Proposed UN declaration may provoke Muslim states

James Reinl, United Nations Correspondent

• Last Updated: December 14. 2008 9:30AM UAE / December 14. 2008 5:30AM GMT

NEW YORK // Islamic governments are expected to join with the Vatican in protesting against a French-backed declaration in the UN General Assembly that calls for the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide.

Rama Yade, France’s secretary of state for human rights, will visit Manhattan this week to throw her weight behind a statement supported by dozens of nations that blasts the outlawing of certain types of sexual behaviour.

The 13-point declaration urges states “to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention”.

While the controversial document is not binding in international law, it has provoked hostile responses from leaders of religiously conservative nations that regard homosexuality as sinful.

Margaret Awino-Kafeero, a diplomat from Uganda’s mission to the UN, which currently chairs Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meetings at the world body, said many Muslim governments rejected the declaration.

OIC delegates have discussed the gay-friendly statement and agreed that governments choosing to prosecute homosexual behaviour should object to the declaration independently.

“The OIC decided it will be each individual country’s decision,” Ms Awino-Kafeero said.

The declaration indirectly criticises more than 80 countries in which homosexuality is punishable by law.

The Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN has already revealed Holy See opposition to the statement, which is still being drafted and carries the support of 56 countries.

“The OIC decided it will be each individual country’s decision,” Ms Awino-Kafeero said.

The declaration indirectly criticises more than 80 countries in which homosexuality is punishable by law.

The Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN has already revealed Holy See opposition to the statement, which is still being drafted and carries the support of 56 countries.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the Vatican opposed the resolution because it would “add new categories of those protected from discrimination” and could lead to reverse discrimination against traditional heterosexual marriage.

“If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations,” Mr Migliore said.

“For example, states which do not recognise same-sex unions as ‘matrimony’ will be pilloried and made an object of pressure.”

Franco Grillini, founder and honorary president of Arcigay, Italy’s leading gay rights group, said he feared the revival of a “Holy Alliance” between the Vatican and Islamic states to oppose the statement.

Activists refer to a major UN conference on the family in Cairo in 1994 when the Vatican teamed up with Islamic and Latin American countries to defeat an abortion rights proposal.

France’s declaration is backed by EU members and has won support from non-western countries, such as Ecuador and Uruguay as well as two OIC members, Gabon and Guinea-Bissau.

Scott Long, a gay rights specialist for Human Rights Watch, said the expected reading of the statement on Thursday by a Gabonese envoy would mark a paradigm shift in global gay rights.

“This is very significant. It has been very difficult to attract African support in the past,” said Mr Long.

Holy See opposition to the declaration saw protesters gather in the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square this month.

Mr Long, the gay rights campaigner, described the “great importance” of such an issue finally reaching the world’s 192-member debating chamber, but noted that the statement will not go to a vote.

He doubts whether countries that execute homosexuals will voice dissent in the General Assembly chamber.

Ms Awino-Kafeero, the OIC representative, said the declaration is unlikely to spur governments that prosecute homosexuals to amend their law books, as “domestic legislation is a matter for each state to decide”.

But she said the declaration will likely be “a precursor to a resolution” in the General Assembly during the session of 2009 or a subsequent year – meaning this week’s battle could be the start of a longer gay rights war at UN headquarters.

jreinl@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting by Reuters