The U.S. has declined to endorse a declaration being put before the UN assembly today, to which the Vatican and the Organisation of Islamic States have been vocal in their opposition, calling for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality.
“It will be tabled in the General Assembly on Wednesday by France with the backing of all 27 member states of the European Union; plus non-EU European nations such as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Ukraine, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine, Armenia and Macedonia. Russia and Turkey are not signing. The call for the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships also has the support of the Latin American states of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay – but not, notably, Columbia, Peru, Guyana or Venezuela. Only three African nations–Gabon, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau–are endorsing the declaration so far. South Africa has not signed up. No Caribbean nation has offered its support (not even Cuba). Although New Zealand is committed to the declaration, Australia is not. Nor is the United States. But Canada is a sponsor. No country in the Middle East, apart from Israel, endorses the declaration, and in Asia only Japan has agreed to approve it. China and India are silent on where they stand.”
The Vatican has recently come under protest both in Rome and in the U.S. for its vocal opposition to the declaration.
The global petition initiative was launched by Prof. Louis-Georges Tin, president of the International Committee for IDAHO (the International Day Against Homophobia)
Said Peter Tatchell of London's activist group OutRage!: “It will be the first time in its history that the UN General Assembly has ever considered the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) human rights.”
The text of the declaration, AFTER THE JUMP…
TO THE UNITED NATIONS :
Petition “For a universal decriminalization of homosexuality”
Considering
The Universal declaration of Human Rights
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Considering
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, entry into force 23 March 1976)
Article 17
1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Considering
The Human Rights Committee's decision in Toonen v. Australia (04 April 1994)
We ask the United Nations to request a universal abolition of the so-called “crime of homosexuality”, of all “sodomy laws”, and laws against so-called “unnatural acts” in all the countries where they still exist.
