ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
ASEAN SOGIE Caucus (ASC) was invited to be part of Pyi Gyi Khin’s study visit to the Philippines. We were able to share our experiences in global and regional advocacy and in building a movement of LBTIQ activists.
Ging Cristobal, ASC core member, discussed entry points for advocacy within the United Nations. She stressed that engaging the human rights mechanism requires systematic monitoring and documentation of human rights violations.
(ASC shares the full text of the statement of Myanmar LGBT Rights Network in response to the homophobic and transphobic actions of government officials from Mandalay Region. You may also download the statement here.)
The ASEAN SOGIE Caucus and The International Committee of Jurists held an event entitled “Positioning the Rainbow within ASEAN” A Public Lecture on ASEAN, Activism and LGBTIQ Rights, on August 12, 2015 at La Breza Hotel in Quezon City, Philippines. The speakers for the lecture were Ms. Emerlynne Gil, the Senior International Legal Adviser of the ICJ in Southeast Asia and Professor Douglas Sanders, a retired law professor from the University of British Columbia and one of the founders of the first LGBT organizations in Canada.
The panel aimed to address the following objectives: To describe the human rights situation of LGBTIQs within ASEAN; To critically reflect on the dynamic political, social and economic contexts that influence and affect the status of LGBTIQ activism in the region; and To identify opportunities and spaces for regional-level activism.
Emerlynne Gil provided a landscape of democracy within ASEAN and the state of civil society in the region. Emerlynne has put the ASEAN countries into three categories. The first category includes countries with widespread democracy and political pluralism; the second category are countries with semi-authoritarian governments but with some democracy and political pluralism; and the third category are countries that are clearly authoritarian and no political pluralism at all.
AUGUST 12 ― There is something going on at the Federal Court in Putrajaya this Thursday, August 13 which may not register much on the minds of many Malaysians, especially with the shenanigans going on in that town at the moment. However, the decision in a case being heard by the highest court in the land could have wide-ranging consequences for all Malaysians.
Last November, the Court of Appeal granted an appeal against a Seremban High Court judgement which dismissed a judicial review application to challenge the constitutionality of a Syariah law. Section 66 of the Shariah Criminal (Negeri Sembilan) Enactment 1992 was being used to persecute and prosecute those who are Muslim and transgender by criminalising any man who dresses or poses as a woman.
The ASEAN SOGIE Caucus recently organized a meeting titled “SOGIE Intersections and Rainbow Coalition Work: a Roundtable Discussion on Locating the Intersections of LGBTIQ Issues”. The activity was convened to examine how intersectionality may be applied as a lens to both examine multiple forms of discrimination and as an approach to strengthen the advocacy of LGBTIQ movements.
Prof. Tesa De Vela, Chairperson of Miriam College Department of International Studies and a long-time feminist activist, helped unpack the concept of intersectionality as an analytical tool. Prof. De Vela noted that applying intersectionality into LGBTIQ activism opens the doors for “sincere affinity” towards the advocacies of other marginalized groups. In applying intersectionality, Prof. De Vela suggested the need to build meaningful alliances with different social movements.
Several speakers examined the intersections between SOGIE, and other identities and contexts, such as child rights, older persons, migration, ethnicity, disability and poverty.
Klarise Estorninos of the Ateneo Human Rights Center suggested that the non-discrimination and “best interest of the child” principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child because may potentially be used to protect actual or perceived to be LGBTIQ children from abuse.
2 June 2015 -- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently issued a report to the UN Human Rights Council covering the issues of discrimination and violence based a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGIE).
The report noted some recent advances in the protection of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) persons. Since 2011, 14 states have adopted or strengthened anti-discrimination laws; 3 states have abolished criminal sanctions against homosexuality; and 10 have introduced reforms that facilitates transgender persons to obtain legal recognition of their gender identity. The report also noted that in all regions LGBTIQ human rights defenders have been more vocal and visible in raising awareness and challenging domestic court decisions. Despite some advances, the report presents evidence of “continuing, pervasive, violent abuse, harassment and discrimination affecting LGBT and intersex persons in all regions”. Persons perceived to be LGBTIQ’s remain targets of organized violence perpetrated by religious extremists, paramilitary groups and extreme nationalists.
Human rights defenders working to uphold the rights of LGBTIQ persons have also been subjected to violence. Laws that criminalize LGBTIQ persons remain to be in force in 76 countries; some prescribe death as a form of punishment. Discriminatory medical practices such as “conversion” therapy, forced sterilization, and unnecessary medical surgeries performed against intersex children were reported to be unaddressed by governments. Oftentimes, human rights violations committed against LGBTIQ persons were perpetrated with impunity. The report contains 20 recommendations directed at governments. These include the following:
Furthermore, the report made recommendations to specific UN bodies. It encourages the Human Rights Council to "keep itself regularly informed" on patterns of violence and discrimination linked to SOGIE. On the other hand it encourages UN special procedures to continue to report on related violations of the human rights of LGBTIQ persons within their respective mandates. Meanwhile, national human rights institutions are also called to address violence and discrimination against LGBTIQ persons in undertaking their mandates to monitor human rights situation at the national level. The report is second official UN report on the issue of violence and discrimination against LGBTIQ persons. It was an outcome of the Human Rights Council Resolution 27/32, adopted in September 2014 and was supported by selected Asian member states – Japan, Philippines, South Korea and Viet Nam. Download the full copy of the report here.
LGBTIQ activists together with friend, family, co-workers and allies recently celebrated the eleventh International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) in various parts of the country. The celebration organized with a theme “Voice for the Voiceless” to highlight the continuous struggle of activists to empower LGBTIQ persons and other marginalized sectors who are silenced due to discrimination and stigma.
Local activists have organized public workshops on health, poverty reduction and school bullying, public screenings of LGBTIQ documentaries, street clean-up events, radio programs, and free, fast, voluntary and confidential HIV and STI testing.
Here’s a piece of news from our friends at IGLHRC.
Media Contact: Suzanne Trimel +1 212-430-6018, +1 201-247-5057,
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) January 27, 2015 – A 2014 Malaysian landmark ruling in favor of trans rights has come under threat. The ruling recognized the rights of mak nyah (male to female gender non-conforming persons) in Negeri Sembilan (one of Malaysia’s 13 states) to cross dress and appear as women in public without being criminalized. Today, the Federal Court of Malaysia granted the state government of Negeri Sembilan the right to appeal the ruling, opening the possibility that it could be reversed.
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
Legally Registered in the Philippines as Southeast Asia Sexual Orientation,
Gender Identity and Expression Caucus (ASC), Inc. The organization is in
Special Consultative Status with the UN ECOSOC since 2021.
Quezon City, Philippines
Email: communications@aseansogiecaucus.org
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