The ASEAN SOGIE Caucus Affirms ‘We Are #ASEANtoo’ & Calls States And People to Support Inclusion of SOGIE in the ASEAN

March 13, 2014 – The ASEAN SOGIE Caucus (ASC) yesterday launched its ‘We are #ASEANtoo’ campaign on its social media sites in the lead up to the ASEAN People’s Forum that will take place in Burma from 21 to 23 March 2014. The social media campaign calls online users to show their support for the inclusion of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression (SOGIE) in the ASEAN by using the hashtag #ASEANtoo as they send supportive tweets and Instagrams.

We have translations of our recommendations in Burmese, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Khmer, Malay, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese. Please distribute this in the language your community speaks best. (A Lao translation is forthcoming!)

ENGLISH

1.  Immediately repeal laws that directly or indirectly criminalize SOGIE, recognize LGBTIQ rights as human rights, and harmonize national laws, policies and practices with the Yogyakarta Principles.

2.  Establish national level mechanisms and review existing regional human rights instruments (e.g. AICHR, ACWC) to include the promotion and protection of the equal rights of all people regardless of SOGIE with the active engagement of the LGBTIQ community.

3.  Depathologize SOGIE and promote psychosocial well-being of people of diverse SOGIE in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, and ensure equal access to health and social services.

On October 14, a regional network of LGBT rights organizations launched a video in response to the exclusion of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression (SOGIE) from the language of two recently adopted declarations protecting women and children from violence.

The video is part of a bigger campaign called “We are #ASEANtoo!” which was launched a week before the 23rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on October 9 to 10, in Brunei. The Declarations on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Elimination of Violence Against Children (DEVAW and DEVAC respectively) were set to be adopted at the said summit.