2006
In 2006, a group of legal experts meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, draft the Yogyakarta Principles, setting out international human rights standards for the protection of LGBTQ+ people. Though never formally adopted by the UN, the Principles quickly become a powerful advocacy tool, especially in the Global South where colonial-era laws, religious conservatism, and authoritarian repression continue to criminalise gender and sexual diversity.
Despite their progressive language, the impact of the Yokyakarta Principles is uneven. Many countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East continue to enforce punitive laws against LGBTQ+ individuals, often underpinned by colonial-era legal codes and rising religious fundamentalism. Global South feminists critique the limits of top-down rights frameworks, stressing the need for grounded, intersectional approaches that connect struggles over sexuality and gender nonconformity to broader fights against class exploitation, racial injustice, and patriarchal violence.
