UN Agency Denies Consultative Status to ILGA-Europe
Iran proposed rejection - US in favour
BRUSSELS, May 18, 2006 – The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) in Europe expressed disappointment today that it’s bid for observer status in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) had been rejected.
Also rejected was a similar bid from LSVD, a German national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender federation.
“We are deeply disappointed that our application was rejected,” commented Patricia Prendiville, executive director of ILGA-Europe. “We believe this completely unfair decision is motivated by prejudice and ignorance.
“Ironically this decision was made on the International Day against Homophobia and is yet another proof that LGBT people in the world are far from being treated equally and with dignity.
“We are thankful to all those countries and European organisations that supported our application. We will continue in our work to achieve the human rights of LGBT people and to have their rights respected,” she added.
Rejection was proposed by Iran and supported by nine countries – Cameroon, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Iran, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, Zimbabwe.
Seven counties did not support rejection of ILGA-Europe’s application. They were Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Peru, Romania and the United States. Two countries – India and Turkey – abstained.
Submitting her proposal for immediate rejection of the application, the representative of Iran, supported by Sudan’s delegate, said that ILGA-Europe and LSVD were part of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), whose application had also been rejected.
Iran had doubts over how the organisation could contribute to ECOSOC’s work and the answers it had provided were not satisfactory.
In general statements and explanations of position, the representatives of Germany, France, Chile, Romania, India and Peru expressed their concerns that due process had been violated as the NGO had not been given an opportunity to answer Iran’s objections.
France’s delegate noted that such rejection was a violation of article 15 of resolution 1996/31 governing the Committee.
Speakers also expressed concern that discrimination had entered the Committee’s realm.
Earlier this year, the United States voted with Iran to reject the applications for observer status of gay NGOs, including ILGA.
But intensive lobbying in Washington spearheaded by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Campaign resulted in the Bush Administration to support applications from gay-focused groups in this week’s voting.
