16th session of the Universal Periodic Review
Geneva, 3 May, 2013
The 16th UPR session took place from 22 April to 3 May 2013. Countries under review included Turkmenistan, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Tuvalu, Germany, Djibouti, Canada, Bangladesh, Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Cameroon and Cuba.
Download a report of the session: UPR16 SOGI Report
Download our advocacy document: UPR 16 – suggested recommendations
Oslo Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Oslo, 16 April, 2013
The Oslo Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity has just wrapped up, and it has been a busy and intensive few days!
Co-hosted by Norway and South Africa, the conference built upon the regional processes of the last two months and brought together more than 200 participants from 84 countries. Packed with plenaries, debates, workshops, official receptions, and strategy sessions, the conference concluded with presentation of a Co-Chairs’ Summary of Conclusions.
The Summary of Conclusions outlines the background and legal framework, identifies some of the many human rights violations faced on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as some positive developments, and outlines recommendations and next steps at the national, regional and international levels.
Read more…
SOGI Regional Seminars
5 April, 2013
Regional seminars on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity have been taking place in Nepal, France and Brazil over the last couple of weeks. Inputs from human rights defenders are also being gathered through a number of civil society events in different sub-regions of Africa taking place between February and April 2013. The main purpose of these seminars is to gain better understanding of the specific human rights challenges in each region, and to discuss how these challenges may best be overcome. The results of the regional seminars are to feed in to a concluding conference taking place in Oslo in mid-April. Read more…
15th session of the Universal Periodic Review
The 15th UPR session took place from 21 January to 1 February 2013. Countries under review included France, Tonga, Romania, Mali, Botswana, Bahamas, Burundi, Luxembourg, Barbados, Montenegro, United Arab Emirates, Liechtenstein, and Serbia. Israel was also due to be reviewed at the session, but failed to appear before the Working Group. The Human Rights Council adopted a decision agreeing to defer Israel’s review to the 17th session of the UPR, at the latest. Read more at http://www.upr-info.org/+Israel-absent-from-its-own-UPR+.html
Download our advocacy document: UPR15 – suggested recommendations
Download our report of the session: Report of UPR 15th session
UN Condemns Killings based on SOGI
New York, November 21, 2012
The UN 3rd Committee voted to include sexual orientation and gender identity as specific grounds for protection in it’s resolution on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions. The vote reversed the events of 2010 when the same body voted to strip the resolution of reference to “sexual orientation.” The body also expanded upon its commitment to the universality of human rights by including “gender identity” for the first time in the resolution’s history. The resolution, which is introduced biennially in the Third Committee, urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling upon states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. It was introduced by the Government of Sweden and co-sponsored by 34 states from around the world. Read more…
