Human Rights groups advocate decriminalization of sexual orientation

Sep 22, 2010 News

Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) joins with the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council to renew its call for an end to criminal sanctions and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, ahead of the adoption of the outcome for Guyana’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process tomorrow, in Geneva,
According to SASOD, at a high level panel on September 17, 2010, in Geneva, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Un High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, joined SASOD’s David Clarke, Cameroonian lawyer and activist Alice Nkom and Sunita Kuju from the Centre for Reflection, Education and Action (CREA).
The United Nations Secretary sent a written message appealing for an end to the criminalization of people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Laws criminalizing people on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity violate the principle of non-discrimination,” the UN Secretary General said in a message which was read to the group by High Commissioner Pillay. “They also fuel violence, help to legitimize homophobia and contribute to a climate of fear.”
In a special video message recorded for the session, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said “Sexual orientation like skin color is a feature of our diversity. How sad it is that when God’s children are facing such massive problems – poverty, disease, corruption, conflict – we are so often obsessed with human sexuality.”
“Is there not already too much hate in this world, without also seeking to persecute those who love?” Archbishop Tutu asked.
Speaking about Guyana’s peculiar laws against cross-dressing, SASOD’s David Clarke reported that “the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of Guyana, and in particular our transgender population, are constantly victims of harassment by police officers and other private citizens. The mere existence of laws criminalising cross-dressing gives State officers and private citizens the belief that their discriminatory actions are legitimized.”
SASOD further disclosed that at a plenary session of the Human Rights Council, Guyana will respond to several outstanding recommendations on LGBT rights made by states in the UPR process to bring Guyana into conformity with its international human rights obligations.
The panel discussion was moderated by Daniel Baer, Unite States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour on behalf of a cross-regional of 13 co-sponsoring states (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, France, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Timor-Leste, Uruguay and the United States of America), with support from ARC International, the International Commission for Jurists and COC Netherlands.

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Human Rights groups advocate decriminalization of sexual orientation

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