ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
Inclusive and diverse ASEAN
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.
We’re sharing this statement in solidarity with SOGIE rights groups operating in the Middle East and North Africa. It’s by Mantiqitna (a SOGIE group operating in Arab states) recent crackdown and harassment of LGBTIQ in Egypt.
Respecting human rights is the true legitimacy
While the world is celebrating the Human rights day calling for human rights for everyone everywhere, LGBTIQ populations seems to be always left behind.
On December 7th, Egyptian police have raided a bathhouse in central Cairo and arrested 33 men on suspicion of “debauchery” – a charge that has been used against homosexual people in Egypt extensively. Since October 2013, there has been a brutal crackdown on LGBTIQ population in Egypt with the arrest & prosecution for over 200 homosexual & transsexual persons on shameful publicized political trials violating their ground breaking rights to privacy, non discrimination, not to be punished or tortured based on their status, Arbitrary arrest & prosecution in addition to a long list of Human rights that are violated based on their own identity.
On 4 December, the European Union Delegation to Singapore held a seminar commemorating Human Rights Day (10 December). Law professor Dr Thio Li-Ann was invited as the only solo speaker, addressing the topic “International Human Rights Law and National Courts in Asia” – even though she is infamous for having delivered an extremely homophobic speech against the repeal of Singapore’s sodomy laws.
A coalition of Singaporean activists wrote a joint statement and held a silent protest during Dr Thio’s speech. There is some excellent commentary on the protest by Kirsten Tan and Brian Bergen-Aurand. We reproduce the joint statement below:
Statement of concern on Thio Li-Ann as speaker at EU human rights seminar
We, the undersigned, write to express our disappointment at the choice of Prof Thio Li Ann as a speaker for the Human Rights Day seminar hosted by the EEAS European Union Delegation to Singapore.
It is a matter of public record that Prof Thio: –
believes the LGBT community is not entitled to the protections of human rights with respect to issues of sexuality, even between consenting homosexual adults.
Our friends in Myanmar are organising the country’s first LGBT film festival! Here’s some information from their website!
Coming November, Yangon will see the first &PROUD lesbian, gay, bi and transgender film festival. As Myanmar has opened it’s doors to the world, so too has the LGBT community started to become more visible and vocal. The film festival adds to the budding (LGBT) cultural scene and will celebrate the breadth and diversity of Asian LGBT lives. Focusing on films from Southeast Asia and other asian countries, our aim is to showcase films from nearly all ASEAN nations including some homegrown productions from Myanmar.
There’s a series of articles about our work by Alexandra Dmitrianova on the website SimplySxy.
So far, three parts have been published:
This is the first of the eight ‘Stories of Being Me’ films by the B-Change Foundation.
These videos highlight stories from persons of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity. This one’s from Singapore – the others will be from Jakarta, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Manila, and Hanoi.
They’ll be hosted on BE web-app, which provides information for young people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity in 5 languages: Indonesian, Malay language, Simplified Chinese and Thai. These resources will be uploaded gradually.
If you want to help out, here’s what the team says you can do:
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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