NEWS FLASH

UN Human Rights Panel To Hold Hearing On Discrimination Against LGBT People | On Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Council will hold a hearing “to discuss discrimination and violence against LGBT people” for the first time. “The first openly gay man to be elected in Japan, a Nigerian exile and human rights defender in London, a Chilean gay rights activist, an Australian local politician, an organiser of Athens Pride and Poland’s first gay elected official have all added their names to a letter congratulating the UN” for taking up the important issue. They write: “As the UN Human Rights Council prepares for the historic March 7 discussion, we vow to use this important development to urge the UN to do even more: to respond with policies that decrease violence perpetrated against persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.” Last year, the body published “its first report on human rights in the context of sexual orientation and gender identity.”