This is a blog is related to my academic work in the International Academic Forum on SOGIESC Law but meant to serve anyone who wants to contribute to improve the protection of human rights worldwide. It is intended to keep interested readers informed about legal developments relating to sexual orientation, gender expression and identity and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). Hopefully, it will make it easier to find correct legal information about the developments in all regions of the world and, in particular, with regard to international law.
UN human rights office demands stay of execution for two Iranian LGBTQ activists
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Thursday demanded a stay of execution for Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar. In August, the Islamic Revolution Court of Urumieh charged Sedighi-Hamadani and Choubdar with “corruption on earth” for allegedly promoting homosexuality and sentenced both women to death.
Sedighi-Hamadani was arrested and arbitrarily detained in October 2021 by the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) near Iran’s border with Turkey. Following her arrest, she was forcibly disappeared for 53 days, held in solitary confinement and denied her fair trial rights, including access to a lawyer.
Before attempting to leave Iran, Sedighi-Hamadani recorded a video, saying:
I want you to know how much pressure we LGBT people endure. We risk our lives for our emotions, but we will find our true selves… I hope the day will come when we can all live in freedom in our country. I am journeying toward freedom now… If I don’t make it, I will have given my life for this cause.
UN officials say that both women have been “prosecuted on the discriminatory basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, including the criminalization of LGBT people whose human rights they were supporting through speech and peaceful action.” President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi has called homosexuality the “ugliest of behaviours” and a “wretched” act. Amnesty International agrees that convictions and sentences like Sedighi-Hamadani and Choubdar’s “are based on discriminatory reasons related to the women’s real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity.”
According to Hengaw Human Rights Organization, LGBT activist Soheila Ashrafi is imprisoned in the women’s ward of Urmia Central Prison and is still waiting for a verdict in her case.
On 18 March 2022,1 the Dutch-speaking Labour Court of Brussels ruled that the reimbursement scheme for HPV vaccination was in breach of the Gender Act and the Anti-Discrimination Act. The decision followed legal action by the parents of a minor boy who, with the support of the Federal Gender Institute, denounced the fact that, unlike girls of his age, he was not entitled to reimbursement for his HPV vaccination.
Therefore, the judgment declared that the refusal of the defendant (the National Healthcare Insurance Institute) to meet the cost of the HPV vaccine in favour of boys constituted prohibited direct discrimination within the meaning of Article 19 of the Gender Act in conjunction with Article 14 of the Anti-Discrimination Act (in the case of homosexual boys).
Cuba Monday voted to legalize same-sex marriage following a historic national referendum. Government officials announced that more than 3.9 million voters, or 66.9 percent, voted in favour of a new Family Code, and 1.95 million voters, 33 percent, opposed the ratification.
The new code legalizes same-sex marriage and will allow same-sex couples to adopt. The legislation contains other provisions to broaden the rights of grandparents and children, allow for surrogacy and prenuptial agreements, promote equal sharing of domestic responsibilities and establish measures for tackling gender-based violence. Following the vote, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has been vocal in supporting same-sex marriage, said, “justice has been done. To approve the is to do justice. It is paying off a debt with several generations of Cuban men and women, whose family projects have been waiting for this Law for years. Starting today, we will be a better nation.
Previous attempts to legalise same-sex marriage in Cuba have been unsuccessful. In December 2018 following significant opposition, the government removed an amendment that would have extended marriage rights to same-sex couples from the draft of a new constitution. The new constitution was approved in a 2019 referendum and used neutral language when describing marriage “as a social and legal institution.” This provision did not explicitly legalise same-sex marriage, but also did not ban the union.
Equal Rights Coalition met in Buenos Aires on 8 to 9 September to discuss challenges facing LGBT people
UK and Argentina will co-chair the 2022 Equal Rights Coalition conference from Buenos Aires today
42 member states and more than 140 civil society organisations will discuss the need to uphold human rights for LGBT persons
pre-conference report highlights the growing global “backlash” against LGBT rights and freedoms
The Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) will meet in Buenos Aires today (Thursday 8 September) to discuss joint action on urgent issues that LGBT people face globally.
The gathering comes at a pivotal moment as ERC member states have identified a growing global threat to the freedoms and human rights of LGBT persons. It will also provide the opportunity for governments and NGOs to share best practice.
The current ERC co-chairs, Argentina and the UK, will also present a report tracking progress of the ERC’s Strategy and Five-Year Implementation Plan, published in July 2021.
Germany and Mexico will take up their roles as new ERC co-chairs during the closing ceremony of the conference on Friday 9 September. The ERC will commit to strengthening engagement from ERC members and empowering greater representation from the Global South. Germany and Mexico will also be joined by civil society co-chairs and supported by a new Administrative Unit, funded by member states.
The UK stands for freedom – and that means freedom for all. We’re proud of the Equal Rights Coalition’s work to defend these freedoms but more needs to be done, in every part of the world, to achieve our aims.
We look forward to supporting Germany and Mexico in their role as the next ERC co-chairs. Together we can send the clear message that LGBT rights are human rights.
Argentina’s Special Representative Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Alba Rueda said:
Argentina is a strong country in human rights and diversity. This is the result of the social and political movement of lesbians, gays, travestis, transgender people, non-binaries, and all activisms that break away from the patriarchal and binary system.
We value the ERC in this same way: as a space in which social organisations can express themselves so that states can listen to them and commit to turning their demands into public policies.
This year’s ERC Conference follows previous convenings in Montevideo in 2016, Vancouver in 2018, and a virtual event in 2021. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the UK and Argentina have held an extended tenure as co-chairs since 2019.
