UN: Human Rights Council to vote on LGBT resolution

The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that addresses violence and discrimination directed at LGBT people around the globe.

The resolution was proposed in early September by Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Colombia, and has backing from Israel, the US, New Zealand, and Australia.

Based on the UN High Commissioner for Human RIghts’ 2011 report on anti-LGBT discrimination and violence, the proposed resolution calls for the Human Rights Council to update the 2011 report with “good practices and ways to overcome violence and discrimination.”

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, said that the US would stand in full support of the resolution when it comes to a vote.

He said: “We have to acknowledge a fundamental truth that LGBT violence anywhere is a threat to peace and stability and prosperity anywhere.”

Among the countries seeking to amend the resolution to eliminate LGBT-specific language are Egypt, Uganda, and South Sudan.

In 2013, The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights launched Free and Equal, a public education campaign, to increase support for LGBT rights around the world.

The UN announced it would recognise the same-sex marriages of their some 44,000 employees and extend benefits to same-sex spouses in July of this year.