On January 23, 2006, the ECOSOC Committee on NGOs rejected the applications for consultative status of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians (Landsforeningen for Bøsser og Lesbiske - LBL), without providing the organisations with reasons for the refusal (See Observatory Open Letter to the ECOSOC President, dated May 26, 2006).
Moreover, on May 16 and 17, 2006, the NGO Committee also dismissed the application for consultative status of two other organisations advancing human rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, namely the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (Lesben- und Schwulenverband in Deutschland - LSVD) and ILGA-Europe.
On May 12, 2006, the Committee left pending the application of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Quebec (Coalition Gaie et Lesbienne du Québec). On May 18, 2006, a final deferral concerned the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Quebec, and was a result of the NGO�s having provided answers only in French.
As no ground was given for the rejection of the first four applications, the Observatory fears that these rejections, as well as the deferral of the application of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Quebec, might have been motivated by the work of those NGOs in favour of homosexual rights.
Yet, these issues are of legitimate concern for the United Nations. Indeed, numerous Special Procedures have documented violations of the human rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. Treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women have all addressed sexual orientation and gender identity issues within their mandates. The High Commissioner for Human Rights has also highlighted rights violations on these grounds in her country reports and public statements.
At the September 2006 session of the UN Human Rights Council, all Special Procedures will be presenting their reports, many of which document human rights violations based upon sexual orientation and gender identity. The UN therefore needs to hear from NGOs addressing these issues.
Questions of NGO access and participation are of particular concern during this time of UN transition and reform. ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31 on the consultative relationship between the United Nations and NGOs explicitly confirms the need to take into account the full diversity of NGOs. It sets out that NGOs shall be granted consultative status if they (a) are concerned with matters falling within the competence of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, (b) have aims and purposes that are in conformity with the spirit, purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and (c) undertake to support the work of the United Nations and to promote knowledge of its principles and activities. The applicant NGOs fulfil these criteria, and are active in fields such as health, gender, development and human rights.
The Observatory recalls the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of United Nations on December, 9, 1998, in particular its article 1 that states that �Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels�, and its preamble, in which the General Assembly stressed �that all members of the international community shall fulfil, jointly and separately, their solemn obligation to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind, including distinctions based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status�, reaffirmed �the particular importance of achieving international cooperation to fulfil this obligation according to the Charter�, and reiterated �that all human rights and fundamental freedoms are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated and should be promoted and implemented in a fair and equitable manner [�]�.
As a consequence, the Observatory calls upon ECOSOC to consider the applications of ILGA, LBL, ILGA-Europe and LSVD on their merits, in accordance with usual practice, as well as to give full and fair consideration to the pending application of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Quebec.
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