A United Nations commission says it’s “deeply involved” that the United States ‘ unfair treatment of LGBTQ+ folks has caused the U. S. to offend a human rights agreement that it signed in 1992.
In a regular assessment of U. S. individual rights, the U. N. Human Rights Committee identified 29 various “matters of priority” that violate the U. N.’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Among them, the council cited bans on female- affirming care and LGBTQ+ discussions in schools, crime and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, and bad hate crime data collection, Them reported.
The committee even criticized the U. S. for not doing enough to handle racist police practices, the murder and kidnapping of Native American women, the criminalization of homelessness, additional- criminal drone killings committed worldwide, and violence in U. S. territories.
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U. S. Ambassador to the U. N. Michele Taylor told the council that the U. S. did “pledge to do more”, adding,” The issues raised are usually painful for all of us to discuss”, the Associated Press reported. But, Jamil Dakwar, chairman of the human rights system at the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized Taylor’s “scripted, standard, and often irrelevant responses” to the committee, noting,” At times it seemed that AI- generated responses would have been more qualitative”.
A group of 140 campaigners travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to rally the United States ‘ human rights abuses amid the council’s two- time review. The protesters came from across the U. S. — including Guam, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii — in support of LGBTQ+, aboriginal and reproductive freedom, and anti- bias privileges. The protesters walked out of the agency’s overview after feeling disappointed by U. S. officials ‘ “deflecting” the agency’s issues.
” Stonewall – as usual”, said Ki’ I Kaho’ohanohano, a Hawaiian midwife and reproductive rights activist. ” Again we do n’t have any responses, and it’s very infuriating”.
In September, Rep. Barbara Lee ( D- CA ) spoke at the U. N. General Assembly in New York City, saying,” We are seeing increasingly coordinated efforts to undermine progress on human rights of LGBTQI+ persons worldwide, while seemingly targeted at a small slice of the population”. She noted that, in the U. S.,” We are seeing cruel shameful problems on and against the LGBTQI+ persons, particularly against LGBTQI children”, The Washington Blade reported.
In his speech to the Assembly, President Joe Biden mentioned that Republicans are threatening to end the U. S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ( PEPFAR ), an HIV- prevention program launched in 2003 that has saved 25 million lives in 55 different countries.
Blogger Anne- Christine d’Adesky, who also spoke at the General Assembly in September, said,” The anti- Gay troops, which are the family values ]supporters ] in the GOP and the extreme right, have been using this matter of HIV funding and HIV plans as a kind of proxy … to go after democratic societies, not just here in the United States, but everywhere”, noting that Uganda’s lately passed Anti- Sexuality Act was organized and supported by U. S. evangelical parties. ” It’s a very deliberate plan to reference the issue of LGBTQ rights and sexuality with HIV services delivery”.
Last month, Victor Madrigal- Borloz, the U. N. Independent Expert on defense against LGBTQ+ assault and discrimination, said,” Despite five decades of progress, equality is not within reach, and often not yet within sight, for all persons impacted by violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States…. The data shows that, without exception, these steps rely on biased and challenging views of LGBT persons, in particular trans children and youth, and seek to utilize their lives as props for political income”.
According to international human rights law, the Biden-Harris administration has taken strong and significant actions, revealed a thoughtful approach developed through participatory approaches, and provided major power for their implementation. He claimed that the latest national administration embodied the exact blend of values, knowledge, and strength that can bring about social change.
He continued,” I urge the administration to step up its efforts to help the individual rights of all LGBT people living under its control and help them to secure waters in light of a deliberate attack to undermine these steps.”
