absolutely ---- this surely is a major major step considering nothing is put forth in these circles without intense and well thought processess
--- On Wed, 23/2/11, Aditya Bondyopadhyay <adit.b...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Aditya Bondyopadhyay <adit.b...@gmail.com> Subject: g_b Re: [gb] a small sign of change To: gaybom...@yahoogroups.com Cc: "Vikram D" <vg...@yahoo.co.uk>, gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com, lgbt-in...@yahoogroups.com, khush-l...@yahoogroups.com, gayde...@yahoogroups.com, movenp...@yahoogroups.com Date: Wednesday, 23 February, 2011, 2:17 PM Not so small actually Vikram. It means that the proverbial neck has been stuck out in the international minefield of Human Rights Politics by India the state, and now that lets the genie out of the other proverbial bottle. Now it will be that much difficult for India the state to either do a tortoise like retraction of the head or an ostrich like burial of the same. In the unlikely eventuality of any reversal in judicial process, the state can and will now be pilloried internationally if it does not take legislative action to reinstate decriminalisation. That is as good a hedge for our collective bet that I can think of at the moment. But more importantly, the state will be standing with our own heavies in the supreme court trying to ensure that such a damning eventuality does not occur in the first place. They have now written in stone that they will pitch for our cause.. The portents are rather good and I feel quiet pleased I must confess.. Best, Aditya B On 22 February 2011 22:10, Vikram D <vg...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: This report from Rex Wockner's news update is interesting because of the voting pattern on this issue about whether to give ILGA (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) consultative status at the UN. The motion failed, but in the column of countries voting to let ILGA in was India. This follows on that other vote on whether to reinstate sexuality related crimes as human rights abuses (or something on those lines, I don't have the exact wording) where again India voted on the side of queer rights (China, notably, opposed queer rights which shows, for all the tolerance that seems to exist there, where its feelings really lie - complete opposition to even the smallest discussion of rights). It is small things like this which show where the thinking deep in the government and bureaucracy really lies in India. I don't think we will automatically have an easy battle ahead or might always win, but in the end I think some real small change has happened: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UN shuns ILGA again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Non-Governmental Organizations Committee of the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Feb. 4 again rejected a request for consultative status from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association aka ILGA. The committee voted to take "no action" on the request and to reconsider it in May. Seven nations supported moving to an actual vote on granting ILGA the status to access U.N. meetings, deliver oral and written reports, contact country representatives and organize events at the U.N. They were Belgium, Bulgaria, India, Israel, Turkey, Peru and the United States. Opposed were Burundi, China, Morocco, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Sudan and Venezuela. Kyrgyzstan abstained and Cuba and Mozambique were not present. The NGO Committee only rarely has approved consultative status for LGBT organizations, though its refusals have several times been overridden by the full ECOSOC. Groups that have finally achieved consultative status include International Wages Due Lesbians, Australia's Coalition of Activist Lesbians, ILGA-Europe (an autonomous division of ILGA), Landsforeningen for Bøsser og Lesbiske (Denmark's National Association for Gays and Lesbians), Lesben- und Schwulenverband in Deutschland (Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany), the Swedish national LGBT group RFSL (whose former initials now are its full name), Coalition Gaie et Lesbienne du Québec (Quebec Gay and Lesbian Coalition), COC Netherlands (a national LGBT group whose former initials are now its full name), Associação Brasileira de Gays, Lésbicas e Transgêneros (Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians and Transgenders), and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. ILGA had ECOSOC status from 1993 to 1994 but was stripped of it following a scandal, orchestrated by the U.S. right wing, in which a small number of ILGA's hundreds of member organizations were accused of not taking a strong enough position on age of consent. Around 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have U.N. consultative status.Gay -- -- ADITYA BONDYOPADHYAY Development Sector Consultant Advocate (Regd. No. F-218/192 of 1997, Bar Council of W.Bengal, India) Website: http://adityabondyopadhyay.webs.com/ ================================ Notice to all recipients: Communication not intended for you but reaching you inadvertently needs to be treated as confidential and destroyed or deleted immediately. Use of such communication in a manner prejudicial to the interest of Aditya Bondyopadhyay and/or his principals, and/or his clients, and/or his agents respectively, may attract legal proceedings which may be of a civil or criminal nature. 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