US 'incensed' after reference to sexual orientation dropped from
protected minorities list
Anita Snow in New York
Tuesday December 21 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/21/gay-rights-row-un-resolution
A culture war has broken out at the UN over whether gay people should
be offered the same protections as other minorities whose lives are
threatened.
The issue will come to a head today when the general assembly votes on
renewing its routine condemnation of the unjustified killing of
various categories of vulnerable people.
It specifies killings for racial, national, ethnic, religious or
linguistic reasons, and includes refugees, indigenous people and other
groups.
But because of a change promoted by Arab and African nations and
approved at committee level, the resolution drops "sexual orientation"
and replaces it with "discriminatory reasons on any basis".
The US government says it is incensed at the change, as are gay rights
campaigners. "Even if those countries do not support gay rights, you
would think they would support our right not to be killed," said
Jessica Stern of the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission.
Stern said gay people all over the world were frequent targets of
violence because of their sexual orientation.
Authorities in Jamaica are investigating a possible hate crime after
the killing of a man who belonged to the country's sole gay rights
group, earlier this month.
Uganda, among 76 countries that criminalise homosexuality, is debating
whether to join the five other countries that consider it a capital
crime.
The biennial resolution does not refer to sexual orientation for the
first time since 1999. The US ambassador, Susan Rice, said she was
"incensed" that the reference was removed, and that the US will
attempt to restore it.
The battle underscores the historic split over gay rights among UN
members and their diverse religious and cultural sensibilities.
Activists say gay and lesbian issues got only minimal attention at the
UN a decade ago.
"There has been slow but steady progress on lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender rights at the UN," Stern said.
Stern cited as progress UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon's "landmark"
speech during a gay rights forum at UN headquarters on Human Rights
Day, 10 December, calling for an end to laws around the world that
make it a crime to be homosexual.
But as gay rights gain more acceptance in the UN system, some member
states are pushing back, said Mark Bromley, of the Washington-based
Council for Global Equality, which aims to advance gay rights in
American foreign policy. "I think some states are uncomfortable and
they are organising to limit engagement on the issue."
"We are seeing a backlash," agreed Stern. "This is an illustration of
the tensions around culture at the United Nations, and how power plays
out and alliances are made."
On behalf of African countries, Benin introduced the amendment that
deleted the sexual orientation reference. The largely Christian
country of eight million with a sizeable Muslim population argued that
"sexual orientation had no legal foundation in any international human
rights instruments".
Morocco, an Arab country that is almost exclusively Muslim, asserted
that such selectivity "accommodated particular interests and groups
over others" and urged all UN member states "to devote special
attention to the protection of the family as the natural and
fundamental unit of society".
Western nations opposed the move to delete the mention of sexual
orientation. Britain called it "an affront to human dignity", while
France and Norway said the move was "regrettable".
The amendment was passed at a committee meeting last month by 79-70,
with 17 abstentions.
General assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but rather
reflect the views of the majority of the world's nations.
Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the US mission to the UN, said the US
will introduce an amendment next week to restore the previous
language, including the phrase "sexual orientation" because "this is
an issue that is important to us".
Gay groups and human rights activists also have been lobbying missions
to the UN in New York in recent days, urging in particular, the
delegations that abstained on the amendment to help restore the
mention of sexual orientation.
"We only need a few more countries and we can change this vote
around," said Boris Dittrich of Human Rights Watch.
But gaining the world's support for gay rights will take far longer.
More than two-thirds of UN members, many of them Muslim nations, are
refusing to sign a separate UN statement condemning human rights
violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, especially
with regard to the application of the death penalty and extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions.
Under the Bush administration in 2008, the US refused to join all
other western nations in signing the declaration, arguing that the
broad framing of the language in the statement might conflict with US
laws.
After Barack Obama took office last year, the US joined other member
states to support the declaration, saying it found that the language
did not conflict with American laws. Sixty-eight of the UN's member
countries have now signed the declaration, and 124 countries have
abstained.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
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