UN Fails To Act On Gay Rights Proposal
by Jon ben Asher
365Gay.com Newscenter
European Bureau Chief

(Geneva) After three days of heated debate the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, meeting in Geneva, has failed to vote on expanding the world body's definition of discrimination to include that based on sexual orientation.  

The proposal was put forward by Brazil and supported by Canada, South Africa and most of the European Union.   

The resolution was the first of its kind in United Nations history.

It "Calls upon all states to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation" and for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights "to pay due attention to the phenomenon of violations of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation." It "Expresses deep concern at the occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation."

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission described the resolution as "a historic opportunity to advance LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] issues in international human rights law."

But five Muslim states managed to prevent a vote from taking place. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya and Malaysia introduced amended resolutions in which all references to sexual orientation were deleted.

"There are some proposals which create fundamental difficulties for a large group of delegations," Pakistani ambassador Shaukat Umer told the meeting

In addition, the United States, a member of the commission, let it be known that it would abstain from voting on a proposal that included sexuality.

The State Department said the United States would not have supported the resolution if it had come to a vote because it did not believe the commission was the correct forum for the matter to be discussed.

"As a general matter, in the United States, different aspects of the issues raised in this resolution are addressed by officials at the federal, state and local levels of government," spokesman Richard Boucher said.

The vote was originally to have been taken on Wednesday, then put off until Thursday, and finally it was moved to Friday, just prior to the session's closing ceremony.

With the clock ticking until the scheduled 6:00 pm (local time) close of the meeting, the Islamic members used procedures similar to a filibuster to prevent a vote and let the issue die.  

Shortly before 6:00 the chair proposed putting the vote over until the next session of the Commission, in a year's time.  Canada, suggested postponing the adjournment and continue sitting for two more days.  In the end, the delegates voted to take up the issue next year.

The lack of action by the UN does not surprise British gay advocate Peter Tatchell.

"All previous attempts to debate gay human rights in the UN have been vetoed by homophobic governments", Tatchell said.

"We are very disappointed that the Commission on Human Rights has chosen to postpone action that affirms the basic human rights of the world's gay, lesbian and bisexual population, who along with the transgender community, are routinely subjected to discrimination and inhumane treatment," said Elizabeth Birch, Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest right rights organization in the US.  

"Lasting global peace begins with basic human rights for all the world's citizens."

More than  70 countries have a complete ban on homosexuality, with sentences ranging from imprisonment to public flogging and death. In seven nations, same-sex relations are punishable by execution. The countries with capital punishment for homosexuality are: Chechnya, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.

Gay sex is also harshly repressed in Bangladesh, Egypt, Malaysia and Pakistan, with maximum sentences ranging from three to 20 years jail. In some countries, such as Mexico, El Salvador, Columbia and Brazil, right-wing death squads target gay people for assassination in what they call `social cleansing` campaigns".

Gay rights activists at the Commission meetings say they will spend the next year lobbying the various member government and intend return next year.

©365Gay.com Ltd® 2003

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