The struggle to bring greater international scrutiny to the human rights plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT1) people reached a landmark moment in 2016 with the decision of the United Nations Human Rights Council to create a dedicated special procedures mandate – an Independent Expert on protection from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Independent Expert has many tasks, including investigating and reporting on human rights violations against LGBT people, assessing compliance with applicable international human rights instruments in this context, and making recommendations to States and other stakeholders as appropriate. The mandate builds on the work of existing United Nations human rights mechanisms, including special procedures and treaty bodies, the majority of which have addressed these issues to some extent in the context of their own, respective mandates.
The establishment of this mandate follows several years of increasing interest across the United Nations human rights system on the issue of human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2011 and 2014, the Human Rights Council passed resolutions in which it expressed concern regarding violence and discrimination against LGBT persons and requested reports from the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The High Commissioner’s two reports, published in 2012 and 2015 respectively, pointed to a pattern of systematic violence and discrimination directed at LGBTI4 people in all regions – from discrimination in employment, health care and education, to criminalization and targeted physical attacks, even killings. The reports contain recommendations addressed to States designed to strengthen protection of the human rights of LGBTI persons.
There has been an increase in awareness and attention paid to the human rights of intersex people over the last few years. A milestone was celebrated in September 2015, with the first United Nations Expert meeting on ending human rights violations against intersex persons, and a joint call by United Nations and regional human rights experts in October 2016 for governments to prohibit human rights violations committed against intersex children.5 The United Nations special procedures and treaty bodies are increasingly raising concerns about abuses against intersex people, and recommending that States address these issues.
The legal obligations of States to safeguard the human rights of LGBTI people are well established in international human rights law on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international human rights treaties, and customary international law. All people, irrespective of sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, are entitled to enjoy the protections provided by international human rights law, including rights to life, security of person and privacy, the right to be free from torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to be free from discrimination, equality before the law, and the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
The purpose of this publication is to set out the core obligations that States have towards LGBTI persons, and to describe how United Nations mechanisms have applied international law in these contexts. For more than two decades, United Nations human rights treaty bodies and special procedures have documented violations of the human rights of LGBT, and more recently, intersex people, and analysed State compliance with international human rights law. The sections that follow summarize their findings and advice to help States take the necessary steps to meet their fundamental human rights obligations.
The publication consists of five core sections based on issues that have appeared most frequently in the work of United Nations human rights experts to date. Each section sets forth a State obligation, the relevant international human rights law, and the views of human rights treaty bodies and special procedures. Excerpts from their reporting give examples of the kinds of abuses experienced and paint a broad picture of widespread conditions of violence and discrimination. Each section concludes with a summary of recommendations to States.
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