ΕΠΑΝΕΡΧΕΤΑΙ ΤΟ ΘΕΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΘΑΝΑΤΙΚΗΣ ΚΑΤΑΔΙΚΗΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΟΜΟΦΥΛΟΦΙΛΟΥΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΓΕΝΙΚΗ ΣΥΝΕΛΕΥΣΗ ΤΟΥ Ο.Η.Ε.

Αφότου σε προηγούμενη συνεδρίαση επιτροπής για την εξέταση της θανατικής ποινής με εξωδικαστικά μέσα, είχε αφαιρεθεί από τον κατάλογο ο σεξουαλικός προσανατολισμός (βλέπε προηγούμενο ποστ), το θέμα επανέρχεται προς ψήφιση στην Γενική Συνέλευση του Ο.Η.Ε., μετά από πολλές αντιδράσεις που υπήρξαν στο μεταξύ.
Αντιγράφω από την Washington Post.

Gay rights in focus before UN vote
By ANITA SNOW, The Associated Press
Sunday, December 19, 2010
UNITED NATIONS -- A culture war has broken out at the United Nations over whether gays should be singled out for the same protections as other minorities whose lives are threatened.
The battle will come to a head on Tuesday when the General Assembly votes to renew its routine condemnation of the unjustified killing of various categories of vulnerable people.
It specifies killings for racial, national, ethnic, religious or linguistic reasons and includes refugees, indigenous people and other groups. But the resolution, because of a change promoted by Arab and African nations and approved at committee level, this time around drops "sexual orientation" and replaces it with "discriminatory reasons on any basis."
The U.S. government says it is "incensed" at the change, as are gay rights campaigners.
"Even if those countries do not support gay rights, you would think they would support our right not to be killed," said Jessica Stern of the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
Stern said gay people all over the world are frequent targets of violence because of their sexual orientation.
Authorities in Jamaica are investigating a possible hate crime in the slaying earlier this month of a man who belonged to the sole gay rights group in the conservative, largely Christian nation. Uganda, among 76 countries that criminalize homosexuality, is debating whether to join the five other countries in the world that consider it a capital crime.
The General Assembly is set for a final vote Tuesday on its biennial resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings - without the reference to sexual orientation for the first time since 1999. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice has said she was "incensed" the reference was removed and the United States will move Tuesday to restore it.
The battle over those two words underscores the historic split over gay rights among U.N. members and their diverse religious and cultural sensibilities. Activists say gay and lesbian issues got only minimal attention at the U.N. a decade ago.
"There has been slow, but steady progress on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights at the U.N.," Stern said.
Stern cited as progress Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's "landmark" speech during a gay rights forum at U.N. headquarters on Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, calling for an end to laws around the world that make it a crime to be homosexual.
But as gay rights gain more acceptance in the U.N. system, some member states are pushing back, said Mark Bromley, of the Washington-based Council for Global Equality, which aims to advance gay rights in American foreign policy. "I think some states are uncomfortable and they are organizing to limit engagement on the issue."

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