US will seek to have gay protection measure returned to UN resolution
The United States said on Friday that it would seek to have a reference to gays and lesbians returned to a UN resolution condemning violence.
Last month, a UN vote removed mention of gays and lesbians from a resolution which condemns extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings.
Arabic and African countries had lobbied for the amendment. The resolution explicitly mentions other minority statuses.
Gay rights campaigners said that the move would give a “green light” to homophobic countries to target LGBT people.
Speaking at a panel on Human Rights Day, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said she was “incensed” at the vote.
“We are going to fight to restore the reference to sexual orientation,” she said.
“We’re going to stand firm on this basic principle. And we intend to win.”
The vote on this resolution is expected to come up in the General Assembly on 20 December 2010.
The resolution, which the UN votes on every two years, has contained a reference to lesbian and gay people since 1999. It condemns extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings.
It still includes references to a variety of other groups, such as human rights defenders, religious and ethnic minorities and street children.