Saint Lucia’s United and Strong is among international organisations at the United Nations this week to mark Human Rights Day on December 10.
Co-Executive Director Kenita Placide will discuss the situation of Saint Lucia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) people in a series of meetings in New York from December 8-11 organised by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Coalition (IGLHRC).
Placide, who also represents the Caribbean Forum for the Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS) and the International Gay and Lesbian Association (ILGA), said the international dialogue has begun and is continuing in celebration of Human Rights Day.
“We are strengthening the foundation for advocacy on human rights and laws. We hope individuals and civil society organisations will claim their rights, and that lawmakers and officials responsible for criminal justice, law enforcement, health (including HIV/AIDS) and donors will allow advocates and those affected to inform the development and implementation of effective and humane policy.”
Placide is attending meetings with representatives of several nations including the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union states such as Norway and Belgium and Trinidad & Tobago.
United and Strong is making representation to UN Women, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Truth and Memory Programme at the International Centre for Transitional Justice and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Placide will also represent United & Strong at a major discussion with the theme ‘Sports Comes Out Against Homophobia’. The panel includes human rights experts as well as former and current sports stars including High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, tennis legend Martina Navratilova and NBA basketball player Jason Collins.
The United Nations, to which Saint Lucia is party, adopted the International Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and Placide stressed the importance of joining an international call for human rights and justice for all.
“The protection of human rights requires a constant effort to extend and update the country’s legislative and policy initiatives in areas such as gender inequality, the criminalisation of buggery and all types of discrimination,” she said. “Our government has an obligation to educate and raise awareness on these issues. The nation needs to understand our collective responsibility to end these human rights violations.”
As the national organisation which represents Saint Lucia’s lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender and intersex people, United and Strong is particularly concerned about the fundamental rights and freedoms not contained in the constitution. The organisation expressed its concern in a submission to the constitution reform commission in 2009, with sexual orientation and gender identity as newly introduced grounds for non-discrimination.
“The constitution has enshrined within it the principles of equality and non-discrimination of all persons; however this is not the reality,” noted Placide.
“We call on the government to honour recommendations accepted at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2011 at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to sign and ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the commitment to continue sensitising and educating the general public alongside civil society organisations such as United and Strong, in order to change societal mores which discriminates against LGBTI persons.”