UNITED NATIONS THIRD COMMITTEE: INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE: INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY
STATEMENT BY DAVID HAMER, ADVISER, PERMANENT MISSION OF AUSTRALIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
4 November 2024
As delivered
Thank you Chair, and our thanks also to the Independent Expert.
Australia welcomes the important findings of the Independent Expert’s report on electoral participation.
Your report highlights the way that hostile political rhetoric is used by politicians to scapegoat LGBTQIA+ people by appealing to prejudice and provoking further animosity. How can the international community collectively address this trend?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is grounded in a simple fact: human rights apply equally to all people, without distinction of any kind, no matter who you happen to be, where you happen to be born and regardless of your sexual orientation and gender identity. Yet, as your report identifies, too often, sexual orientation and gender identity are obstacles to electoral participation.
Australia is deeply concerned by the report’s findings that violence, and the threat of violence, are the most prominent obstacles to electoral participation by LGBTQIA+ people.
Your report underscores that people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity who seek to participate in electoral processes face killings, physical attacks, threats and sexual violence. It is unacceptable that prospective candidates face hate speech and death threats and may even be forced into exile, for no other reason than being who they are and trying to exercise their right to freedom of political expression.
We recognise that a safe and inclusive environment is critical to ensuring electoral participation and we know that violence thrives in settings where there are discriminatory laws. We call for the elimination of laws and practices that criminalise or marginalise individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
We also call for legal protections against discrimination to enable full and meaningful participation of everyone in electoral processes, and to foster an environment of acceptance and understanding within families, communities and institutions.
I thank you.