UN SOGI Expert: Process, Results and Implications

Originally published at Arc International. Available at: https://arc-international.net/global-advocacy/human-rights-council/32nd-session-of-the-human-rights-council/appointing-an-independent-expert-on-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-an-analysis-of-process-results-and-implications/

32^nd Session of the Human Rights Council

June13 – 1^st July, 2016

_{For further information on HRC32:}

_{Arvind Narrain | Geneva Director | arvind@arc-international.net}

_{Kim Vance | Executive Director | kim@arc-international.net}

_{http://arc-international.net/global-advocacy/human-rights-council/32nd-session-of-the-human-rights-council/}

_{All documents referenced in this Report can be found at:}

_{http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session32/Pages/ResDecStat.aspx}

The defining event of the 32^nd Session of the Human Rights Council was the passing of the resolution appointing an Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.[1]

The process began in 2011, when South Africa introduced the very first resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity, asking the High Commissioner to produce a Report on violations and best practices relating to discrimination and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2014, the Human Rights Council passed the second resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity, which asked the High Commissioner to update the report authorized by the 2011 resolution.

The 2016 resolution, apart from being the third resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) at the Council, went several steps further and set in place a dedicated mechanism tasked with examining discrimination and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity over the next three years.

The passing of the resolution will now ensure sustained and systematic attention by a major organ of the United Nations to human rights violations on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. The work of the Independent Expert can give greater depth to the notion that violations on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity are human rights violations which should be taken seriously. The creation of this mandate will enable activists from around the world to focus a global spotlight on brutal violations in diverse local and national contexts. In effect, the resolution creates a lever or mechanism that can be activated in aid of local struggles, bringing one more level of pressure to ensure accountability for violations on grounds of SOGI.

This Report will examine the Resolution in all its facets, examining the process leading up to the resolution, analysing the text of the resolution, and attempting to understand the political landscape i.e. why states voted the way they did. An underlying theme of the analysis is an effort to grapple with the implications of the resolution.

I Introduction

II The process leading up to the SOGI Resolution 2016

The logic underlying a resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity

The draft resolution

Informals on the draft resolution

Civil Society Advocacy Efforts

Joint statements by civil society

Making the case for an Independent Expert at the Human Rights Council

III Understanding the SOGI Resolution 2016

The voting results

An analysis of the hostile amendments

What the resolution does is more important than what the resolution says