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IGLHRC receives UN and OAS recognition
http://www.gbmnews.com/articles/4321/1/IGLHRC-receives-UN-and-OAS-recognition/Page1.html
Antoine Craigwell

Antoine B. Craigwell graduated from Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York with a double major in psychology and journalism. As a journalist, he has written for several publications. His articles have appeared in Fortune Small Business (FSB), the Villager Newspapers in Northeastern Connecticut, The Bronx Times Reporter and The Bronx Times, The Amsterdam News, and recently for The Network Journal, in New York City.

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By Antoine Craigwell
Published on 06/4/2009
 
Submits application to UN body for consultative status

By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) -Three international human rights organizations, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), ARC International, and the International Gay and Lesbian Association, after submitting a joint recommendation to include sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for non-discrimination to a committee of independent experts overseeing states' compliance with the United Nations Conventions on Economic, Social and Cultural Right; received word on May 25 that the UN body had adopted in General Comment No. 20 the meaning of equality in the treaty.


According to General Comment No. 20, Non-Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 2, para. 2), Introduction and basic premises, states that:

"Discrimination undermines the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights for a significant proportion of the world's population. Economic growth has not, in itself, led to sustainable development and individuals and groups of individuals
continue to face socio-economic inequality, often because of entrenched historical and contemporary forms of discrimination."

The actual section of General Comment No.20, Item 32 states:

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Submits application to UN body for consultative status

By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) -Three international human rights organizations, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), ARC International, and the International Gay and Lesbian Association, after submitting a joint recommendation to include sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for non-discrimination to a committee of independent experts overseeing states' compliance with the United Nations Conventions on Economic, Social and Cultural Right; received word on May 25 that the UN body had adopted in General Comment No. 20 the meaning of equality in the treaty.


According to General Comment No. 20, Non-Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 2, para. 2), Introduction and basic premises, states that:

"Discrimination undermines the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights for a significant proportion of the world's population. Economic growth has not, in itself, led to sustainable development and individuals and groups of individuals
continue to face socio-economic inequality, often because of entrenched historical and contemporary forms of discrimination."

The actual section of General Comment No.20, Item 32 states:
"Sexual orientation and gender identity "Other status" as recognized in article 2(2) includes sexual orientation. States parties should ensure that a person's sexual orientation is not a barrier to realizing Covenant rights, for example, in accessing survivor's pension rights. In addition, gender identity is recognized as among the prohibited grounds of discrimination; for example, persons who are transgender, transsexual or intersex often face serious human rights violations, such as harassment in schools or in the work place."
IGLHRC's application to the UN for consultative status, originally submitted in May 2007, received its initial reviewed by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, referred to as the NGO Committee made up of representatives from 19 UN member countries, during the May 18 to 27 sessions. According to a press release issued by IGLHRC, consultative status allows NGOs to deliver oral and written reports at UN meetings, to organize events on UN property, and to speak out about abuses and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In the review process, more of an interview, IGLHRC was subject to questions from delegates from Romania, Sudan and the United Kingdom about the organization's activities and finances. Representatives from Egypt, Pakistan, Qatar and Sudan requested more time to study the application, which together with petitions from the Swiss Lesbian NGO, were deferred to the Jan 2010 session, which would issue a final decision about granting consultative status to IGLHRC. At the UN, 10 of the over 3,000 NGO organizations with consultative status are LGBT NGOs.

. Adrian Coman, on a blog on the IGLHRC Website, said that in Jan 2009 when the Committee met, Egypt had led the opposition to granting consultative status by centering the debate on pedophilia. The Egyptian delegate "expressed disagreement with organizations 'promoting a lifestyle that we believe is against human nature.'"

But, Coman said in the past, the manner by which LGBT organizations gain consultative status occurs as a result of a strange process where it takes a negative recommendation from the NGO Committee to the ECOSOC, which is overturned. This, he said, is the best case scenario for IGLHRC.

Coming out of the just concluded XXXIX General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), IGLGRC was granted civil society status. This allows IGLHRC to also attend and make presentations at OAS meetings, and to provide information and expert advice for drafting of OAS documents.