At
UN,
Gay
Rights Group Loses 9-7 in NGO Committee, Sudan Wins, Egypt Speaks
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
4 -- The International Lesbian and Gay Association
has been applying to ten years for consultative status with the UN's
Economic and Social Council. On Friday afternoon, Belgium called for
a vote on its application. Sudan immediately countered with a No
Action Motion, to block voting on Belgium's proposal and the group.
After
much
back
and forth, the vote was called. Sudan's No Action Motion won 9 for, 7
against and one abstention (Kyrgyzstan). Surprisingly, India voted
no. Cuba did not vote at all, and Mozambique was “not present.”
Here
were
the votes
on Sudan's motion to block voting on the gay rights group:
Peru
No,
Russia
Yes, Senegal Yes, Sudan Yes, Turkey No, USA No, Venezuela
Yes, Belgium No, Bulgaria No, Burundi Yes, China Yes, Cuba __, India
No, Israel No, Kyrgyzstan Abstain, Morocco Yes, Mozambique Not
present, Nicaragua Yes, Pakistan Yes
After
the
vote, the
US noted that it could re-raise the group's application at the full
ECOSOC, as it did last year. A request Thursday morning to Ban
Ki-moon's spokesmen for a comment on the comments on and against gay
rights in the UN Committee on NGO had still not been responded to be
week's end.
UN's Ban & Sudan's al Bashir, former's comments on gay rights not
shown
The question Inner
City Press submitted Feb 3 was:
“In
the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs earlier this week, Morocco, Sudan,
Russia and Pakistan opposed consultative statsu for the Autonomous
Women's Center, after noting that its application referred to
discrimination against lesbians. Pakistan's representative said that
whatever UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon may have said, it was on
his own behalf, not on behalf of member states. Pakistan argued in
the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs on Monday that discrimination against
gays and lesbians is 'not recognized by the UN.'
Please
provide
the Secretariat's - ideally, the S-G's -- response to this
characterization of the S-G's statements and whether discrimination
against LGBT is “recognized by the UN.” Will Ban be doing
anything for the Autonomous Women's Center, or another gay rights
group denounced Wednesday morning in the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs?”
As of 6 pm on Feb 4, there was not response. Watch
this site.
Earlier on
Friday, this is a summary of
what was said about the Australian Lesbian Medical Association:
Pakistan's
delegate
asked
if homosexuals are more prone to sexually transmitted
diseases, in terms of having and transmitting those diseases. He
asked the NGO support its response with medical documents...
Belgium's
delegate
did
not believe the Committee should place conditionalities
on the kind of documents to be provided.
Later
on
Friday,
the representative of Egypt said he was was in an awkward
position as a former member of the committee. He said that there was
any acceptable and internationally recognized definition to
“controversial” references and notions discussed. He did not
recognize there was any legally bounding definitions for terms as
sexual preferences or orientation or that such terms had been defined
by any internationally recognized instrument in the human rights
arena.
Meanwhile
in
Egypt...
* * *
At
UN,
Jabs
at
NGO on Lesbian Rights from Pakistan,
Sudan, Russia, Morocco
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
31
-- In the UN's committee on non-governmental
organization on Monday morning the application for accreditation of
the Autonomous Women's Center, which mentioned discrimination against
lesbians, was questioned and opposed by Pakistan, Morocco, Russia and
Sudan.
Pakistan's
representative
asked
sarcastically
if the discrimination of lesbians
was “against men.” He mocked the application's reference to
disability, asking if “lesbianism is a disability.”
This
followed
not
only
previous fights in the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs but December's
debate after which lesbians and gays were added to a UN resolution
against extrajudicial executions from which the US abstained. In
the
run up to that vote, not only the United Arab Emirates for the Arab
Group and Tajikistan for the Organization of the Islamic Conference
but also Benin for the African Group urged that the LGBT amendment be
opposed.
Now
late January,
some of the opposition has become more technical. Morocco argued that
since the Autonomous Women's Center changed its name in 2009, it has
not been in operation for the two years necessary for accreditation.
Serbia, where the group is based, spoke in its defense.
Russia
and
Sudan,
where
women including a UN staff member have been sentenced to
whipping for wearing pants, both joined the opposition to the
Autonomous Women's Center. Sudan specifically joined in the
opposition of Pakistan.
Pakistan's
representative
later
in
the session said that whatever UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon may have said, it was on his own behalf, not on
behalf of member states. Pakistan argued in the ECOSOC Committee on
NGOs on Monday that discrimination against gays and lesbians is “not
recognized by the UN.”
Ban on gay rights, response to Sudan's and
Pakistan's Jan 31 statements not shown
In
the past, Ban
has dodged such questions by saying “it's up to member states,”
or that he won't speak on particular application or motions pending
for a vote before UN bodies. He has been out of town for days, but
one wonders what if anything he will have to say about the mocking of
gays and gay rights in the UN's North Lawn Building, three floors
beneath his office, on January 31. Watch this site.
, 
