LGBT rights at the United Nations: Difference between revisions

Following meetings between international advocacy leader [[Louis-Georges 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.<ref name="prai">{{cite press release |title=UN: General Assembly statement affirms rights for all |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |date=12 December 2008 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/es/documents/ior40/024/2008/es/ |access-date=20 March 2009}}</ref> Co-sponsored by France (which then held the rotating presidency of the EU) and the Netherlands on behalf of the EU, 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 into the General Assembly Record by Ambassador [[Jorge Argüello]] of [[Argentina]] on 18 December 2008—the first declaration concerning gay rights read in the General Assembly.<ref name="nyt-art">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/world/19nations.html |title=In a First, Gay Rights Are Pressed at the U.N. |work=[[New York Times]] |last=MacFarquhar |first=Neil |date=18 December 2008 |access-date=20 December 2008}}</ref><ref name="ARGARG">{{cite web|url=https://press.un.org/en/2008/ga10801.doc.htm|title=GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS 52 RESOLUTIONS, 6 DECISIONS RECOMMENDED BY THIRD COMMITTEE ON WIDE RANGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL, HUMANITARIAN ISSUES|date=18 December 2008|website=United Nations Meetings Coverage and Press Releases |access-date=8 March 2024}}</ref> The statement includes a condemnation of violence, [[harassment]], discrimination, [[social exclusion|exclusion]], [[stigmatization]], and [[prejudice]] based on sexual orientation and gender identity that undermine [[bodily integrity|personal integrity]] and dignity. It also includes condemnation of killings and executions, torture, [[arbitrary arrest and detention|arbitrary arrest]], and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights on those grounds. The statement asserts: "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". Additionally, it says "we commend the attention paid to those issues by [[United Nations Special Rapporteur|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", indicating the [[Yogyakarta Principles]], which provide definitions in detail on sexual orientation and on gender identity as a document on [[international human rights law]].<ref>[https://yogyakartaprinciples.org/preambule/ The Preamble of The Yogyakarta Principles]</ref>