High Comm. Human Rights

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has played a key role in advocating equality and nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

As part of the lead up to the 2011 International Day Against Homophobia, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a video and a pamphlet on violence and discrimination targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.

In the video, the High Commissioner talks about recent violent attacks against LGBT people in the United States, Brazil, Honduras and South Africa, stressing that such incidents are not isolated but part of a global problem. “Ultimately, homophobia and transphobia are no different to sexism, misogyny, racism or xenophobia”, she notes “but whereas these last forms of prejudice are universally condemned by Governments, homophobia and transphobia are too often overlooked.” The full script is also provided on the OHCHR website as a Word document in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

The pamphlet, entitled The United Nations Speaks Out: Tackling Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity is a collaborative effort between OHCHR, UNDP, UNAIDS and WHO. It presents extracts from many of the strong statements on the subject made by the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner and other senior UN officials, as well as by the UN treaty bodies, special rapporteurs and other UN agencies.

By issuing the pamphlet jointly, the participating agencies/entities send a clear message that United Nations partners speaks together on the issue.

All of this information is posted on an OHCHR webpage dedicated to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity: www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Discrimination/Pages/LGBT.aspx

HRC resolution 17/19 (June 2011) requested the High Commissioner to prepare a study “documenting discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in all regions of the world, and how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity”.
Read more on the report – 19th session of the Human Rights Council

Public statements by or to the High Commissioner on SOGI issues:

1. HC presentation at the panel on violence and criminalisation on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, September 2010
2. SOGI references in High Commissioner’s Strategic Management Plan, 2010-2011
3. NGO Joint Statement, Interactive Dialogue with HC, March 2010
4. HC Statement on Arrests in Malawi, May 2010
5. Letter to HC from Dialogue participants, January 2010
6. HC statement at event on sexual orientation and gender identity, June 2009
7. HC statement at Paris event, May 2009
8. HC Statement to UN General Assembly, December 2008
9. HC Statement on the launch of the Yogyakarta Principles, November 2007
10. Statement of OHCHR-Nepal on the launch of the Yogyakarta Principles, August 2007
11. HC statement at the International Conference on LGBT human rights, Montreal, July 2006

High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2008