Highlighting the grave human rights violations experienced by people the world-over on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, 628 organisations from 151 countries today called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).

The statement, delivered in Geneva under Item 8 of the Human Rights Council on Monday 27 June 2016, reminded the  Council that the High Commissioner for Human Rights has said: “Current arrangements to protect the human rights of LGBT and intersex persons are inadequate,” and “there is as yet no dedicated human rights mechanism at the international level that has a systematic and comprehensive approach to the human rights situation of LGBT and intersex persons”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5oJeh0SVG8

Later in this week States in the Human Rights Council will vote to establish such an Expert in a resolution brought by a group of Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay.

We urge States to support this resolution and to oppose any attempts to undermine it, whether procedural motions or amendments aimed at stripping the resolution of its content or focus.

Read the full statement here.

A breakdown of where the 628 NGOs are from follows. The full list is at the end of the statement.