PRESS RELEASE
Geneva, 25 July 2011
With 30 votes in favour (India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary), 13 against (Iraq, Morocco, Namibia, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Ghana) and 6 abstentions (Guatemala, Mauritius, Philipines, Rwanda, Bahamas, Ivory Coast) the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) granted today consultative status to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). ECOSOC consultative status allows NGOs to attend UN conferences and meetings, submit written statements and reports, make oral interventions, and host panels in UN buildings, thus representing a fundamental tool for an NGO like ILGA – with more than 700 member organisations in all continents – to do work on LGBTI human rights within the UN system.
ILGA was the first international LGBTI organisation to get ECOSOC consultative status in 1993, but lost it the following year due to the presence of groups advocating the abolition of laws of consent. ILGA has applied to regain the status ever since, following the expulsion of the above mentioned groups from its membership and after amending its constitution to state clearly its commitment against child abuse, but a small group of countries sponsoring homophobia had been able to influence the votes in the UN NGO Committee examining the applications for a long time. In the meantime, many ILGA members – like LBL Denmark, COC The Netherlands, FELGT Spain, LSVD Germany, ABGLT Brazil, IGLHRC US, and Ilga-Europe – were able to obtain the status by having the negative recommendation of the NGO Committee overturned in the ECOSOC Council, as it has happened in the case of ILGA today.
“This is a historic day for our organisation, which heals a 17-year-old wound – said co-Secretary General Renato Sabbadini, in Geneva for the occasion – and we want to thank all, really all UN Members who voted in our favour, they all deserve indeed to be named fully: India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary. A special thanks goes to Belgium, for its relentless efforts in building a consensus around us, together with the United States and Argentina. We would like to thank also our member organisations which successfully lobbied their Governments on this occasion and all our allies for their support, in particular Arc-International in Geneva.”
“Today we are celebrating – said co-Secretary General Gloria Careaga from Mexico City – but we are aware that there is a lot of work to do for us in the coming months. But we are looking forward to working together with all our members, particularly those which also have the status, and our allies to advance LGBTI human rights in the UN bodies in the coming years, taking advantage of the very positive developments opened by the resolution presented by South Africa in the UN Human Rights Council last June.”
Pedro Paradiso Sottile, Regional Secretary for ILGA LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), also in Geneva for the occasion, said: “Granting ILGA consultative status is an act of justice and a reason for pride for the international community working for a world where human rights are truly respected without any discrimination. Our voices and our struggle for equality and freedom must reach every corner of the world, for differences in sexual orientation, gender identity and expression to be respected and protected by all States. We believe that the ECOSOC status will help all our activists around the world in this endeavour.”
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Renato Sabbadini
co-Secretary General, ILGA
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
rue de la Charité 17
1210 Brussels
tel. +3225022471
fax +32 2 22 34820
email: renato@ilga.org
web: www.ilga.org
DAWN Response Letter to PCW (Philippine Commission on Women) Endorsement for ILGA Accreditation
Dear Chairperson Remedios Rikken and Ambassador Aurora de Dios:
In behalf of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), I would like to extend our deepest gratitude for your swift action on our request to call on the Philippine Missions to support the application forwarded by the International, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Association (ILGA) for accreditation in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
We commend the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) for the unwavering commitment towards gender justice and non-discriminatory access. It is our fervent hope that our Excellencies in Geneva and New York mirror your support and vote in favor of ILGA’s accreditation for consultative status in the United Nations ECOSOC as they deliberate on 25 July 2011.
We look forward to future collaborations and the continued solidarity in working towards gender justice and the further affirmation of the legitimacy of sexual orientation and gender identity as critical concerns of the human rights of all individuals.
Sincerely,
Josefa “Gigi” Francisco
DAWN Global Coordinator
DAWN Requests URGENT Action on ILGA ECOSOC Accreditation
DAWN writes to Ambassador Aurora De Dios, Philippine Representative to the ASEAN Commission on Women and Children, and Ms. Remedios Rikken, Chairperson of the Philippine Commision on Women Board of Commissioners urging their good offices to immediately call on the Philippine Missions in New York and Geneva to support and vote favorably on the application forwarded by the International Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Association (ILGA) for accreditation in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The ECOSOC is set to vote on ILGA’s application on 25 July 2011.
In its letter, DAWN said that as a network of feminist scholars, researchers and activists from the economic South working for economic and gender justice, and sustainable and democractic development, it insists that member states uphold the principle of non-discriminatory access and maintain fair process.
DAWN looks forward to the Philippines and other states to voting favorably for the accreditation of ILGA’s consultative status towards full affirmation of the legitimacy of sexual orientation and gender identity as critical concerns within the human rights of all individuals.