Successful conference about gay and lesbian human rights
Towards an International Rainbow Coalition was the title of the conference that Hivos co-organised with the local LGBT organisation on the 19th of June. More than hundred participants discussed in the famous Hague Peace Palace with the keynote speakers and LGBT activists from six countries in the global south how to integrate gay, lesbian and transgender rights in the international human rights agenda.
Hivos is the biggest donor worldwide for LGBT. The reason for that is that “the right to diversity, to individual self-determination, including over one’s body and sexuality, is the essence of humanism” according to Hivos’ executive director Manuela Monteiro in her opening speech.
Pioneers of human rights and LGBT
The Dutch Human Rights Ambassador Arjan Hamburger congratulated Hivos for being one of the pioneers in the field of human rights and LGBT people. The government of the Netherlands had made the promotion of the universality of human rights, including human dignity, privacy and non-discrimination one of the cornerstones of its foreign policy. Protection of the human rights of LGBT in the Netherlands and abroad is one of the policy priorities.
Together with France the Netherlands organised a side event at the United Nations in December 2008 where 66 countries, coming from all regions, signed a declaration on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity. The new America administration recently joined that declaration, which is applauded as a major step forward. In May 2009, with Norway as third host country, a follow-up conference took place in Paris, in which the specific problems regarding transgender people were acknowledged.
Almost all other keynote speakers, such as Judith Sargentini (new elected member of the European parliament) and Michael Guest (former US-diplomat) pointed at this milestone, whilst underlining that there is still a long way to go in the international arena.
Anti-pornography bill
The worldwide rainbow coalition inspires local LGBT-NGO’s, according to representatives of Labris (Serbia) and Equal Ground (Sri Lanka). Sometimes coalitions with other NGO’s are difficult to achieve: Kamilia Manaf from IPP Indonesia shared her frustrating experiences in the campaign against the so-called anti-pornography bill. It proved slightly easier to cooperate with human rights NGO’s than with women’s organisations.
Sometimes it is not only the other who should be blamed for lack of cooperation: both Aswat (Israel/Palestina) and Equal Ground (Sri Lanka) promote successfully participation of heterosexuals in their activities. “Be inclusive” should be the motto of LGBT activists according to Ghadir and Rosanna.
Victor Mukasa from Uganda called for another form of international solidarity. The LGBT’s in Uganda suffer from the “coalition of religious leaders against homosexuality”, which are financed by rich Christian fundamentalist organisations from the US and Europe. Mukasa called to fight those fundi’s in their own country.
In fact this was a fine example of the need for more and consistent support for LGBT-organisations worldwide. That international solidarity requires more funding was obvious.
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