This Summer at the United Nations

OutRight and the UN

With a return to in-person meetings, OutRight stepped up efforts to highlight LGBTIQ issues at the United Nations. We advocated for the inclusion of global LGBTIQ communities through engagement at the High-Level Political Forum, putting LGBTIQ issues squarely on the sustainable development agenda. We marched with the expanding UN LGBTI Core Group and three Special Envoys on LGBTIQ rights at New York City Pride. We continue monitoring UN resolutions and statements, advocating for stronger language and commitments to LGBTIQ inclusion and expanded human rights protections. Finally, we are able to work together at the UN New York HQ and celebrate together, recognizing all that we have achieved and preparing for challenges ahead.

Pride Month! Celebrations and Raising Awareness

OutRight kept up with our annual tradition of marching in the NYC Pride parade. This June, we marched with the UN LGBTI Core Group, along with the Special Envoys of Argentina, Italy, and the United States. Together, we reminded the world that LGBTIQ folks everywhere deserve to be seen, recognized, respected, and protected.

News from the UN Religion Fellowship

The OutRight UN Religion Fellowship is a 12-month training and mentorship program for LGBTIQ human rights defenders engaged with faith communities around the world. The fellowship provides training, mentorship, and hands-on UN advocacy experience for individuals combatting religiously-motivated discrimination or working to address anti-LGBTIQ discrimination within their respective faith communities. This year, Fellows from eight countries participated in workshops focused on advancing LGBTIQ inclusion through UN high-level meetings, dialogues, open debates and civil society consultations. Fellows participated virtually in two high-level meetings at the UN: the Commission on the Status of Women and the High-Level Political Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals. Both of these processes provide entry points for civil society advocates to engage directly with Member States and representatives of their national governments and push them to include LGBTIQ issues in their statements and policy positions.

What the Fellows Are Up To

On 24 June, the UN Religion Fellows at OutRight held the Webinar, “Queering and Decolonizing Faith Spaces in the Global South.” The webinar showcased new initiatives by queer activists working within and beyond faith spaces and challenging restrictive religious narratives.

The UN LGBTI Core Group

What Is It and What Does It Do?

The UN LGBTI Core Group is an informal group of 41 states and the delegation of the EU, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, and OutRight Action International, which collaborate in mainstreaming LGBTIQ equality at the UN headquarters in New York. OutRight is a co-founder of the group and serves as its Secretariat. The Core Group regularly issues statements, hosts events and organizes campaigns with the aim of promoting human rights for all, including LGBTIQ people.

Welcoming Timor Leste and Portugal to the LBGTI Core Group

In early July, the UN LGBTI Core Group welcomed two new members to the group - Timor Leste and Portugal. Both countries have a strong record of fighting for the rights of LGBTIQ persons at the UN. Timor Leste is the third Asian member state to join the group. We celebrate the addition of like-minded states to our advocacy efforts and look forward to welcoming more members into the UN LGBTI Core Group.

Raising Awareness: International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia Event, “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights”

The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) is a day to raise awareness of the human rights violations faced by LGBTIQ persons around the globe. This year’s theme, “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Rights,” concentrated on the ways in which LGBTIQ persons are restricted from fully enjoying their right to bodily autonomy. On May 17th, the UN LGBTI Core Group hosted an event at UN Headquarters, the first event to bring LGBTIQ civil society back to the building. The event featured Barbra Wangare, executive director of the East Africa Trans Health and Advocacy Network, speaking remotely from Kenya; Kimberly Zieselman, the former executive director of InterAct and currently a consultant on intersex people’s rights at OutRight; Diene Keita, assistant secretary general and deputy director of the UN Population Fund; and Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They spoke about best practices when it comes to addressing existing barriers to bodily autonomy, including eradicating abusive surgical interventions on intersex children and ending conversion practices. Other urgent issues discussed were ways to gain legal gender recognition for trans and non-binary persons, and implementing sexual and reproductive health and rights, in policy and practice, for LGBTIQ individuals.

Online Pride Celebrations Reach Wider Audiences

June marked the launch of the Core Group’s Pride campaign, which highlighted milestones for LGBTIQ rights at the United Nations. Several missions hung posters of the campaign in their offices and for the first time ever, the UN Headquarters building in New York displayed a banner on LGBTIQ rights. This campaign celebrates increasing recognition of the rights of LGBTIQ people and our contributions to overcoming global challenges to health, wellbeing, peace and security through work at the United Nations, within our countries and our communities.

Intensifying Impact: UN LGBTI Core Group Statements at the UN

The UN LGBTI Core Group delivers statements during UN meetings, dialogues, open debates and days of recognition to ensure that LGBTIQ issues are mainstreamed within the international human rights legal and policy framework. Through formal statements and comments on reports of the Secretary General, the Core Group emphasizes how multiple co-existing identities shape people's experiences within social, political, and economic systems. This means that many people face multiple forms of discrimination and marginalization, and we, therefore, require solutions to the most pressing global emergencies that are inclusive and responsive to the needs and realities of all people, in all their diversity. This quarter, the Core Group delivered statements on human rights concerns and offered recommendations for progress on protections for LGBTIQ older persons, indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities. The Core Group also issued statements during the Open Debate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, as well as during the Commemoration of the First International Day on Countering Hate Speech.

LGBTI Core Group Retreat and Ambassadorial Dinner

Between July 5th and 7th, the UN LGBTI Core Group met in person for the first time, holding its 5th annual ambassadorial dinner and retreat. Together, Core Group members reviewed their successes over the past year and developed plans of action to bolster progress in the year ahead. The Core Group is poised to welcome new members and expand support for long-term normative progress.

