Political Rights Must Not Be Threatened Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Third Committee Told, as Election-Year Tensions Mount Worldwide
Politicians mobilizing hostile rhetoric against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) persons subject them to violence and hamper their rightful political participation, a human rights expert told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.
“Sexual orientation or gender identity should never be obstacles to electoral participation,” declared the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, presenting his report (document A/19/151). Violence targeting LGBT and other gender-diverse persons — from killings and sexual offenses, to hate speech online — dissuades them from exercising their electoral rights, he said. “In contexts where authorities are reluctant to acknowledge or prosecute hate crimes, LGBT people may face a reality that hate crimes are committed with impunity,” he said.
A recent trend of “political polarization” has exacerbated discrimination and hostility towards LGBT people, he noted, spotlighting politicians’ use of the group as scapegoats for social or economic problems. Similarly, laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy — which currently exist in 61 Member States — results in “automatic” denial of those individuals’ political rights, he said. Among other recommendations to remedy the situation, he emphasized the importance of voter education campaigns to both motivate LGBT participation in elections as well as in politics, and to educate the public on the “unacceptable nature of bias-motivated crimes”.
In the ensuing interactive dialogue, speakers called for the repeal of laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy and voiced concern over the increasing targeting of LGBT persons in political campaigns.
Spain’s speaker said that no electoral process can be considered democratic if a part of the population is scapegoated or discriminated against with violence, citing the rise in the discrimination, violence, hate speech online and arbitrary detention affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons worldwide. Same-sex relations are punished with the death penalty in seven countries, he pointed out.
Joining others in advocating to repeal laws criminalizing those relations, Malta’s delegate called on States to combat hate speech and violence directed at lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, intersex (LGBTQI+) persons during elections, voicing particular concern over politicians’ use of homophobia and transphobia to incite negative responses for political gain.
Agreeing, Australia’s speaker said, “it is unacceptable that prospective candidates face hate speech and death threats and may even be forced into exile for no other reason than being who they are and trying to exercise their freedom of political expression.” Iceland’s delegate stressed that “States must take measures to ensure that LGBTQI+ persons are protected, and their democratic rights ensured.”
In Brazil, a 2018 high court decision mandates that the quota for women candidates also applies to trans women, its representative said, highlighting an increase in their election to office.
Adding to that, the representative of the United States underscored that “people are policy”, spotlighting President Joseph R. Biden’s appointments of LGBTQI+ persons to senior Government positions and a 200 per cent increase in the number of LGBTQI+ elected officials since 2017 — even though the country is “not immune from homophobia and transphobia in election campaigns”.
In that vein, China’s delegate echoed High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk’s concerns about “politicians and media in the United States and the United Kingdom [using] elections to stoke social division and group confrontation” by scapegoating minorities, refugees and immigrants for “deep rooted economic ills”. She urged the expert to pay particular attention to rights violations in those countries. Moreover, the international community must respect the diversity of civilizations, and no country should impose its values on others, she added.
Albania’s delegate voiced concern over the “dire situation” of LGBTI persons in parts of the world who lack of access to medical care or are excluded from food and housing support. His country will continue to work to ensure fundamental freedoms of all individuals “without distinction, regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual orientation or religion”, he said.
Persons Affected by Leprosy
Also addressing the Committee was Beatriz Miranda-Galarza, Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members, who presented her report spotlighting the needs of women, children and the elderly affected by leprosy — also known as Hansen’s disease (document A/79/152). The limited “medical” model of care for the disease within institutions “often overlooks the human and social dimensions that shape an individual’s quality of life”, she observed.
For instance, women affected by leprosy also care for other family members with the disease without pay, she noted, adding that such a burden undermines their well-being and limits their access to basic rights, including education. “We must advocate for care systems that uphold women’s rights, foster their financial independence, and ensure fair social protection measures,” she stressed, underscoring the need to recognize their caregiving as labour. Similarly, children affected by the disease are excluded from schools and are socially isolated. “States must adopt comprehensive policies that address all aspects of leprosy care and integrate them into broader social protection systems”, she emphasized.
Minority Issues
Also briefing the Committee was Nicolas Levrat, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, who underscored the importance of designing institutions by recognizing minorities. Institutional design starts at the constitutional level, he continued, calling on States to define their population inclusively through a constitutional provision referring to minority communities or an inclusive formula that cannot be interpreted as excluding persons belonging to a minority.
He said that a State that defines itself as plurinational or multiethnic, or whose Constitution includes a declaration to “recognize and uphold the multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural character of our Nation”, shall be open to the effective participation of persons belonging to minorities to society as a whole. Against this backdrop, he emphasized that minority-suitable institutional design must be prioritized in peacebuilding processes, which offer major institutional changes and an opportunity to alleviate potential tensions between different groups co-existing within a diverse, peaceful and inclusive society.
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
The Committee also heard from Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (OHCHR), who underscored that even though some States reported progress in combatting racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance — primarily through new laws and policies — “further and intensified actions are needed to realize a vision set out in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action”. To create tangible improvements in the lives of those subjected to these scourges globally, structural and institutional racism must be dismantled, she asserted, adding that people of African descent continue to face systemic racism rooted in the legacy of enslavement and colonialism, which prevents their full realization of human rights.
In this context, she drew attention to the High Commissioner’s report on the promotion of human rights of Africans and people of African descent against excessive use of force by law enforcement officers. It spotlights key elements of intersectionality as an essential framework for combating systemic racism while addressing the legacies of enslavement and colonialism.
José Antonio Aguilar Contreras, Chair of the Group of Independent Eminent Experts on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, said that while a world without racism seems like a far-away utopia, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action highlights the necessary steps forward. In its conclusions and recommendations, the Group called on States to declare a second International Decade for People of African descent starting in 2025.
Relatedly, James Ndirangu Waweru, Chair-Rapporteur of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, highlighted the Group’s substantive progress on the draft United Nations Declaration on the respect, protection, and fulfilment of the human rights of people of Africa, which raises concerns about the pace of reparatory justice.
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