the UN decriminalisation declaration.
“It will be tabled in the General Assembly on Wednesday by France with
the backing of all 27 member states of the European Union; plus non-EU
European nations such as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Ukraine,
Andorra, Liechtenstein, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro,
Serbia, Ukraine, Armenia and Macedonia. Russia and Turkey are not
signing.
“The call for the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships also has
the support of the Latin American states of Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay – but not, notably, Columbia, Peru, Guyana or
Venezuela.
“Only three African nations - Gabon, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau -
are endorsing the declaration so far. South Africa has not signed up.
No Caribbean nation has offered its support – not even Cuba.
“Although New Zealand is committed to the declaration, Australia is
not. Nor is the United States. But Canada is a sponsor.
“No country in the Middle East, apart from Israel, endorses the
declaration, and in Asia only Japan has agreed to approve it. China
and India are silent on where they stand.
“The initiative for the UN universal decriminalisation declaration
came from the inspiring French black activist and gay rights
campaigner, Louis-Georges Tin, the founder of the
http://www.idahomop hobia.org/
International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). He lobbied the French
government, which agreed to take the lead in getting the declaration
tabled at the UN. Member organisations of the global IDAHO network
then petitioned their individual governments to support it.
“A reminder as to why this UN declaration matters occurred last
Friday, a sad anniversary. On 5 December 2007, Makvan Mouloodzadeh, a
21-year-old Iranian man, was hanged in Kermanshah Central Prison,
after an unfair trial. A member of Iran’s persecuted Kurdish minority,
he was executed on charges of raping other boys when he was 13. In
other words, he committed these alleged acts when he was minor..
According to Iranian law, a boy under 15 is a minor and cannot be
executed. At Makvan’s mockery of a trial, the alleged rape victims
retracted their previous statements, saying they had made their
allegations under duress. Makvan pleaded not guilty, telling the court
that his confession was made under torture. He was hanged anyway,
without a shred of credible evidence that he had even had sex with the
boys, let alone raped them. The lies, defamation and homophobia of the
debauched Iranian legal system was exposed when hundreds of villagers
attended Makvan’s funeral. People don’t mourn rapists. This execution
was bared-faced homophobic judicial murder, according to Arsham Parsi,
Executive Director, of the underground Iranian Queer Railroad, which
helps Iranian LGBTs fleeing arrest, torture and execution.
“Makvan’s fate is just one example of the thousands of state-sponsored
acts of homophobic persecution that happen worldwide ever year. It
shows why Wednesday’s UN declaration is so important - and so long
overdue,” said Mr Tatchell
Further information:
Peter Tatchell and OutRage!