Happenings at United Nations Headquarters

The 2022 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

The Big Picture

For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) was held in person. Side events and exhibitions remained virtual. This year’s theme was “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Who’s Involved

During the HLPF, the LGBTI Stakeholder Group drove dialogue on the inclusion of people of diverse SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics) in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). LGBTIQ Stakeholder Group members took the floor to make statements on LGBTIQ inclusion during several plenaries and presented critical questions to Member States in response to their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs). Each LGBTI Stakeholder Group intervention called for action on LGBTIQ-specific concerns, such as access to change of legal gender markers, decriminalization of same-sex relations and gender diversity, and access to sexual and reproductive health care.

Why We Send Questions and Deliver Statements

The LGBTI Stakeholder Group, along with the other Major Groups and other Stakeholders, sent written questions to the 44 countries presenting Voluntary National Reviews. Submitting questions allows civil society to push for transparency and accountability on the part of the States and directly challenge States on certain issues - such as LGBTIQ equality - in their efforts to attain the SDGs.

Side Events During HLPF

Ending Gender-Based Violence: Policies to Increase Protections for LGBTIQ People and Advance SDG 5

What Happened

The event, hosted by OutRight, highlighted gender-based violence across diverse national and cultural contexts, with a focus on LGBTIQ populations. Panelists discussed how harmful gender norms, practices, and restrictive and absent legal protections place LGBTIQ populations at particular risk for gender-based violence. Each speaker presented case studies and best practices for tackling gender-based violence from their own work with LGBTIQ communities. Panelists closed with a call to action for all sectors to fund and support organizations like theirs that are identifying challenges, developing solutions and making an impact where there is the greatest need.

Inclusive Education for All: Addressing LGBTI Populations’ Real Access to Education

Take-aways

The event, hosted by the LGBTI Stakeholder Group, highlighted barriers in education for students of diverse SOGIESC, which hold back progress on SDG 4 - Quality Education. The event tackled recently proposed and enacted laws that prohibit discussions of gender and sexuality in school settings in the United States and other countries. The event featured LeAnna Marr, USAID Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator and Acting Senior Coordinator of the U.S. International Basic Education Assistance; Dzoe Ahmad, Co-Programmes Manager at Gender Dynamix; Munkh-Erdene Davaajav, of Youth LEAD Mongolia; and Nhuun Wannapong Yodmuang from the Asia Pacific Trans Network. Each panelist presented their personal and professional expertise on educational barriers for students of diverse SOGIESC, and shared their recommendations for best practices.

Accelerating the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Implementation: Addressing Systemic Barriers, Recovery Gaps and Strengthening People’s Participation

What We Learned

The event, hosted by the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS), and featuring OutRight’s UN Officer, Luiza Veado, explored various civil society proposals on post-COVID-19 recovery approaches. It highlighted different recovery approaches centered on the fundamental idea of leaving no one behind by putting human rights and gender equality at their core. Panelists asserted that we can only build back better if we address structural inequalities, create inclusive public services, strengthen multilateralism, and expand civic space.

Ministerial Declaration

The Big Picture

At the conclusion of the High-Level Political Forum, Member States adopted a Ministerial Declaration focused on building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, this year’s Ministerial Declaration reviewed SDG 5 on gender equality for the first time since 2017.

Advances

This year’s Ministerial Declaration pushes for a gender-responsive approach, acknowledging that women and girls, in all their diversity, face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. The Declaration also reaffirms states’ commitment to ending “all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.” Through the declaration’s commitment to “systemic mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all policies,” it affirms an urgency to address “existing structural barriers such as discriminatory laws and policies, gender stereotypes, harmful practices, and negative social norms and attitudes.” It maintains last year’s commitment to stepping up efforts to fight against “all forms of discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, stigmatization, and hate speech, through cooperation, partnership and inclusion and respect for diversity.” However, efforts by some Member States to include explicit references to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity were unsuccessful due to resistance from other Member States.

Renewal of the UN’s Independent Expert on SOGI

The Run Down

On July 7th, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) voted on a resolution to renew the mandate of the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IE SOGI). Active for the last six years, the mandate gathers intelligence on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity and engages with states to highlight protection gaps and promote best practices. It is vital to OutRight, the UN LGBTI Core Group, and all civil society organizations engaged in UN monitoring and advocacy./p>

The Vote

In a critical vote at the UN Human Rights Council, the resolution was adopted by a vote of 23 in favor, with 17 voting against and seven abstaining. Attempts by some Member States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to water down the mandate with amendments aimed at limiting its scope and authority were averted. Yet, the slim majority vote in favor of the mandate, and the nearly successful introduction of amendments to gut the resolution are alarming. OutRight's UN Advocacy Program, along with the UN LGBTI Core Group, will continue monitoring opposition and generating support for the mandate over the coming months.

The vote led to an historic first, in which the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution explicitly condemning "laws, policies and practices criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct and relations and expressions of gender identity.” The Council also called on States to amend discriminatory legislation and combat violence on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, calling on all States “to take effective measures to prevent, investigate and, where applicable, to prosecute acts of violence and discrimination based on those grounds.”

Renewed for the next three years, the mandate will continue to play a critical role in documenting human rights violations based on sexual orientation or gender identity and will work with governments to advance human rights protections for sexual and gender minorities everywhere.

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