The conference will focus on 4 key areas, including:
supporting civil society responses to the global anti-gender movement
mapping the progress towards decriminalisation around the world
Civil society organisations play a vital role in the Equal Rights Coalition. The current civil society co-chairs – Asociación Familias Diversas Argentina, Kaleidoscope Trust, and Stonewall – support more than 140 groups from across the world. The UK, Argentina, Mexico, the USA, Canada, The Netherlands and Belgium have funded some of the in-person participation at this year’s conference for civil society organisations and human rights defenders from the Global South.
In July 2021, the ERC agreed a Strategic Plan and Five-Year Implementation Plan to help guide and energise the group’s work and ensure the organisation can live up to its huge potential. The pre-conference report highlighted this prioritisation process as a “major achievement” of Argentina and the UK’s tenure as co-chairs.
Background
the ERC will meet in Buenos Aires from 8 to 9 September
for delegates unable to attend in person, participants will also be able to engage virtually through a hybrid meeting
journalists wishing to cover elements of the conference either in person or virtually, can apply for accreditation
USA: Religious university blocks every single student club just to get rid of LGBTQ+ group
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The private Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva University has blocked every single student organisation, just to get rid of an LGBTQ+ club.
In June, the New York County Supreme Court found that Yeshiva University was in violation of the city’s human rights laws by refusing to recognise the YU Pride Alliance, with the court ordering the university to grant the club “advantages, facilities, and privileges afforded to all other student groups”.
How LGBTQ+ rights in UK changed during the Queen’s time on the throne
Throughout her reign, life has been radically transformed for LGBTQ+ people in the UK. When she ascended to the throne in 1952 following the death of her father King George VI, homosexuality was still illegal.
While Queen Elizabeth generally avoided commenting publicly on LGBTQ+ rights, she has – as is required by her position – given royal assent (which is a formality where the reigning monarch approves changes to the law) to many pieces of legislation that have changed the trajectory of queer life in Britain.
The complicated legacy of the Wolfenden Report, which changed the trajectory of UK LGBTQ+ rights
Sir John Wolfenden (right) meets members of the press at the Waldorf Hotel for discussions and questions on the Wolfenden Committee Report on Sport, 28th September 1960. (Photo by Terry Fincher/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
The soccer governing body, FIFA, knew this in 2010, when it awarded Qatar the football tournament, one of the world’s most widely viewed sporting events. FIFA’s own governing statutes, in force at the time, ban LGBT discrimination of the kind Qatar enshrines in its national laws, and FIFA’s due diligence to enforce its own policies around the world has been ineffective.
In 2016, FIFA adopted the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require it to “avoid infringing on the human rights of others and address adverse human rights impacts.” It requires FIFA to take adequate measures for the “prevention, mitigation, and remediation” of human rights impacts.
To meet this responsibility for the Qatar World Cup, FIFA should have introduced concrete policies and a human rights due diligence process with regular reporting. But less than five months ahead of the football tournament, and despite FIFA’s recent celebration of Pride month, it is clear that it is failing to live up to its promises.
In March, an international coalition of groups noted FIFA’s and Qatar’s lack of progress in implementing civil society recommendations on LGBT rights made to the country’s Supreme Committee, including legal reform and free expression guarantees.
But despite Qatar’s dismal human rights record, including around the rights of migrant workers, severe restrictions on free expression and peaceful assembly, state policies that discriminate and facilitate violence against women, and a repressive environment against LGBT residents and visitors, Qatar remains the tournament host and has not changed its ways.
In 2020, Qatar assured prospective visitors that the kingdom will welcome LGBT visitors and that fans will be free to fly the rainbow flag at the games. But it begged the question: what about the rights of LGBT residents of Qatar?
Suggestions that Qatar should make an exception for outsiders are implicit reminders that Qatari authorities do not believe that its LGBT residents deserve basic rights. It risks erasing the lived repressive reality of LGBT residents of Qatar.
On May 20, at a news conference in Berlin, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, responded to a question about the rights of LGBT visitors by repeating that, “We [Qatar] welcome everybody, but we also expect and want people to respect our culture.”
Qatar’s steady reference to “culture” to deny LGBT people’s rights deflects responsibility away from abusive state systems. “Culture” should not be used as a cover for discourse, practices, and legislation that have effectively excluded content related to sexual orientation and gender identity from the public sphere.
Qatari authorities censor mainstream media related to sexual orientation and gender identity. And people who have experienced government repression have told us that the government surveils and arrests LGBT people based on their online activity.
In April, Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari, a senior Interior Ministry official overseeing security for the football tournament, said that rainbow flags may be confiscated from prospective visitors “for their protection.” Al Ansari added: “Reserve the room together, sleep together — this is something that’s not in our concern.”
It certainly should be a concern. A recent survey by a Scandinavian media group showed that 3 of the 69 hotels on FIFA’s official list of recommended accommodations would deny entry to same-sex couples. It found that only 33 did not object to booking same-sex couples, while 20 others said that “they would accommodate same-sex couples as long as they did not publicly show that they were gay.” FIFA responded, warning that it will terminate any contracts with hotels that discriminated against same-sex couples.
Qatar’s hardening position may be connected to its improving geopolitical standing in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, especially in Europe where Qatar’s liquefied natural gas is viewed as an alternative to Russian energy.
Journalists, human rights organizations, and football associations have widely criticized allowing Qatar to host the World Cup in the first place. FIFA has a responsibility to hold host authorities accountable to an international rights-respecting standard, including on LGBT rights.
Long-term legal reform should prioritize the realities of LGBT residents of Qatar, including by introducing legislation that protects against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, online and offline. The Qatari government should repeal all laws that criminalize consensual sexual relations outside of marriage—before the World Cup begins this fall.
International and Comparative SOGIESC Law - Professor Andreas R Ziegler 