{"id":20528,"date":"2016-09-21T19:41:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T19:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=20528"},"modified":"2018-04-22T11:57:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:57:22","slug":"ban-calls-for-efforts-to-secure-equal-rights-for-lgbt-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2016\/09\/ban-calls-for-efforts-to-secure-equal-rights-for-lgbt-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban calls for efforts to secure equal rights for LGBT community"},"content":{"rendered":"

United Nations Secretary-General<\/a> Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to continue working for equal rights and fair treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, reiterating the UN\u2019s commitment to securing their human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always fight for the equality of the LGBT members of our human family,\u201d the UN chief\u00a0said<\/a> at a high-level side event of the UN\u2019s LGBT Core Group, entitled \u201c#Path2Equality: Global leaders discuss progress towards LGBT equality,\u201d held at UN Headquarters in New York this afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work will not leave me when I leave office \u2013 and it must not leave the office of the Secretary-General after I depart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging that when he first became Secretary-General, he did not know much about the challenges faced by LGBT people, Mr. Ban said that he learned by listening.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who lacks understanding should listen closely,\u201d he stressed. \u201cThe facts are disturbing. Every year, hundreds are killed, thousands are badly hurt, and millions live their lives under a shadow of discrimination and disapproval. That is an outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, many governments refuse to acknowledge human rights abuses against LGBT people \u2013 or accept responsibility for ending them, Mr. Ban said.<\/p>\n

Noting that several countries are \u201cbucking the tide of history with draconian new punishments for being gay \u2013 or even just talking about being gay,\u201d the Secretary-General said that he is particularly worried for children and youth who are bullied at school, thrown out of their homes or living on the streets.<\/p>\n

Those abuses will only end when countries take concrete steps to protect people, including instituting new laws, policies and programmes, he said, adding that such action requires leadership and a commitment to work with affected communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask those who use religious or cultural arguments to deprive LGBT people of their human rights: what do you gain by making others less equal? Is your religion or culture so weak that the only way you can sustain it is by denying others their basic rights? There is no room in our 21st century for discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,\u201d Mr. Ban said.<\/p>\n

Progress, however, is being seen at the UN Nations Human Rights Council, where more than 100 countries have accepted recommendations aimed at protecting LGBT people from discrimination, he said. In addition, next month, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR<\/a>) will release a study on more than 200 initiatives in 65 countries.<\/p>\n

Decriminalize gay relationships as starting point<\/em><\/h5>\n

In some cases, the starting point has been to decriminalize gay relationships, the UN chief explained. Over the past year, three more countries have abandoned criminal sanctions following UN recommendations: Mozambique, the Seychelles and Nauru, Mr. Ban said, commending their leadership.<\/p>\n

In addition, he highlighted that many countries have new laws to stop discrimination, punish hate crimes and restrict hate speech, while almost 40 countries now legally recognize same-sex couples and some are looking at making it easier for transgender people to have their gender legally recognized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese major advances happened thanks to brave individuals who stood up for what is right,\u201d the Secretary-General stressed.<\/p>\n

For its part, the UN is \u201ccommitted to action,\u201d Mr. Ban said, citing as an example the Human Rights Council\u2019s recent decision<\/a> to appoint the first-ever UN independent expert to monitor and report on violations against LGBT people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UN system is moving forward together. This progress was hard-fought and hard-won,\u201d Mr. Ban said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LGBT Core Group is our great ally \u2013 but we have many adversaries. There is a

[political] cost to speaking up \u2013 one which I am proud to pay,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Secretary-General also noted that he himself has been criticized by many people around the world, including by many Member States.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may not know how much I have been fighting and been criticized by certain Member States,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I made an administrative action to give equal pay and same allowances for those gay couples, even though their home countries do not recognize it, the United Nations for the first time has recognized that, regardless of what their home countries are doing, the UN has recognized it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emphasizing that many human rights defenders have \u201cpaid a far higher price,\u201d the Secretary-General told participants that \u201clacking unanimity should never stop us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll countries have accepted the principle \u2013 enshrined in international law \u2013 that human rights are universal. Consensus is ours. Let\u2019s insist on action,\u201d he said.

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI will always fight for the equality of the LGBT members of our human family,\u201d the UN chief said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":20536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4],"tags":[6180,5650,5828],"class_list":["post-20528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reduced-inequality","category-news","tag-goal-10","tag-lgbt","tag-reduced-inequalities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}