The ICJ is concerned by laws and legislative proposals in a variety of countries that severely threaten the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons and human rights defenders.
Ahead of the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council (25 February to 22 March 2013), the ICJ today submitted a written statement to the UN encouraging the Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to follow up on these laws and legislative proposals.
Pointing to unlawful restrictions on the freedoms of association and assembly, and the freedom of expression, in several countries, the ICJ encouraged the Special Rapporteur to:
- Call on governments to protect these rights for everyone and to ensure that any restrictions comply with the requirements of legality, of necessity and proportionality and of non-discrimination on all grounds; and
- In the case of laws or legislative proposals that fail to comply with these requirements, take appropriate action.
HRC22-Item3-HRDs-WrittenStatement-legal submission-2013 (download statement)