UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people - 0 views
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Heidi Beckles on 10 Nov 13A report, released by the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, outlines "a pattern of human rights violations… that demands a response," and says governments have too often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Homophobic and transphobic violence has been recorded in every region of the world, the report finds, and ranges from murder, kidnappings, assaults and rapes to psychological threats and arbitrary deprivations of liberty. LGBT people are often targets of organized abuse from religious extremists, paramilitary groups, neo-Nazis, extreme nationalists and others, as well as family and community violence, with lesbians and transgender women at particular risk. "Violence against LGBT persons tends to be especially vicious compared to other bias-motivated crimes," the report notes, citing data indicating that homophobic hate crimes often include "a high degree of cruelty and brutality." Violent incidents or acts of discrimination frequently go unreported because victims do not trust police, are afraid of reprisals or are unwilling to identify themselves as LGBT. The report - prepared in response to a request from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year - draws from information included in past UN reporting, official statistics on hate crimes where there are available, and reporting by regional organizations and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In the report, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calls on countries to repeal laws that criminalize homosexuality, abolish the death penalty for offences involving consensual sexual relations, harmonize the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual conduct, and enact comprehensive anti-discrimination laws. This site is useful in exploring the Donna Gottschalk image, because it not only embraces freedom of speech, and women inequalities but gender inequalities too. The photo t