Homosexuality Punishable By Death

Homosexuality punishable by death in 12 countries
GAY.COM Monday 27 November, 2006

Louis-Georges Tin, the President of the Committee of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) has launched a global petition for a proposed United Nations resolution in favour of the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality.

In more than 70 countries, homosexuality is a crime by law, and punishable by death in 12 of them. Michael Cashman, President of the Europarliament’s Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Affairs spoke of the group’s unanimous support for the campaign , and expressed the hope that it will go far. He added “We hope it will bring strong pressure to bear on the UN, We invite everyone who supports fundamental human rights to support this petition and to ask their friends and co-workers to do so too.”

Alice Nkom, the African human rights lawyer who defended the 11 young men arrested earlier this year in Cameroon and imprisoned for homosexuality said, “This proposed resolution gives us immense optimism and we ardently hope that Louis-Georges Tin and the IDAHO Committee achieve their goal. This is a fight for liberty, and for human rights”.Tin explained that the campaign had two main components; firstly an external media campaign to raise awareness amongst public opinion and government, including the signing of the petition, and secondly the lobbying of members of the newly formed UN Council of Human Rights. Tin has already had talks with the government of South Africa, who have expressed an interest in proposing the resolution. He cited previous United Nations rulings such as Toonen v Tasmania, (where the arrest of a citizen of Tasmania was declared by a committee of the UN to be “a breach of human rights” ) and the more recent ruling by a UN working group that the imprisonment of gay men in Cameroon was an “arbitary deprivation of liberty”, as “encouraging signs”.

VIP’S around the world have given their support to the campaign, and have already signed the petition. Derek Lennard, who is the UK Coordinator of IDAHO, commented about the broad range of support of first signatures, which include Jacques Delors , Cyndi Lauper, Desmond Tutu, David Bowie, ex French Prime Ministers, Michel Rocard and Laurent Fabius and film director Bernado Bertolucci. In the UK, Elton John, Michael Palin, Neil McKenna, Tom Stoppard, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, have joined campaigners and organisations such as Pride London, School’s Out, LGBT history month, Outrage, GALHA , the George House Trust, and politicians such as Chris Bryant, Lord Lester, Lord Chris Smith and Lord Ali have also signed up. The Green Party of England and Wales has been the first political party to support the campaign, but Lennard said he expected the other main parties to declare their support soon.

The petition can be accessed via http://www.idahomophobia.org/The first few days have seen over 2,000 people signing up to it.Tin added “Gays and Lesbians around the world cannot wait any longer for their love to cease being made a crime. Many are in jail or at risk of being killed. This has to stop now”