Human rights: Gender madness or a fairer world? Trench warfare at the UN

At the United Nations, trench warfare over the rights of women and people with different sexual orientations is raging on more and more fronts. Some countries are trying to remove any reference to the protection of these rights from UN texts.

“I am deeply concerned about the attacks by authoritarian states and religious fundamentalist actors on the hard-won human rights standards for women and LGBTQI+ people,” German Ambassador Katharina Stasch told the German Press Agency. “The attacks undermine the fundamental principles of equality and human dignity that the United Nations stands for. We must take decisive action against these setbacks.”

LGBTQI+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people who do not identify with the traditional roles of men and women or social norms surrounding gender and sexuality.

“Unholy Alliance”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, is concerned that established rights are being questioned. “What we have seen over the years is a sophisticated, very strategic, unholy alliance of different groups. For example, religious fundamentalists of all kinds, populists and those who stoke fear and division.” He also denounces patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes.

The Human Rights Council as a platform for debate

The trench warfare is currently evident in the UN Human Rights Council. Negotiators say that during negotiations on resolutions, arguments are spent night after night over every formulation that refers to gender. Gender here refers to the special protection of women or people’s gender identity.

The countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), especially Pakistan and Egypt, are seen as the spokespeople pushing for these discussions. Diplomats from both countries have not responded to inquiries. Representatives of some African countries are also mobilising against gender issues, according to Geneva. They suddenly denounced colonial behaviour with which Western countries wanted to impose their values ​​on them.

Missionary organizations from the USA are inciting governments to oppose efforts to better protect LGBTQI+ people, diplomats report. The Vatican is also playing along with pushes against gender issues. Russia is joining in to find new alliances in its isolation after the invasion of Ukraine.

German ambassador writes letter of protest

There are now discussions about UN documents that were waved through without any problems for years, even in budget or personnel documents, diplomats say. Some fear premature obedience on the part of UN organizations. Ambassador Stasch and more than 20 colleagues have, for example, protested to the Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Gilbert Houngbo.

In June, a document there silently removed a reference to a long-published paper on LGBTQI+ rights in the workplace. At the UN in New York, there were also protests against the raising of the rainbow flag, which symbolizes tolerance towards all people who do not see themselves in the traditional role model between men and women.

Pressure also in Germany

There is counterpressure on this issue not only at the United Nations, but also in Germany, according to the umbrella organization ILGA, which campaigns for these rights.

Populist and conservative wings of parties are trying to win votes by criticizing the gender issue, says ILGA spokeswoman Julia Ehrt. This is embedded in the global shift to the right with a return to supposedly national, cultural values. “This dynamic is worrying. It only distracts from issues such as social justice,” she said.