No agreement on decriminalisation by government leaders
Secretary General condemned homophobic persecution
Lobbying made an impact, raising LGBTI human rights profile
London – 7 November 2011
“The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia, was mixed bag from an LGBTI perspective. On the positive side, Kamalesh Sharma became the first Secretary General to speak out against homophobic persecution at a CHOGM event, the ngo Commonwealth People’s Forum. However, there was no agreement on the decriminalisation of homosexuality by the assembled government leaders,” noted Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, who worked with Commonwealth, LGBTI and HIV/AIDS groups to lobby CHOGM.
“Huge thanks to the many Commonwealth, LGBTI and HIV/AIDS organisations that lobbied CHOGM and the Commonwealth People’s Forum. Our collective efforts raised massively the profile of LGBTI rights. Although not on the official agenda of the heads of government, demands for the decriminalisation of homosexuality were a major backdrop to CHOGM. The petition and email blitz put the Secretary General and Commonwealth governments under unprecedented pressure to respect the human rights of LGBTI people.
“The Secretary General heard our message loud and clear. He stood with us, taking a lead by affirming that homophobic criminalisation and discrimination are incompatible with Commonwealth values. No Secretary General had ever said this at CHOGM. Our hope is that he will continue to give a lead by opposing sexual orientation discrimination and by urging homophobic countries to abide by the Commonwealth’s human rights values.
“More than 40 of the 54 Commonwealth member states still criminalise same-sex relations, with penalties including 25 years jail in Trinidad and Tobago and 20 years plus flogging in Malaysia. Six Commonwealth countries stipulate life imprisonment: Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Uganda, Bangladesh and Guyana.
“At CHOGM, there was no condemnation of Uganda’s revived anti-gay bill which carries the death penalty for repeat homosexual offenders and no condemnation of Nigeria’s bill that outlaws same-sex marriage with three years jail for participants and five years jail for those who witness, aid or abet a same-sex marriage.
“The CHOGM 2011 Final Communiqué included no commitment to oppose homophobic persecution and to protect the human rights of LGBTI people, despite widespread sexual orientation and gender identity abuses by most Commonwealth nations.
Read the Final Communiqué here: http://www.thecommonwealth.org/news/34580/241632/301011communique.htm
“These failings contradict the Commonwealth’s professed fundamental values of human rights, equality and non-discrimination. They reflect a wider failure to tackle human rights abuses in many Commonwealth member states, including gender inequality, ethnic discrimination, detention without trial, torture, media censorship and state-sponsored executions.
“There were, however, some limited CHOGM agreements which could potentially lead to future progress on LGBTI rights; albeit very slowly and piecemeal.
“Commonwealth leaders agreed that the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) will be empowered to deal with serious or persistent human rights violations by member states, which could include action against countries that perpetrate homophobic persecution.
“CMAG will, in effect, be the custodian of the 2009 Affirmation of Commonwealth Values and Principles which, the Secretary-General said in his speech at the Commonwealth People’s Forum, ‘includes a clear commitment to tolerance, respect and understanding. This means we embrace difference, and that includes sexual identity. Discrimination and criminalisation on grounds of sexual orientation is at odds with our values.’
“Commonwealth heads of government are committed to set up a task force to advise on the recommendations of the Eminent Persons Group. These recommendations include that member governments should take steps to encourage the repeal of discriminatory laws that impede effective responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, such as the criminalisation of same-sex relations. This task force offers some hope that that the EPG’s decriminalisation recommendation might be implemented eventually, at least in some Commonwealth countries. To make this happen, we need to sustain our lobbying and campaigning efforts,” concluded Mr Tatchell.
Speaking at the Commonwealth People’s Forum on 25 October 2011, the Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, said:
“We recall the 2009 Affirmation of Commonwealth Values and Principles, which includes a clear commitment to tolerance, respect and understanding. This means we embrace difference, and that includes sexual identity. Discrimination and criminalisation on grounds of sexual orientation is at odds with our values and I have had occasion to refer to this in the context of our law-related conferences.”