UN votes to denounce gay killing
The United Nations has voted to restore sexual orientation in a resolution condemning the extra judicial killings of minority groups.
The move to reinstate the reference to sexual orientation was pushed by the United States after Middle East and African nations last month moved to take out explicit references to sexuality in the resolution.
The Washington Post has reported 93 countries voted yesterday in favor of a US motion to restore the previous wording of the resolution, with 55 countries against and 27 abstaining.
The amended resolution was then approved in another vote with 122 countries voting in favor, 59 abstentions and no countries voting against.
World wide outcry followed the removal of the reference last month when 79 countries voted to exclude the sexual orientation reference, while 70 countries, including Australia, voted to support its retention.
Following the November vote, US ambassador Susan Rice said she was “incensed” by the decision and would seek to reverse the move.
Earlier this month UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also ramped up the UN’s calls for homosexuality to be decriminalised across the globe saying where there is tension between cultural attitudes and human rights “universal human rights must carry the day.”
“When individuals are attacked, abused or imprisoned because of their sexual orientation, we must speak out. We cannot stand by. We cannot be silent,” he said.
Ben you say you want names?
Sure as heck Iran was at the top of the list. A racist, homophobic, anti-semetic and paranoid fundamentalist Islamic regime that has nuclear wepons and seems crazy enough to use them!!!
Sleep well tonight everyone.
Should add that a number of Australia’s neighbours changed their vote positively.
Full breajdown of the vote http://madikazemi.blogspot.com/2010/12/big-victory-for-usa-in-fresh-united.html
47 nations in total went in a positive direction. This is a quarter of the UN membership.
* One third of African countries changed their vote positively, including Rwanda and Angola voting yes.
* Almost the whole of the Caribbean changed their vote positively, including Jamaica.
I’d certainly like to know the names of the 55 countries who wanted to retain the right to execute homosexuals.
And where were the cries of outrage by the John Pilger and Noam Chomsky…they always find time to berate the West but are strangely silent.
This is great news but makes me wonder why there are so many abstensions.
Do these people not have the courage to stand up and vote for what they believe or are they controlled by their government?.
These people are the ones we need to worry about.