*We urge the international community to put pressure on the governments of countries where same sex activity is illegal to repeal all such laws and stop violating the essential human rights of LGBT people.
* We demand an immediate end to the use of the death penalty worldwide–especially for the so-called “crime” of same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults.
* We demand that national governments and international organisations develop and implement effective policies to prevent, investigate and punish hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
* We demand that genital surgery on intersexual persons be prohibited unless they are old enough to understand it and consent to it.
*We demand that international organizations (at the global and regional levels) systematically monitor the human rights situation of LGBT people and widely publicize their findings.
*We call on the international community to protect and give political and financial support to LGBT human rights defenders and organizations, in particular, in those countries of the world where LGBT persons still have to fear for their lives or their safety on a daily basis.
*We demand that national governments and international organisations make their international development aid conditional on real progress concerning respect for human rights, including the human rights of LGBT people.
*We demand the repeal of all laws criminalizing private, consensual, adult, same-sex sexual activity anywhere and everywhere such laws still exist.
2. GLOBAL ISSUES
A world where LGBT human rights are systematically violated,
is a world where nobody can feel safe and free.
“All human rights are universal, indivisible , interdependent and interrelated” ( as quoted in The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, 1993).
LGBT identities or practices have existed and continue to exist
in every culture and corner of the world; they are simply part
of the human condition.
Fighting ignorance and prejudice remains our first priority.
More information about LGBT persons, and more openness on the part of LGBT persons (when this can be done safely), are conditions for further progress to be made.
* We therefore call for the preparation of a world-wide information campaign.
* We ask the organizers of the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights at the 2nd World Out games in Copenhagen in 2009 to launch such a campaign.
* We demand the support of like-minded NGOs and sympathetic governments in the preparation and running of the campaign.
LGBT people do not live on an island, but form part of all societies, and rightly expect that their situations and their demands will be taken into account in formulating all public policies.
Accordingly, LGBT human rights must be mainstreamed into global debates about social and political issues.
This can only be achieved if the international LGBT human rights movement takes part in wider struggles,such as the fight for development and fair trade, worldwide social and economic rights, and international peace and stability.
LGBT human rights may seem a far cry in those parts of the world where coping with poverty and violence top the daily agenda.
However, working to overcome these problems, should always include working for better living conditions for LGBT individuals.
One crucial global issue is the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
We support the: "Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS" campaign.
That is UN Development Goal number 6, with a target date of 2015, endorsed by 189 Heads of State and Government in 2000.
This goal can only be reached by deploying a human-rights-based approach that includes the human rights of LGBT individuals.
Criminalizing sexual activity between men, and banning freedom of expression for LGBT groups----- still common practices in some countries----- have a directly detrimental effect on the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Access to information, adequate health services, and the elimination of violence and discrimination are crucial for both the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
* We urge governments to stop thwarting LGBT groups which spread information on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS among LGBT individuals.
* We urge donor countries and international institutions to step up their aid programmes for the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and work with local LGBT health groups to ensure that LGBT people are included in these programmes.
* We demand the removal of morality-based restrictions on HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment campaigns, including restrictions on promoting the use of condoms.
Another global issue is asylum.
Our primary goal is to work for a safe environment in every country, so that LGBT people do not need to leave their countries because of fear for their lives.
But every nation has an obligation to grant asylum to persons who are persecuted on the basis of their race, religion, political opinion and the like.
LGBT persons who have a well-founded fear of persecution,
by state or non-state actors, based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, must find similar protection within the framework of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.
A growing number of countries explicitly interpret this Convention in this way. And so does the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
We think that more countries should follow their example.
*We demand that national governments explicitly recognize in their national laws and practices a right to asylum based on a well-founded fear of persecution because of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
* We demand that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees step up his actions to convince national governments to implement the Guidelines on Gender-related Persecution, adopted in 2002.
A third global issue: migration.
The world is getting smaller and smaller; more and more people travel the world, make friends, and meet lovers who sometimes become partners.
But most countries deny to bi-national same-sex couples the right of one partner to sponsor the other for immigration,which different-sex married couples take for granted.
Even same-sex couples who have a marriage certificate or a registered partnership, recognized by the country of origin of one of the partners, cannot be sure of their status when they move somewhere else.
* We demand of our respective national governments: residence rights for our partners from abroad under the same conditions as different-sex married couples, without discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.
* We demand that international treaties on these matters be reformed, so as to grant to same-sex couples the same rights as different-sex married couples.
The United Nations has so far been unwilling or unable to recognize that LGBT rights are human rights, and fully incorporate LGBT issues into its human rights work.
Some specific UN treaty bodies and special reporters have taken LGBT rights into account.
But in 2005, the UN Commission on Human Rights refused for the third time to decide on a general resolution on ‘Human Rights and Sexual Orientation’, first tabled by Brazil in 2003.
And in 2006, the Economic and Social Council of the UN, for the third time, refused to grant consultative status to ILGA – the International Lesbian and Gay Association – as in 1992, and again in 1994 (when the consultative status granted in 1993 was suspended) and in 2002.
