U.N. Committee Again Rejects Motion to Suspend LGBT Watchdog

A U.N. committee on Monday, December 19, 2016 once again rejected efforts to suspend the organization’s first-ever LGBT rights watchdog. The U.S. was among the 84 countries that voted against the motion. Seventy-seven countries backed it, while 16 countries abstained from the vote. “The U.N. General Assembly vote makes clear that no one should be

UN votes to keep first expert on LGBT rights

The United Nations has voted to keep an independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity. The vote which took place on Monday, November 21, saw a number of African countries challenge the validity of the role and attempted to have it removed. However, an amendment put forward by a number of Latin American countries

U.N. appoints first-ever LGBT rights watchdog

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday announced it has appointed the U.N.’s first-ever independent expert who will specifically investigate anti-LGBT discrimination and violence around the world. Vitit Muntarbhorn is an international law professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Muntarbhorn has been a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria

United Nations Issues Stamps Celebrating LGBT Identity

There may finally be a reason to return to the ancient art of letter writing as the United Nations’s post office has issued new stamps this week, which for the first time celebrate LGBT identity.  The stamps are designed by out artist Sergio Baradat as part of the U.N.’s “Free & Equal” campaign, which promotes understanding and

U.N. highlights economic cost of anti-LGBT discrimination

The U.N. on Thursday used the annual International Human Rights Day to highlight the economic cost of anti-LGBT discrimination. Free and Equal, a U.N. campaign that seeks to promote LGBT around the world, released a video that actor Zachary Quinto narrates. It cites, among other things, a World Bank study that concludes discrimination based on

Intersex Surgeries Are A Human Rights Violation, Says U.N. Group

Last week the United Nations convened its first meeting to address the issue of human rights violations against people with ambiguous genitalia, also known as intersex. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights meeting, held in Geneva, builds off a 2013 report by the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on Torture calling on the

The first-ever U.N. Security Council meeting on an LGBT-specific issue that took place on the 24th of August, 2015 focused on the Islamic State’s ongoing persecution of LGBT Syrians and Iraqis. The U.S. and Chile co-sponsored the closed-door, informal briefing that highlighted the Sunni militant group’s continued persecution of LGBT Syrians and Iraqis who live

LGBTI rights language stripped from UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals

The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for member states will contain no language that could be interpreted as shielding the rights of LGBTI people in order to placate developing nations The sustainable development goals set for United Nations members to the year 2030 will not contain any reference to the rights of LGBTI people

The National LGBT* Organization LGL welcomes the release of the report that the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights issued on Monday. The report assesses that anti-LGBT discrimination and violence persists around the world in spite of continued progress in the expansion of rights to people based on their sexual orientation and

The national LGBT rights organization (LGL) issued the new publication “United Nations Organization and situation of LGBT persons in Lithuania: opportunities provided by international human rights mechanisms”. The purpose of this publication is to introduce the mechanisms of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and of periodic reviews under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights