Int'l LGBT Human Rights: Response to Russia's Proposal at 5C
March 24, 2015 - Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, gave the following response today to the U.N. General Assembly 5th Committee vote to uphold U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "personal status bulletin" of June 2014 interpreting partnership benefits of U.N. Secretariat employees to include marriages performed outside of the country of the employee's citizenship. The vote on the Russian proposal failed 80 to 43 with 37 abstaining.
"The failed effort engineered by Russia to undermine U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's authority deserved today's fate. The vote was taken completely without justification and based on a specious argument that the Secretary General had overstepped his authority. He did nothing of the kind. Further, the vote offered a new twist on the kind of homophobic scapegoating we see globally. This was a disingenuous effort to shed the dignity of LGBT employees at the U.N., while clawing at the authority of the Secretary General. Those who sided with Russia should be ashamed of such a craven vote."
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Every day around the world, LGBTIQ people's human rights and dignity are abused in ways that shock the conscience. The stories of their struggles and their resilience are astounding, yet remain unknown-or willfully ignored-by those with the power to make change. OutRight Action International, founded in 1990 as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, works alongside LGBTIQ people in the Global South, with offices in six countries, to help identify community-focused solutions to promote policy for lasting change. We vigilantly monitor and document human rights abuses to spur action when they occur. We train partners to expose abuses and advocate for themselves. Headquartered in New York City, OutRight is the only global LGBTIQ-specific organization with a permanent presence at the United Nations in New York that advocates for human rights progress for LGBTIQ people.
