UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people - 15 December 2011
The first ever United Nations report on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people details how around the world people are killed or endure hate-motivated violence, torture, detention, criminalization and discrimination in jobs, health care and education because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
The report, released by the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, outlines “a pattern of human rights violations… that demands a response,” and says governments have too often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Click to read the report
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, New York, 10 December 2010
“As men and women of conscience, we reject discrimination in general, and in particular discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity… Where there is tension between cultural attitudes and universal human rights, universal human rights must carry the day.”
The website of the UN human rights office (OHCHR) carries links to a series of speeches, statements, newspaper articles and video messages by the High Commissioner as well as pamphlets and other public information materials released over the past year highlighting human rights violations affecting LGBT people and setting out the steps needed to counter discrimination and violence.
Human Rights Council Resolution (A/HRC/17/L.9/Rev.1) on Human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity