TAG: sexual identity

Sexual politics in July 2016

Between July 12th and 15th, right before the Durban International AIDS Conference, SPW organized a seminar in Umhlanga, the Northern District of the City. Thirty four researchers and activists from the Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe discussed key trends in sexual politics at regional and country levels as well as in specific domains […]

International coalition launched for LGBTI equal rights

In Uruguay on Wednesday an international coalition was launched for equal rights worldwide for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. Foreign minister Bert Koenders and his Uruguayan opposite number Rodolfo Novoa jointly opened the conference, which the Netherlands and Uruguay co-organised. Government representatives attended from every continent. Several countries, including South Africa, the […]

Crosstalk: HIV and linking across areas of criminalisation

In a moment of global attacks on civil society, an intersectional approach linking issues across HIV, sexuality, adult consensual sex and bodily integrity is critical. Now, more than ever. Speaking Wall, World AIDS Conference, Durban 2016. Photo: Alice Welbourn. Every international AIDS conference seems to have a theme or two that picks up energy as […]

Attack on Trans and Prostitutes

The on-going political conservative trends that has brought us the Brazilian “soft coup”, BREXIT and the candidacy of Donald Trump has also resulted in an increase in reactionary politics across the political spectrum, even among “radicals” and “progressives”. In Brazil, this has been recently manifest in attacks against

Sexual rights, gender, health and rights of defenders at the United Nations HRC 2016

Gabriel Hoosain Khan, an LGBT activist from South Africa muses about the distance of UN bodies in Geneva from the realities of the world that we (or at least some of us) live in or know about. He says – “In Geneva it might be possible

New CHANGE resource on U.S. Foreign Assistance and Female Sex Workers’ Health

CHANGE has released its brand new report “All Women, All Rights, Sex Workers Included: U.S. Foreign Assistance and the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Female Sex Workers.” The report was launched last week before the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa. The report is the first of its kind as it reviews the […]

Kohl’s new issue: Beyond Victims and Savages – The Complexities of Violence, Resistance, and Pleasure

Going beyond the dichotomy of victims and savages entails a nuanced understanding of violence. Such an understanding perceives mainstream violence as indivisible from other paradigms of large-scale oppression – hegemony, socioeconomic injustice, institutionalization, neoliberalism, occupation… It also accounts for the normalized violence we live on a daily basis, in silent acts of coercion, harassment, bullying, and self-damage, and the ways in which they are informed by macro instances of violence, and vice versa.

Sexual politics in June 2016

The proposal launched in May by the LAC 5 countries for the creation of a Special Mandate on Human Rights and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (reported by SPW) has taken its course. On June 30th at the 32 Session of the UN Human Rights Council a resolution was adopted that establishes the mandate of […]

Research Study in Canada Shows Needs of Rural Sex Workers

On the 20th of May in Brantford, Ontario (Canada), a report was released by Dr. Stacey Hannem and the organisation REAL that assesses the needs of rural sex workers. The report is called “Let’s Talk About Sex Work: Report of the REAL working group for Brantford, Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk. Assessing the Needs of Sex […]

The creation of a UN SOGI mandate

On June 30th the Human Rights Council, after a complex and difficult negotiation has voted a resolution that establishes the mandate of and Independent Expert on Human Rights and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. In, May SPW has reported on this upcoming process and now we offer a brief compilation of statements and first analyses […]

United Nations Makes History on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

In a defining vote, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on “Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, and gender identity”, to mandate the appointment of an Independent Expert on the subject.

The UN Has Voted To Create Its First LGBT Rights Watchdog

The person appointed to this new role will be responsible for monitoring “violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”