Brody's Notes... UN Human Rights Council Passes Historic Resolution Calling For Universal Rights For LGBTQ Persons

By Brody Levesque | Geneva, Switzerland -- The United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution Friday supporting equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation. The resolution, which passed 23-19 with three member state's  abstentions, calls for recognition that  “affirms that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms … without distinction of any kind."

A spokesperson for U. S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton referred to the council's vote as a "historic first step." This is the first time that the U.N. body has passed a resolution which focuses specifically on sexual orientation and gender identity. It was originally introduced by South Africa's delegation, which immediately came under intense criticism from other African countries, accusing South Africa of siding with the West over the LGBTQ equality rights issues.

The Nigerian envoy attacked South Africa saying that South Africa's sponsorship of the resolution was breaking the tradition of the African continental group of nations. South Africa recently pledged to tackle an epidemic of ‘corrective rapes’ on lesbians in that country. 

In an interview with CNN, Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations, told the network;

"It really is a key part in setting a new norm that gay rights are human rights and that that has to be accepted globally. It talks about the violence and discrimination that people of LGBT persuasion experience around the world," she said, "and that those issues ... need to be taken seriously. It calls for reporting on what's going on, where people are being discriminated against, the violence that is taking place, and it really puts the issue squarely on the U.N.'s agenda going forward."

Divided opinion continues among some countries about whether the time has come to take up gay rights in the U.N. forum, Nossel said, "so this resolution is really significant as far as gaining widespread support for doing just that."

The State Department lobbied intensively for the resolution, and Nossel said the United States was pleased to see African leadership, from South Africa in particular, as well as strong support from South America, Colombia and Brazil.

The resolution also will commission the first-ever U.N. report on the challenges that LGBT people face around the globe. Nossel said the Obama administration hopes it will "open a broader international discussion on how to best promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons."

Secretary Clinton has made LGBTQ equality rights a primary component of the Obama Administration's human rights agenda, stating that "gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights."

This was given further emphasis during a celebration honouring Gay Pride event at the State Department's Foggy Bottom headquarters in Washington a week ago. The Secretary of State told attendees; 

"Men and women are harassed, beaten, subjected to sexual violence, even killed, because of who they are and whom they love. Some are driven from their homes or countries, and many who become refugees confront new threats in their countries of asylum. In some places, violence against the LGBT community is permitted by law and inflamed by public calls to violence; in others, it persists insidiously behind closed doors."

This past March the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a statement, supported by 85 countries, on LGBTQ rights called "Ending Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity."

Friday's vote "marks a victory for defenders of human rights," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "It sends a clear message that abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity must end." 

Opposition to passage also came from some Arab member states and the Pakistani envoy, speaking on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, who said that those nations were “disturbed on the attempt to focus on certain persons on the grounds of their sexual interest and behaviour."