The Guardian Muslim states block 11 LGBT groups from attending UN Aids meeting US ambassador says move by Organization of Islamic Cooperation represents an ‘epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the UN’
Reuters Tuesday 17 May 2016 15.49 EDT A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level meeting at the _United Nations_ (http://www.theguardian.com/world/unitednations) next month on ending Aids, sparking a protest by the US, Canada and the EU. Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member general assembly on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to object to the participation of the 11 groups. It did not give a reason in the letter, which Reuters has seen. Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, wrote to the general assembly president, Mogens Lykketoft, and said the groups appeared to have been blocked for involvement in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy. “Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/Aids pandemic,” Power wrote. UN officials said the EU and Canada also wrote to Lykketoft to protest against the objections by the OIC group, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda. The issues of _LGBT rights_ (http://www.theguardian.com/world/lgbt-rights) and participation in events at the UN have long been contentious. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has advocated for LGBT equality but faced opposition from African, Arab and Muslim states as well as Russia and China. “We are deeply concerned that at every negotiation on a new general assembly gathering, the matter of NGO [non-governmental organization] participation is questioned and scrutinized,” Power wrote. “The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spurious or hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the UN,” she said. In 2014, Ban said the UN would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive its benefits. Russia, with the support of 43 states including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan and Syria, unsuccessfully _tried to overturn the move_ (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/21/russia-stop-same-sex-spouses-receiving-un-staff-benefits-ban -ki-moon-lgbt) last year. In February, the 54-member African Group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member Group of Friends of the Family led by Belarus, Egypt and Qatar protested about six new UN stamps promoting LGBT equality. The Group of Friends of the Family promotes the traditional family. It launched a photo exhibit, Uniting Nations for a Family Friendly World, at the UN on Tuesday, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
