At
UN,
Jabs
at
NGO
on Lesbian Rights from Pakistan,
Sudan, Russia, Morocco
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
31
--
In the UN's committee on non-governmental
organization on Monday morning the application for accreditation of
the Autonomous Women's Center, which mentioned discrimination against
lesbians, was questioned and opposed by Pakistan, Morocco, Russia and
Sudan.
Pakistan's
representative
asked
sarcastically
if
the discrimination of lesbians
was “against men.” He mocked the application's reference to
disability, asking if “lesbianism is a disability.”
This
followed
not
only
previous
fights in the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs but December's
debate after which lesbians and gays were added to a UN resolution
against extrajudicial executions from which the US abstained. In
the
run up to that vote, not only the United Arab Emirates for the Arab
Group and Tajikistan for the Organization of the Islamic Conference
but also Benin for the African Group urged that the LGBT amendment be
opposed.
Now
late January,
some of the opposition has become more technical. Morocco argued that
since the Autonomous Women's Center changed its name in 2009, it has
not been in operation for the two years necessary for accreditation.
Serbia, where the group is based, spoke in its defense.
Russia
and
Sudan,
where
women
including a UN staff member have been sentenced to
whipping for wearing pants, both joined the opposition to the
Autonomous Women's Center. Sudan specifically joined in the
opposition of Pakistan.
Pakistan's
representative
later
in
the
session said that whatever UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon may have said, it was on his own behalf, not on
behalf of member states. Pakistan argued in the ECOSOC Committee on
NGOs on Monday that discrimination against gays and lesbians is “not
recognized by the UN.”
Ban on gay rights, response to Sudan's and
Pakistan's Jan 31 statements not shown
In
the past, Ban
has dodged such questions by saying “it's up to member states,”
or that he won't speak on particular application or motions pending
for a vote before UN bodies. He has been out of town for days, but
one wonders what if anything he will have to say about the mocking of
gays and gay rights in the UN's North Lawn Building, three floors
beneath his office, on January 31. Watch this site.
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