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by Nikki Serapio, Manager, New Media Strategies
The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, which is responsible for various social, humanitarian, and core human rights issues, voted last week to remove sexual orientation from a UN resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission provides a summary of the decision:
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.
What can we say? At a time when LGBT people are being publicly targeted for harassment and death by hanging, the United Nations goes out of its way to “un-protect” these people. Ethnic and religious minorities should be protected, but not those threatened because of their sexual orientation? Given that sexual orientation was expressly included in the 2008 version of this resolution, we should all be asking the UN: What changed in the last three years?
Ultimately, 79 member countries voted to help the bigots, torturers, and actual and would-be murderers who have lashed out, are seeking to lash out, and will lash out against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people across the world. This at a time when 76 countries criminalize homosexuality, and five already codify it as a crime punishable by death.
Here’s a list of the 79 countries that voted to remove sexual orientation from this important UN human rights resolution. Let's not mince words here: the representatives of these countries are moral cowards.
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 |
