Civil society organisations encourage the OSCE to recognise sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as human rights issues
135 non-governmental organisations from 33 countries in Europe and North America have joined a declaration to support the work against homophobia and for LGBT human rights within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The declaration was initiated in the spring 2007 by ILGA-Europe.
The declaration recalls the participating states of their obligation under various international treaties and national constitutions to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of all persons without discrimination. The signatories state that there is substantial evidence that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities are especially vulnerable to hate crimes and therefore have a particular need to be included in programmes addressing this issue.
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) within OSCE organised its annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw September 24th – October 5th. The declaration was distributed to the participating states and NGOs at the HDIM.
27/09/2007
Declaration of Civil Society Organisations on the Recognition of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression in the OSCE
We, the undersigned representatives of civil society, call upon the OSCE participating states to recognise sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression explicitly as grounds of discrimination, intolerance, hate-motivated crimes and human rights violations in the OSCE commitments.
