ILGA WORLD LAUNCHES DATABASE WITH KEY DATA ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF LGBTI PEOPLE WORLDWIDE
Summary
This and much more data can be found in the ILGA World Database, a platform launched today by ILGA World compiling laws, news, and references to human rights bodies and advocacy opportunities with the United Nationsan international organisation comprising 193 member States. It has the mission of maintaining peace and security, protecting human rights, providing humanitarian aid and ensuring economic and social development across the globe. It is a network of many different bodies and agencies, each of which has a particular role and responsibility. More related to LGBTIacronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. Although this is not the acronym available to describe people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics, it is the most commonly used in United Nations spaces and advocacy. More people worldwide.
Thanks to this free, interactive, and collaborative platform, everyone can track current progress and backlash around sexual orientationrefers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to - and intimate and sexual relations with - individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender. More, gender identityrefers to a person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. More and expression, and sex characteristicsa term that refers to physical features relating to sex - including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary physical features emerging from puberty. More issues in 193 UN member States and 47 non-independent territories.
Follow this link to access the ILGA World Database, and share the news with your networks using our social media toolkit
Hard-won advances are indeed taking place in many UN member States: 7 of them now have introduced nationwide restrictions to unnecessary interventions on intersexan umbrella term for the spectrum of variations of sex characteristics that naturally occur within the human species. Intersex people are born with variations of sex characteristics (such as genitals, reproductive organs, hormonal and chromosomal patterns) that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions of male or female bodies. Up to 1.7% of the global population are born with such traits; yet, because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatised and subject to harmful practices – including in medical settings - and discriminated against. More minors; 20 allow for legal gender recognitionlaws, administrative procedures or processes by which a person can change their sex/gender marker and names on official identity documents. More based on self-determination; 11 of them ban so-called ‘conversion therapies’ at the national level. Marriage equalitywhere national marriage legislation also includes same-sex couples or gender-neutral reference to the spouses. References to “gay marriage” that are sometimes made by media outlets and decision-makers incorrectly are incorrect, as no country has created a marriage law specifically for same-sex couples. More is now a reality in 33 UN member States. Laws that protect people from hate crimes on the grounds of their sexual orientation exist in 58 UN member States, but only 37 do so based on genderrefers to a social construct which places cultural and social expectations on individuals based on their assigned sex. More identity, 9 on gender expressionrefers to how a person presents their gender through physical appearance – including dress, hairstyles, accessories, cosmetics – and mannerisms, speech, behavioural patterns, names and personal references. More, and 5 on sexrefers to the classification of a person as male, female, or other - usually made at birth, written on a birth certificate, and usually based on the appearance of their external anatomy. A person’s sex, however, is actually a combination of bodily characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, internal and external reproductive organs, and secondary sex characteristics. More characteristics.
“Accessing data about LGBTI populations – historically left out, uncounted, and unrepresented – has always been difficult,” said ILGA World research coordinator Lucas Ramón Mendos. “Building upon four decades of experience that our organisation has in compiling this kind of information, ILGA World is now sharing it with everyone, giving free access to a platform that is grounded in data and research, and that systematises 4,300 legal sources and more than 7,000 references from United Nations mechanisms.”
The ILGA World Database features updated information about laws (including judicial decisions, executive orders and bills in the making) that affect LGBTI people worldwide – divided into 18 legal categories and more than 100 topics, and visualised in interactive global and regional maps. Every State and jurisdiction worldwide has its own profile with laws, upcoming advocacy opportunities for human rights defenders, and a selection of the latest LGBTI news. Activists can track developments in every human rights body within the United Nations, monitor deadlines to engage with them, and integrate any entry into their research or policy work.
“Grassroots organisations often can only count on little resources to remain updated with global developments, or to find information that they can use in their advocacy or campaigning work”, commented Julia Ehrt, Executive Director at ILGA World. “The ILGA World Database is a game-changing, powerful source of information in their hands.”
A simple look at data is all it takes to see how true equality is still very far from reach for many LGBTI people worldwide: 6 UN member States legally impose the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts, and there is no legal certainty of its application in 5 more States. At least 51 countries have restrictions on freedom of expression related to sexual and gender diversity issues, including in educational settings.
“Simply put, this data speaks, and provides everyone accessing it with the missing pieces of evidence of how lesbianadjective/noun to describe a woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves. More, gayadjective to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional
attractions are to people of the same gender. Men, women and non-binary people may use this
term to describe themselves. More, bisexualadjective used to describe a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of other genders. More, transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. More, and intersex persons are still left behind in many areas of life,” commented Luz Elena Aranda and Tuisina Ymania Brown, co-Secretaries General at ILGA World. “With the ILGA World Database, our lived realities can be documented, programmes and services can be advocated for. The Database brings to light valuable data that is missing in current LGBTI advocacy. Combining it with our stories and our activism is how we will make the world a better and more equal place for our LGBTI communities globally”.
Key figures sourced from the ILGA World Database (as of 15 March 2023)
Criminalisation
- 64 UN member States criminalise consensual same-sex relations: 62 of them criminalise de jure (laws criminalising consensual same-sex sexual acts); 2 criminalise de facto (in practice, relying on other laws)
- The death penalty is the legally prescribed penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts in 6 UN member States: Brunei, Mauritania, Iran, Nigeria (12 provinces), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. In 5 more (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates), there is no full legal certainty.
Freedom of expression and freedom of association
- At least 51 UN member States have laws, rules, and regulations that outlaw forms of expression related to sexual and gender diversity issues. In at least 11 of them, laws are specifically designed to apply to education, and in 25 they specifically regulate content disseminated through media
- At least 55 UN member States present legal barriers to registering and operating organisations openly advocating the rights of LGBTI people
Constitutional protection from discrimination
- UN member States whose Constitution includes protection from discrimination
- based on sexual orientation: 12
- based on gender identity: 5
- based on gender expression: 1
- based on sex characteristics: 0
‘Conversion therapies’
- 11 UN member States have nationwide bans on ‘conversion therapies’. In addition, 7 have indirect regulations, and 6 have subnational bans only
Marriage and adoption
- Marriage equality is a reality in 33 UN member States and in Taiwan
- Same-sex couples can adopt a child together in 33 UN member States. A person in a same-sex couple can adopt the child of their partner in 35 UN member States
Intersex
- 7 UN member States ban non-vital medical interventions on intersex children
Legal gender recognition
- 20 UN member States allow legal gender recognition based on self-determination In other 4, it is a reality only in some states or provinces.
- Non-binarya person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. While many also identify as trans, not all non-binary people do. Non-binary can also be used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer or gender-fluid. More gender markers in identity documents are available in up to 20 UN member States
