INFO NOTE ON UN SPECIAL PROCEDURES – JULY 2020
Summary
This issue includes:
Call for inputs: Violence against Women
Upcoming country visitsmissions carried out by UN Special Procedure mandate holders to assess the situation of human rights in a specific country. During their missions, they will meet with national and local authorities, national human rights institutions, as well as with NGOs, civil society, and survivors of human rights violations. Findings, conclusions and recommendations of such missions are published in reports to the Human Rights Council.: Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Maldives, Mexico, Nepal, Paraguay, Qatar, Venezuela
IE on SOGIabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender identity develops practical guidelines to help states in fulfilling their obligations to prevent and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on LGBT persons
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities faced by 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., 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., 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., transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. and genderrefers to a social construct which places cultural and social expectations on individuals based on their assigned sex. diverse (LGBT) persons around the globe and has also exposed new vulnerabilities for the LGBT population. In recognition of Pride month, the UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identityabbreviated form to refer to the IESOGI – a UN Special Procedures mandate specifically dedicated to addressing violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (IE SOGIabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender identity), Mr. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, launched new guidelines for states to ensure a COVID-19 response free from violence and discriminationunequal or unfair treatment which can be based on a range of grounds - such as age, ethnic background, disability, and diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions or sex characteristics, amongst others. based on 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. and 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.. Guided by a unique mnemonic, ASPIRE, these guidelines will help ensure protection for LGBT persons who face direct and indirect risks from COVID-19 while working to include LGBT perspectives in building back better.
The ASPIRE guidelines build off a series of online consultations conducted by the Mandate earlier this spring with participation from civil society representatives, including over 400 people from all regions of the world. The input collected was used as the basis for the Mandate’s 2020 International Day against Homophobiafear, unreasonable anger, intolerance or/and hatred directed towards people attracted to others of the same gender., Transphobiarefers to negative cultural and personal beliefs, opinions, attitudes and behaviours based on prejudice, disgust, fear and/or hatred of trans people or against variations of gender identity and gender expression. and Biphobiathe fear, unreasonable anger, intolerance or/and hatred toward people attracted to more than one gender. (IDAHOBIT) statement to shed light on the different implications of the current pandemic on the LGBT community.”
Victor Madrigal-Borloz
Independent Expert on protection against violence and discriminationunequal or unfair treatment which can be based on a range of grounds - such as age, ethnic background, disability, and diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions or sex characteristics, amongst others.
based on 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. and 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.
Read the ASPIRE guidelines here
Read the full version of the guidelines here
Join ILGA WORLD in supporting 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. communities
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women has extended the deadline for her call for inputs on rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation against women (new deadline 31 Dec 2020)
ILGA World is collecting information on this topic from all over the world to submit joint reports to the Special Rapporteur.
If you have any data on rape and other forms of sexual violence against LBTI women/persons in your country – please reach outbeing open about their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics. to us on [email protected]. We also encourage you to fill in our questionnaire available in English, Spanish and Russian. Let’s do it together!
Call for inputs
| Mandate | Call | Deadline | Additional Info |
| EXTENDED!!! Special Rapporteur on violence against women | Call for submissions: report on rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation and gender-based violence against women (to be presented to the Human Rights Councilan inter-governmental body within the United Nations which has the responsibility to promote and protect human rights. It is comprised of 47 member States, each elected to 3-year terms by the 193 member States of the United Nations. in June 2021) | 31 Dec 2020 | Read More |
: requests information on 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. persons
Country visits by the Independent Expert on SOGI
The UN Independent Expert on SOGIabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, undertakes 1 to 3 fact-finding country visitsmissions carried out by UN Special Procedure mandate holders to assess the situation of human rights in a specific country. During their missions, they will meet with national and local authorities, national human rights institutions, as well as with NGOs, civil society, and survivors of human rights violations. Findings, conclusions and recommendations of such missions are published in reports to the Human Rights Council. per year.
He visited Ukraine in 2019, and Georgia and Mozambique in 2018. In 2017, his predecessor Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn visited Argentina.
