*For Immediate Release*

*UN: General Assembly to Address Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity*

*/Statement affirms promise of Universal Declaration of Human Rights/*

(New York, December 11, 2008) -- As the world celebrates the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the UN
General Assembly will hear a statement in mid-December endorsed by more than
50 countries across the globe calling for an end to rights abuses based on
sexual orientation and gender identity. A coalition of international human
rights organizations today urged all the world's nations to support the
statement in affirmation of the UDHR's basic promise: that human rights
apply to everyone.


Nations on four continents are coordinating the statement, including:
Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and
Norway. The reading of the statement will be the first time the General
Assembly has formally addressed rights violations based on sexual
orientation and gender identity.

"In 1948 the world's nations set forth the promise of human rights, but six
decades later, the promise is unfulfilled for many," said Linda Baumann of
Namibia, a board member of Pan Africa ILGA, a coalition of over 60 African
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups. "The unprecedented
African support for this statement sends a message that abuses against LGBT
people are unacceptable anywhere, ever."

The statement is non-binding, and reaffirms existing protections for human
rights in international law. It builds on a previous joint statement
supported by 54 countries, which Norway delivered at the UN Human Rights
Council in 2006.

"Universal means universal, and there are no exceptions," said Boris
Dittrich of the Netherlands, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program. "The UN must speak
forcefully against violence and prejudice, because there is no room for half
measures where human rights are concerned."

The draft statement condemns violence, harassment, discrimination,
exclusion, stigmatization, and prejudice based on sexual orientation and
gender identity. It also condemns killings and executions, torture,
arbitrary arrest, and deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights
on those grounds.

"Today, dozens of countries still criminalize consensual homosexual conduct,
laws that are often relics of colonial rule," said Grace Poore of Malaysia,
who works with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
"This statement shows a growing global consensus that such abusive laws have
outlived their time."

The statement also builds on a long record of UN action to defend the rights
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In its 1994 decision in
/Toonen v. Australia/,/ /the UN Human Rights Committee -- the body that
interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
one of the UN's core human rights treaties -- held that human rights law
prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Since then, the United
Nations' human rights mechanisms
have condemned violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity,
including killings, torture, rape, violence, disappearances, and
discrimination in many areas of life. UN treaty bodies have called on states
to end discrimination in law and policy.

Other international bodies have also opposed violence and discrimination
against LGBT people, including the Council of Europe and the European Union.
In 2008, all 34 member countries of the Organization of American States
unanimously approved a declaration affirming that human rights protections
extend to sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Latin American governments are helping lead the way as champions of
equality and supporters of this statement," said Gloria Careaga Perez of
Mexico, co-secretary general of ILGA. "Today a global movement supports the
rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and those voices
will not be denied."

So far, 55 countries have signed onto the General Assembly statement,
including: Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cape
Verde, the Central African Republic, Chile, Ecuador, Georgia, Iceland,
Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, San Marino,
Serbia, Switzerland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Uruguay, and
Venezuela. All 27 member states of the European Union are also signatories.

"It is a great achievement that this initiative has made it to the level of
the General Assembly," said Louis-Georges Tin of France, president of the
International Committee for IDAHO (International Day against Homophobia), a
network of activists and groups campaigning for decriminalization of
homosexual conduct. "It shows our common struggles are successful and should
be reinforced."

"This statement has found support from states and civil society in every
region of the world," said Kim Vance of Canada, co-director of ARC
International. "In December a simple message will rise from the General
Assembly: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is truly universal."

*The **coalition of international human rights organizations that issued
this statement include:* Amnesty International; ARC International; Center
for Women's Global Leadership; COC Netherlands; Global Rights; Human Rights
Watch; IDAHO Committee; International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission (IGLHRC); International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and
Intersex Association (ILGA); and Public Services International.

*For more information, please contact:*

In New York for Human Rights Watch, Scott Long (English):
+1-212-216-1297; or +1-646-641-5655; or longs@hrw.org

In London for Amnesty International, Kate Sheill (English:
+44-20-7413-5748; or ksheill@amnesty.

In Halifax, for ARC International, Kim Vance (English, French):
+1-902-488-6404

In Geneva for ARC International, John Fisher (English, French):
+41-79-508-3968; or arc@arc-internation

In Amsterdam for COC Netherlands, Bjorn van Roozendall (Dutch, English):
+31-6-22-55-83-00

In Washington for Global Rights, Stefano Fabeni (English, Italian,
Spanish): +1 202-741-5049; or stefanof@globalrights.org

In New York for IGLHRC, Hossein Alizadeh (English, Persian):
+1-212-430-6016; or halizadeh@iglhrc

In Brussels for ILGA, Stephen Barris (English, French, Spanish):
+32-2-502-2471; or stephenbarris@ilga.org