Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-27-Speech-2-692-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110927.32.2-692-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, honourable Members, today I reaffirm my own commitment and the commitment of the European Union to the entitlement of all people, wherever and whoever they are, to enjoy the full range of human rights and to do so without discrimination or the fear of discrimination.
We can always do more to promote awareness throughout our delegations worldwide and guide them in their work. In June, we adopted a guide called ‘a toolkit to promote the enjoyment of all human rights by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender people’. I much appreciated the support of this House and joint working in order to produce this toolkit. It sets out ways to bring about decriminalisation, promote equality before the law and in society, and support and protect those who campaign for LGBT human rights. It also gives guidance on taking this issue onto the international stage in the UN.
So we stand by the principles of human rights and we articulate that view. So, too, do we give practical support to establishing those principles. We cannot allow discrimination over sexuality and gender anymore than we can allow it over colour and creed. Human rights are as indivisible as they are universal.
Around the world, the issues of gender identity and sexual orientation continue to be used as a pretext for serious human rights violations: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people are still subject to persecution, discrimination and ill-treatment, and that ill-treatment often involves extreme forms of violence.
There are 80 countries which still criminalise same-sex relations between consenting adults, and seven which apply the death penalty. Let us be clear: this is incompatible with international human rights law. It is a cause for which I was proud to fight in my native country, and it is a cause which I take up now on behalf of the 27 Member States of the European Union. We continue to protest against these abuses and to offer practical support on how to end discrimination and to encourage inclusiveness.
Through the channel of the United Nations, the European Union takes this message to the world: 15 of our Member States were part of the group which prepared the statements on ending acts of violence and other human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which was agreed by 85 countries at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. We also welcomed the resolution on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity tabled by South Africa and adopted at the Council three months ago.
Elsewhere in the UN system, the EU has supported LGBT rights in the NGO Committee of the UN Economic and Social Council, and, in December 2008, we were instrumental in delivering a UN General Assembly statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity which had the support of nearly 70 countries on five continents. That statement reaffirmed the principle of non-discrimination and condemned all executions and arrests made on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It calls on all states to decriminalise homosexuality, especially including capital punishment.
The EU is an organisation of values, and it brings those values into the heart of its relationship with its partners beyond its borders. With its African, Caribbean and Pacific partners, for instance, we proposed the amendment of Article 8 in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. We wanted to adapt that non-discrimination clause to the language of the Lisbon Treaty by introducing a reference to sexual orientation. The ACP side could not accept the proposal, and a compromise was agreed which uses the language of the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights. This says that the dialogue shall focus on discrimination of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. We knew that a matter of principle had to be raised, and we will keep raising it.
Madam President, I want to set out briefly some of the practical examples of how we work. Over the last year, we have raised the same principles in Uganda and Malawi: in Uganda, against a proposed parliamentary bill further criminalising homosexuality and raising serious human rights issues, and in Malawi against the long prison sentences imposed on a gay couple. We spoke out and made public statements together with Members of this House and NGOs, and we worked behind the scenes with our delegations to argue the case for justice and human rights with these two governments. In this we succeeded.
The EU also uses our regular human rights dialogues with individual countries to promote tolerance and non-discrimination for LGBT people. In countries like Moldova, those dialogues have resulted in expert-level follow-up, and in countries like Russia, Croatia, Turkey, Montenegro and Brazil, the Union has used its instrument for democracy and human rights to support local and international NGOs in their campaigns against discrimination.
Our action has ranged from physical protection, which we offered to LGBT people who had received death threats in the wake of the assassination of David Kato in Uganda, to the practical promotion which saw 4 000 people attend a gay pride march in La Paz, Bolivia."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples