ILGA World statement on the candidate host cities for our 2026/2027 World Conference
Summary:
ILGA World is led and shaped by its more than 2,000 member organisations and the LGBTI movement, which we collectively serve. We know that in our movement and beyond people reacted with disconcert at the news of a member organisation bidding to host our next World Conference in Tel Aviv, in 2026 or 2027.
ILGA World is a democratically-run organisation in which our members hold the ultimate voting power to make key decisions for the organisation. The question of the location of the next General Assembly of Members and World Conference is among one of these and no decision has been yet made on where our 2026/2027 World Conference will be held.
Since the early days of ILGA World, decades ago, member organisations have submitted bids to host the conferences. Any member can invite ILGA World to hold its World Conference in their country or city. Our membership then has the right and duty to reject or support any candidacy with their vote. We cannot and must not, take this right away from them, and no one should. This goes to the very core of our democratic principles and who we are as an organisation and federation. We owe it to the integrity of our governance, and ultimately to our movement, to allow our membership to express their views through their vote — irrespective of the strong opinions that some of us may hold.
For our next World Conference, four member organisations sent bids inviting our community to either Argentina, Australia, Belgium, or Israel. By announcing these bids to our membership ILGA World does not endorse any of the proposals, or questions their motivations, or vets their feasibility at this stage of the process. The outright rejection of any bid to hold our World Conference is as well not up to our global or regional Boards and offices.
We are aware of how, the situation for civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, and beyond has been worsening by the day. We denounced the war and have repeatedly called for a ceasefire since our first statement in October 2023. Our statements speak the clear language of international human rights that have reminded the international community to stop applying double standards and to condemn the human rights violations that likely amount to war crimes unequivocally:
ILGA World is a democratic space, and our membership holds the power. During our upcoming conference in Cape Town, it will be up to our membership to support or reject any host bid. We invite our membership to get exercise their rights, engage and vote, such that our 2026/2027 World Conference can be held in a place that is safe and accessible to our movements.
