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South Asians take gay struggle to the
UN
By Seema Sirohi
WASHINGTON
- A movement, headed by South Asians, is taking shape to
challenge the United Nations system to protect the human
rights of gay minorities around the world, as envisaged
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
proclaims that "all persons are born free and equal in
dignity and rights".
Activists are creating
pressure points to generate awareness around the issue,
building on various UN treaties that protect people's
rights. It is the fervent hope of several prominent gay
politicians and activists who raised the issue inside
the UN this week at an unprecedented meeting that
countries will be pulled up in future for persecuting
homosexuals.
Leading the explosive battle are
South Asians who held the first-ever high-powered
seminar at the UN headquarters on Monday, with two
openly gay politicians from the US and Canada as
panelists. Prominent South Asians in the UN system have
contributed to the debate both by organizing and by
meticulously documenting cases of people who are
routinely persecuted, jailed and even executed by
governments because of their sexual orientation.
These efforts have been strengthened by the work
of Siddharth Dube, a well known Indian writer who is now
with the United Nations Children's Fund. He enlisted the
support of other senior UN officials and built on the
work done by the likes of Abid Hussein, former Indian
ambassador to the US, and Asma Jahangir, a human rights
advocate and lawyer from Pakistan. Both Hussein and
Jahangir were UN special rapporteurs and reported on
human rights violations, including how sexual minorities
might be targeted for harassment and denied freedom of
expression.
"We want to encourage more
discussion and show how widespread the abuses are. The
most accepted abuses in a country tend to be those of
sexual minorities," says Dube, who has written
path-breaking books on poverty and the AIDS crisis in
India. Unglobe, the union of the UN's gay and lesbian
employees, scored a goal of sorts when it succeeded in
getting Secretary General Kofi Annan to attend.
Supporting these efforts were Shashi Tharoor, under
secretary general for communications, and Nitin Desai,
under secretary general for sustainable development.
Both Tharoor and Desai are staunch supporters of human
rights issues.
Annan made a brief statement in
favor of "tolerance", without advocating a course of
action. But his mere presence was a signal strong enough
to cheer the group. In a statement issued later, Annan
said through his spokesman, "The United Nations cannot
condone any persecution of, or any discrimination
against, people on any grounds." But he also added that
there was "a wide range of opinion on the issue among
member states, with very strong feelings on both sides
of the argument, and he does not believe this is
something the United Nations should get involved in".
The message was clear - while the time may have
come for the world body to face this volatile issue and
wade through the political thicket of taboos,
deep-rooted prejudice, cultural squeamishness and
insecurities, he can only encourage by example, not by
prodding his member countries.
But others in the
UN system were more willing to take sides. Statements of
support were read out from the heads of several UN
agencies, including Mark Malloch Brown, the
administrator of the UN Development Program, and Carol
Bellamy, executive director of the UN Children's Fund.
Dr Peter Piot, head of the Joint UN Program against
HIV/AIDS said, "Homophobia continues to have a
devastating impact on individuals, communities and
societies today. Persecution of sexual minorities is all
too common." He asked that the principles enshrined in
the UN Charter are upheld for all people. The senior UN
leadership is clearly willing to be part of the
momentum, but will they continue to speak out when they
clash with the crude realities of donor country
politics, bloc loyalties and continental divides?
Nearly 70 of the 191 UN member countries have a
ban on homosexuality, many with severe penalties. The
issue created a storm in April in Geneva at the UN Human
Rights Commission when Brazil, with the support of some
European countries, proposed a resolution expressing
"deep concern at the occurrence of violations of human
rights in the world against persons on the grounds of
their sexual orientation". Muslim countries were
outraged and the resolution was eventually blocked by
five countries - Pakistan, Libya, Saudi Arbia, Malaysia
and Egypt. India worked to "postpone" the resolution in
an obvious effort not to make the hard choice, while the
US indicated it would abstain in case of a vote.
Paula Ettelbrick, a lawyer with the Human Rights
Watch, said that African countries were "totally
opposed" to the resolution, alongside Muslim countries.
Asia and Latin America were divided, while many European
countries were in favor. Another human rights activist
said that persecution of gays is rampant in Africa.
Political leaders in Namibia and Zimbabwe often refer to
gays and lesbians as "worse than dogs" and "vermin" that
should be exterminated. Difficult as it may be to
imagine that such language can by publicly used by
politicians, hatred of gays is common. Human Rights
Watch receives an average of 500 emails and letters from
gays for help in securing asylum in the US. "These are
the people we hear from, but there are millions of
others who can't speak out," Ettelbrick says.
Svend Robinson, an openly gay member of the
Canadian parliament who was a panelist this week, said
the countries which "gutted the resolution" in Geneva
are supported by the Vatican and some Catholic
countries. The UN, which fights for the rights of
political minorities from East Timor to Western Sahara,
must "speak out" on this issue, he exhorted. Barney
Frank, a US Congressman, echoed the sentiment. Other
panelists included Anthony Appiah, an eminent professor
of philosophy at Princeton University and the author of
several acclaimed books. They urged the UN to lead
rather than follow on this politically sensitive issue.
A resolution on the rights of sexual minorities
is likely to surface again next April in Geneva as
international developments surrounding gay rights set
the tone. US President George W Bush and the Republican
right made it clear last week that they oppose gay
marriages, but the Episcopal Church this week voted to
elect its first openly gay bishop, in New Hampshire. The
Vatican also spoke out against same sex marriages,
saying that they are deviant and urged Roman Catholic
politicians to vote against laws recognizing them. It is
against this thorny backdrop that Unglobe is urging that
the UN take the lead in clearly recognizing human rights
of homosexuals in international treaties.
Precedents already exist, say experts. In 1994,
the UN Human Rights Committee ruled in Toonen vs
Australia that laws prohibiting sexual contact between
consenting adults were a violation of fundamental human
rights to privacy as defined in Article 17 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Since that ruling, the committee has been calling for
the repeal of sodomy laws. Asma Jahangir, a UN special
rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, Radhika Coomaraswamy, rapporteur on violence
against women, and Abid Hussein, who reported on the
freedom of expression, all recorded rights violations
against sexual minorities. The UN committee on economic
and social rights has raised the issue of sexual
orientation while discussing employment, housing and
distribution of goods and services. Similarly, the UN
committees dealing with the rights of women and the
rights of the child have told governments that sexual
orientation is a human rights issue.
But all
this has been done quietly and in small doses. It is a
far cry from asking governments to vote "for" the rights
and one can only imagine the heat that will be generated
when the resolution is offered next year. As Kofi Annan
said, feelings are strong on both sides of the divide.
Even on the issue of granting benefits to gay partners
of UN employees - also a major demand of Unglobe, Annan
was less than forthcoming. He said he stands by the UN's
long-standing principle that an employee is subject to
his country's laws. Partners are not even given passes
to enter the UN building and are eons away from getting
health insurance, pension and travel benefits. The two
"significant others" in the UN family - the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund - already grant
those benefits to gay couples, according to Dube.
Fred Eckhard, Annan's spokesman, explained, "Our
current policy is to factor in the national laws of the
staff member involved, and every nation has different
laws on this matter. So we are weighing all of that
information now as we contemplate a possible new policy
on benefits to staff members who are in something other
than a traditional marital relationship."
The
fault lines may not yet be clear, but a debate has
certainly begun. If the activists retain the momentum,
there could be fireworks as various governments join the
debate.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
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