Remarks at a UN Security Council Arria Formula meeting on integrating human rights of LGBTI people into the work of the Security Council

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
US Representative to the United Nations
New-York, New-York
March 20, 2023

AS DELIVERED

Good day everyone and welcome to the second Arria meeting on LGBTQI issues, hosted by the UN Security Council. We are proud to co-host this Arria, building on the last one in 2015 that the US co-convened with Chile on this topic, and broadening the scope of our discussion.

Today’s meeting is historic as it is the first time that the UN independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity has briefed the council and only the second time in its history that there has been an LGBTI-specific arria. And while this body has discussed the crisis many times since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, this is the first time we’ve heard of how LGBT people have been targeted, influenced and harmed.

After all, this is the first time we’re hearing about a new model of precedent – Colombia’s pioneering work to ensure that LGBT people are included in its peace process, so that justice truly leaves no one behind. The simple fact is that the threats facing LGBTQI+ people around the world are threats to international peace and security. Let me reiterate: the threats facing LGBTQI+ people around the world are threats to international peace and security. This is especially true for those who are at the intersection of multiple, underrepresented identities.

Everyone deserves to live free from fear, violence and persecution. But for too many people, they are vulnerable because of their sexual orientation or gender identity – they are only vulnerable because of who they are.

I have seen this first hand in my foreign diplomacy. During my many years of work on the African continent, I often encountered this problem. And I’ve been told by more than one person, more than one leader, that “that’s not our culture.”

I always reacted the same way. “Is it your culture to commit violence against people you disagree with? Persecuting people just because of their birth?” And I ask that question to every country around the world. No one ever said yes to that question.

And thankfully, much of Africa, like much of the world, has made tremendous strides. And our hearts have grown, our politics have changed. That applies worldwide. But so much more needs to be done or we wouldn’t be here today.

In Colombia, LGBTQI+ people have been included in the process of peace building and democracy. That’s progress. Colombia’s Special Judiciary for Peace, known by its Spanish acronym JEP, has set a new precedent when it upheld charges of gender-based persecution as crimes against humanity perpetrated against five LGBTQI+ people in the armed conflict.

This is the first time that a transitional justice system has recognized the specific targeting of LGBTQI+ people in armed conflict. This is a model for engaging LGBTQI+ people in peacebuilding and I hope it will be replicated in conflict and post-conflict settings around the world.

I’m also proud of the progress we’ve made here in America. I think back to 1969 when in America you could be arrested for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Back then, right here in this city, in New York, the police stormed the Stonewall Inn and its guests decided that enough was enough. The success of that movement is now preserved as a memorial down in the West Village.

But we’re far from done. Right now, in my own country, we are seeing hateful, shameful attacks on the LGBTQI+ community and the trans community in particular. These attacks, in my view, go against our universal basic human rights.

Around the world we continue to see the same challenges. In some places the situation is dramatic.

In Afghanistan, for example, the Taliban have brought back their medieval politics – the same politics I saw when I was there decades ago and what we just heard from Artemis. Individual Taliban members have publicly stated that their interpretation of Sharia allows for the death penalty for homosexuality.

Members of the LGBTQI+ community reported being physically and sexually assaulted, and many reported living in hiding in physically and economically precarious conditions. There are also reports from members of civil society that LGBTQI+ people have been deliberately outed by their families and subjected to violence to win favor with the Taliban. There are reports of LGBTQI+ people disappearing and believed to have been killed and again we heard the story Artemis told us today.

To put it bluntly, this is appalling. These actions incite hatred, support violence and are an affront to the principles of freedom and human rights. They also destabilize entire societies. That is why we must do our part, as individual Member States and collectively as the United Nations Security Council.

For our part, on behalf of the United States, I am proud to announce four statements of commitment to action. In recent decades, the Security Council has made great strides in addressing the needs and perspectives of women, children and youth in situations of armed conflict and fragile societies.

Today we commit to concrete steps to better integrate LGBTQI concerns into the day-to-day work of the Security Council.

First, we commit to regularly reviewing the situation of LGBTQI+ people in conflict on the Council agenda. This includes regularly gathering information from LGBTQI+ human rights defenders.

Second, we commit to encouraging the UN Secretariat and other UN officials to include LGBTQI+ concerns and perspectives in their regular reports to the Council.

Third, we commit to addressing the abuses and human rights violations of LGBTQI people in our national statements in the Security Council.

And fourth, we commit to proposing language in Security Council products, where appropriate, that responds to the situation of LGBTQI+ people. This includes the language used in the work of the Council to implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 2475.

We are proud of these four commitments. You are just the beginning. And we call on every member of the Security Council to join us.

We also call on UN special missions and UN peacekeeping missions to increase engagement with members of the LGBTQI+ community, stop attacks on individuals, and continue to integrate gender identity and sexual orientation in all their work, but especially protection.

And we call on the UN community as a whole to stand up in defense of the universal human rights of all LGBTQI+ people, to let love be love, to give us the moral and legal support to ensure all people can live their lives freely .

Let’s fight prejudice wherever we see it. And let’s build a world that’s more peaceful for everyone.

Thanks very much.

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From the United States Mission to the United Nations | March 20, 2023 | Topics: Highlights, Remarks and Highlights