As part of our commitment to community dialogue, self-reflection and strategic analysis, ARC does and/or commissions researches aiming at contributing to strengthening global LGBTI advocacy.
Some of these explore the impact the Universal Periodic Review mechanism has had on States and civil society to raise and make progress on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics issues at the national level. Other ones assess SOGII advocacy at the UN, including challenges, successes and next steps. Another one evaluates ARC’s own role, including positive contributions, areas where our work could be strengthened and possible future directions.
Some of them are joint researches, some of them are only ARC ones. We look forward to engaging in dialogue on how the findings can contribute to strengthening global LGBTI advocacy.
Analysing the work of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria from the lens of SOGIESC violations (2021)
The conflict in Syria in March of 2021 passed a grim milestone and entered its eleventh year. The conflict has been accompanied by massive human rights violations committed by all parties. Ever since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, the Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI) has been documenting the rights violations which have been committed. The violations documented by the Commission includes mass disappearances, mass detention, sexual violence on women and men, attacks on medical facilities and long-term sieges of entire residential areas of cities which are deemed to host enemy populations. The human rights violations also affected people on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression (SOGIE).
Read the full report here.
Analysing the work of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria from the lens of SOGIESC violations
The conflict in Syria in March of 2020 entered its ninth year, starts Arvind Narrain in this report. The nine years of the conflict would have caused untold suffering with at least half a million dead and more than 11 million people being displaced. The conflict which began as an uprising against the regime transmuted into a complex civil war. Ever since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, the Commission of Inquiry on Syria has been documenting the rights violations which have been committed. This report explorez what the output of the COI can mean with respect to violations on grounds of SOGIE.
Read the full report here.
Renewal of the Mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In July 2019, our communities won a historic victory with the successful renewal of the mandate of the Independent Expert on violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity: a new report by ARC International, ILGA World and ISHR explains how the process played out.
Read the full report here.
Defending the IE on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on SOGI
Defending the Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on SOGI provides an account of the successful defense of the Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on SOGI (IE SOGI) mandate at the UNGA over the course of the 71st Session from October to December 2016. The process of defending the establishment of the IE SOGI by the Human Rights Council at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) ultimately resulted in six separate votes on resolutions and resolution amendments, across two main General Assembly Committees and UNGA Plenary sessions.
Read more and the full report here. (by OutRight, ISHR, ILGA, and ARC International)
Appointing an Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender identity: An Analysis of Process, Results and Implications
The defining event of the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council was the passing of the resolution appointing an Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The 2016 resolution, apart from being the third resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) at the Council, went several steps further and set in place a dedicated mechanism tasked with examining discrimination and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity over the next three years.
Read full report here.
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics at the UPR
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics at the Universal Periodic Review provides an overview on how the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) has shaped the protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons to date. It also addresses the challenges and the ways to try and turn the UPR into a greater mechanism to protect the rights of LGBTI persons on the ground.
Read more here.
Compilation of the Adoption of the 2016 SOGI Resolution
On 30 June 2016, the Human Rights Council (HRC) voted to establish an Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The establishment of the Independent Expert – a UN Special Procedure – is a tool to ensure sustained and systematic attention by a major organ of the United Nations to human rights violations on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, and can reinforce the fact that such human rights violations should be treated with due seriousness under international law.
Read full report here. (Compiled by ARC International and ILGA)
UN and ARC Evaluation Reports
As part of our commitment to community dialogue, self-reflection and strategic analysis, ARC commissioned two external evaluation reports in 2014: one assessing SOGII advocacy at the UN over the past 10 years, including challenges, successes and next steps, and one assessing ARC’s own role, including positive contributions, areas where our work could be strengthened and possible future directions.
We are very grateful to the research team: Jack Byrne from New Zealand, Dodo Karsay from Hungary and Lucas Paoli from Brazil, as well as to the more than 100 people (including community-members, allies, diplomats and UN staff) who contributed to the two projects by sharing their views through survey responses and interviews.
We look forward to engaging in dialogue on how the findings can contribute to strengthening global LGBTI advocacy in the years to come.
| How far has SOGII advocacy come at the UN and where is it heading? Assessing sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex activism and key developments at the UN 2003–2014 |
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| ARC International and its first 10 years: Assessing ARC’s contributions to SOGII activism and UN achievements since 2003 |
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