UN Expert: Criminalization of Same Sex Unions Violates Human Rights Law and Must End

GENEVA - U.N. Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, is calling for the global elimination of laws that criminalize same-sex unions by 2030.  His report has been submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council. 

Currently, 69 countries criminalize homosexuality or some forms of gender identity, nearly half are in Africa. Among them are a handful of countries that apply the death sentence for same sex sexual acts.  They include Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and northern Nigeria. U.N. independent Expert, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, says as of today, 2,000 million people live in criminalized environments.  He says there is no justification under international human rights law for maintaining criminalized legislation in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity. "My work has produced abundant evidence to the effect that these criminalizing provisions, even when they are not applied, they create a context, a context that is hostile to the existence of LGBT persons and that is also conducive to blackmail and to significant violence affecting the everyday lives of these persons,” Madrigal-Borloz said.