In March 2018, Victor Madrigal-Borloz made 12 country visit requests. On 4 July 2018 Malta invited the Independent Expert to visit their country. The Independent Expert also requested a visit to Japan (8 October 2019), Tunisia (19 November 2019), India and Colombia (both 7 January 2020), and Cambodia (28 March 2020).
In this section, you may find information about current status of the requests. Up-to-date information about country visitsmissions carried out by UN Special Procedure mandate holders to assess the situation of human rights in a specific country. During their missions, they will meet with national and local authorities, national human rights institutions, as well as with NGOs, civil society, and survivors of human rights violations. Findings, conclusions and recommendations of such missions are published in reports to the Human Rights Council. may be found here.
If your country is planned for the Independent Expert’s visit and you wish to engage with ILGA on this, please contact us ([email protected]).
| Country | Current Status |
| Argentina* | Visit conducted on 1-10 Mar 2017.
End of Mission Statement: English – Spanish |
| Armenia* | Request to postpone (17 Apr 2018) |
| Burkina Faso | Reminder visit request – for 2021 (17 Jan 2020) |
| Cambodia | Request to postpone from 18 Jan to 29 Jan 2021 (7 April 2020) |
| Colombia* | Request to postpone (7 April 2020) |
| Georgia* | Visit conducted on 25 Sep to 5 Oct 2018.
End of Mission Statement: English – Georgian |
| Ghana* | Reminder visit request – for 2021 (7 Jan 2020) |
| India* | Visit request (7 Jan 2020) |
| Japan* | Visit request for second half of 2020 (8 Oct 2019) |
| Kenya* | Reminder visit request – for 2021 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Malta* | Invitation Country Visit (4 Jul 2018) |
| Nepal | Reminder visit request – for 2020 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Mozambique* | Visit conducted on 3-10 Dec 2018.
End of Mission Statement: English – Portuguese Press Release: English – Portuguese |
| Poland* | Reminder visit request – for 2020 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Sri Lanka* | Request to postpone to 2020 (2 Oct 2019). |
| Thailand* | Reminder visit request – for 2020 (7 Jan 2020) |
| Tunisia* | Visit request from 6-17 Apr 2020 (19 Nov 2019) |
| Ukraine* | Visit conducted on 30 Apr to 10 May 2019.
End of Mission Statement: English |
* Countries with standing invitations. A standing invitation is an open invitation extended by a Government to all thematic special proceduresindependent human rights experts within the UN Human Rights Council with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. They are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be re-conducted for another three years. Special procedures can undertake country visits, and act on individual cases of reported violations by sending communications to States and others. They also engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, provide advice for technical cooperation, and contribute to the development of international human rights standards.
. By extending a standing invitation States announce that they will always accept requests to visit from all Special Proceduresindependent human rights experts within the UN Human Rights Council with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. They are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be re-conducted for another three years. Special procedures can undertake country visits, and act on individual cases of reported violations by sending communications to States and others. They also engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, provide advice for technical cooperation, and contribute to the development of international human rights standards.
.
Upcoming country visits by other mandates
This information is regularly updated by the OHCHR here.
To find outbeing open about their diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics. how you can support the visits, please contact the respective mandate-holders at their e-mail addresses, available here.
| Country | Mandate | Dates |
| POSTPONED!!! Venezuela | Unilateral coercive measures | 3-14 Aug 2020 |
| POSTPONED!!! Paraguay | Minorities | 3-14 Aug 2020 |
| Mexico | Internally dispaced person | 5-13 Oct 2020 |
| Maldives | Torture |
1-10 Nov 2020 |
| NEW!!! Qatar | Unilateral coercive measures | 1-12 Nov 2020 |
| Lebanon | Independence of judges |
3-10 Nov 2020 |
| NEW!!! Brazil | Racism |
9-23 Nov 2020 |
| Kyrgyzstan | Extreme poverty |
17 May-4 Jun 2021 |
| NEW!!! Nepal | Extreme poverty |
6-17 Sept 2021 |
= Mandate frequently considers 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. issues.