We will continue knocking on the door of the United Nations.
We do not accept that a world organisation can be closed to a specific part of the Earth's population, and can decide that it does not want to deal with their issues.
* We therefore urge governments to put LGBT human rights on the agenda of the new UN Human Rights Council, and to work for the adoption of a text, that will give a mandate to the Council and to other UN bodies to deal with LGBT human rights as a normal part of their work.
* We demand that ILGA and other LGBT organisations be granted the place they deserve among the many other NGOs that are entitled to consult with the Human Rights Council.
* We urge the Human Rights Committee and other UN treaty bodies to integrate the systematic monitoring of LGBT human rights into their work.
* We call upon lawyers, human rights institutions, and NGOs to continue studying which human rights of LGBT individuals are protected by existing international human rights treaties, and whether there are any gaps in the protection these treaties provide. This could lead to a discussion of the potential benefits of a UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination (CESOGID).
* We urge all UN Special Procedures to address LGBT human rights issues within their relevant mandates.
3. THE DIVERSE LGBT COMMUNITY
Our demand that the heterosexual, non-transgender majority respect our human rights and our diversity does not stop at our own doorstep.
We must also work to build an LGBT community that is open to all, and offers fair chances to everyone, regardless of their sex, race, religion, disability, age, economic status or other similar characteristics.
We must fight discrimination within our own ranks too.
We cannot tolerate sexism and racism inside our movement.
We are Muslims, Christians, Jews, Non-Believers, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Neo-Pagans and Humanists.
Among us, we have every form of disability, members of every age group, and members of every social and economic class.
The growing visibility and activism of LGBT groups in the Global South must be taken into account.
We must work as hard as we can to make it possible for LGBT activists from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe to participate in the global LGBT human rights movement on an equal footing.
Our long-term goal, as resources permit, should be much more proportionate representation of the Global South at international LGBT conferences.
We must remember that 88% of LGBT people live in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
The unequal position of women inside our movement reflects the still unequal power relations between women and men in the world as a whole.
Despite all the progress made over the last few decades, women are still le deuxième sexe, and lesbian women are no exception.
We must therefore seek more co-operation with the women’s movement, and stress our common ground.
The commonality is our right to control our own bodies and to choose how we live our own lives.
Our joint goal is to challenge the rigidity of the fixed roles allocated to women and men, and the dominance of heterosexual male norms and interests.
This joint goal is not something marginal, but is part of the core business of the LGBT human rights movement.
Transgender, transsexual, transitioned and intersexual individuals have become a more and more visible part of our movement, and have seen some of their demands taken on board.
Non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual persons will have to recognize that questioning the meaning of sex, and challenging rigid gender roles, are in fact two sides of the same coin. Transgender issues therefore should be considered as part and parcel of our common struggle for equality and dignity.
* We recommend that international LGBT organisations expand their pools of candidates for leadership positions by offering training courses, information seminars and the like to new –female, male or transgender - activists from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
* We ask the organizers of the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights at the 2nd World Out games in Copenhagen in 2009 to make an extra effort to realize an equal participation of women and men, to maximize participation from the Global South and from ethnic and cultural minorities, and to ensure full inclusion of transgender people and issues.
* We would also like to see at that conference more workshops on the role of women inside and outside our movement, and on increasing co-operation with the women’s movement.
4. PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY
(A) General :
In many countries, the fight against discriminatory rules and practices, started more than fifty years ago, has brought success.
We are proud of the victories of the international LGBT human rights movement.
As such we count:
The elimination of homosexuality from the official list of psychiatric diseases;
The long list of countries that have abolished discriminatory criminal laws;
New constitutional equality clauses that explicitly mention sexual orientation;
The growing number of countries, states, provinces, territories, counties or cities that have outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity;
The still small, but growing, number of countries that have opened up legal marriage to same-sex couples;
The more substantial increase in the number of countries that recognize registered same-sex partnerships;
The increasing openness of LGBT people in public life in many countries, so that openly LGBT artists or politicians, for example, are no longer so unusual;
The changes in public opinion that make it possible for LGBT individuals to be themselves and live their lives as they wish, without fear....
AND...
The growing number of public and private institutions, including human rights organisations, trade unions and other NGOs, that make it their responsibility to integrate the protection of LGBT human rights into their daily work.
BUT, …
These successes are only part of the story, and are valid for only a small part of the world. Much work still needs to be done.
Over time, all sectors of society must be scrutinized for existing rules and practices that still hinder the free,open and equal participation of LGBT individuals. Among these sectors, specific priorities for action must be decided by the LGBT human rights movement in each country,depending on their local circumstances.
* We demand that all governments develop and implement a comprehensive policy against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in all sectors of society.
This should preferably be done within the framework of an overall anti-discrimination policy designed to tackle all forms of discrimination in all spheres of life on all grounds - but without sweeping LGBT issues under the carpet.
* We demand that such an anti-discrimination policy focus on both legal equality, ending second-class treatment by the state, as well as on social equality, fighting discrimination and prejudice throughout society, including on the part of private parties.
