Victor Madrigal-Borloz | |
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United Nations Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity | |
Assumed office 2018 | |
Appointed by | United Nations Human Rights Council |
Preceded by | Vitit Muntarbhorn |
Victor Madrigal-Borloz is a Costa Rican lawyer. Since 2018,he has served as the United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (UN IE SOGI). [1] During his tenure at the U.N.,Madrigal-Borloz has been noted for focusing his Human Rights Council mandate on investigating a broad and intersectional range of issues facing LGBT communities around the world,including conversion therapy, [2] criminalization, [3] socio-cultural exclusion, [4] anti-trans rhetoric, [5] and the outsized impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable LGBT and gender-diverse populations. [6]
Madrigal-Borloz started his career at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San José,Costa Rica. He then worked at the Danish Institute for Human Rights,and later returned to the OAS and served as Head of Litigation and Head of the Registry at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,where he was also the first staff member in a unit on the human rights of LGBTI persons. [7]
Starting in 2013,Victor served a four-year term as a member of the United Nations (UN) Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture,a body of independent experts established pursuant to the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) to monitor,assist and advise States in the adoption of policies and practices to prevent torture. [8] Madrigal-Borloz was named the Secretary-General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims [9] also in 2013,an international non-governmental organization of over 144 centers providing rehabilitation to torture victims in 74 countries around the world. [10] He led the organization to affirm its vision of full enjoyment of the right to rehabilitation for all victims of torture and ill treatment. [11]
In January 2018,he commenced as UN Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [12] [13] [14] He has said that his focus would be "on banning so-called "conversion therapy" and repealing discriminatory laws". [15] Madrigal Borloz is a signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10. [16] He is also a founding member of the Costa Rican Association of International Law [10] and a board member of the International Justice Resource Centre. [17]
In addition to his work as the Independent Expert,Madrigal-Borloz concurrently serves as the Eleanor Roosevelt Senior Visiting Researcher in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. [18]
Madrigal-Borloz assumed the role of U.N. Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (commonly known as the IE SOGI) in January 2018,after the inaugural holder of the mandate,Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn,stepped down for personal health reasons. [19]
As part of his Human Rights Council-mandated work,Madrigal-Borloz researches and publishes two thematic reports a year - one to the U.N. General Assembly in New York and another to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Over the years,Madrigal-Borloz has published the following reports as part of his mandate’s research function:
Year: | UN Human Rights Council Report | UN General Assembly Report |
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2018 | Violence and discrimination [20] | Depathologisation and Legal Recognition of Gender Identity [21] |
2019 | Data collection and management [22] | Socio-cultural and economic exclusion [23] |
2020 | Conversion Therapy [24] | Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBT Persons [25] |
In July 2019,in an official U.N. report,he called upon governments to fight back against religious authorities,leaders or agents that infringed LGBT rights through violence and discrimination,including hate speech. [26] He has also worked with other mandate holders to evidence how dynamics of exclusion affect LGBT people in different social indicators,such as health, [27] education, [28] and housing. [29]
In 2020,his report to the UN Human Rights Council garnered widespread international attention after it called for a “global ban”on the practice of conversion therapy against LGBTQ individuals. [30] During the COVID-19 pandemic,his office published the A.S.P.I.R.E. guidelines [31] - an intersectional human rights framework designed to advise governments on how to best protect the rights of vulnerable LGBT communities when devising pandemic-related public policies and interventions. [32]
In addition to his reports,Madrigal-Borloz conducts investigatory country visits and responds to individual allegations of state-sponsored violence and discrimination against LGBT persons. So far under Madrigal-Borloz’s tenure,the mandate has conducted country visits to Georgia,Mozambique,and Ukraine. [33]
Madrigal-Borloz also travels widely to meet with members of civil society to gather information for his thematic reports,and to assess the on-the-ground human rights situations of LGBT individuals and their advocates. The mandate frequently releases “calls for information”to local civil society actors as part of the mandate’s research and data collection process. In a nod to the intersectionality of the mandate’s nature,Madrigal-Borloz has frequently partnered with other U.N. special procedures members - including the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on torture, [34] freedom of opinion and expression, [35] violence against women, [36] older persons, [37] and disability, [38] amongst others - on joint statements and reports.
The human rights situation in Cambodia is facing growing criticisms both within the country and from an increasingly alarmed international community. After a series of flagrant violations against basic human rights a feeling of incertitude regarding the direction the country is emerging,sometimes comparing the situation to a newborn Burma.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Bosnia and Herzegovina may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However,households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Cambodia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Although same-sex sexual activity is legal in Cambodia,it provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people,nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights in Cyprus have evolved in recent years,but LGBT people still face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female expressions of same-sex sexual activity were decriminalised in 1998,and civil unions which grant several of the rights and benefits of marriage have been legal since December 2015. Conversion therapy was banned in Cyprus in May 2023. However,adoption rights in Cyprus are reserved for heterosexual couples only.
OutRight International (OutRight) is an LGBTIQ human rights non-governmental organization that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender and intersex people. OutRight International documents human rights discrimination and abuses based on their sexual orientation,gender identity,gender expression and sex characteristics in partnership with activists,advocates,media,NGOs and allies on a local,regional,national and international level. OutRight International holds consultative status with ECOSOC.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Albania face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents,although LGBT people are protected under comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. Both male and female same-gender sexual activities have been legal in Albania since 1995,but households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-gender couples,with same-sex unions not being recognized in the country in any form.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Armenia face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents,due in part to the lack of laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity and in part to prevailing negative attitudes about LGBT persons throughout society.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Azerbaijan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Azerbaijan since 1 September 2000. Nonetheless,discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are not banned in the country and same-sex marriage is not recognized.
Vitit Muntarbhorn is an international human rights expert and professor of law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok,Thailand. Muntarbhorn was designated in September 2016 as the first UN Independent Expert on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity by the Human Rights Council before succeeded by Victor Madrigal-Borloz in 2018.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) rights in Nepal have expanded in the 21st century,though much of Nepal's advancements on LGBT rights have come from the judiciary and not the legislature. Same-sex sexual acts have been legal in Nepal since 2007 after a ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal.
Discussions of LGBT rights at the United Nations have included resolutions and joint statements in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC),attention to the expert-led human rights mechanisms,as well as by the UN Agencies.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Guinea-Bissau face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Guinea-Bissau,but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in East Timor face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in East Timor,but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Lesotho face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Lesotho does not recognise same-sex marriages or civil unions,nor does it ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Yogyakarta Principles is a document about human rights in the areas of sexual orientation and gender identity that was published as the outcome of an international meeting of human rights groups in Yogyakarta,Indonesia,in November 2006. The principles were supplemented and expanded in 2017 to include new grounds of gender expression and sex characteristics and a number of new principles. However,the Principles have never been accepted by the United Nations (UN) and the attempt to make gender identity and sexual orientation new categories of non-discrimination has been repeatedly rejected by the General Assembly,the UN Human Rights Council and other UN bodies.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Kiribati face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Male homosexuality is illegal in Kiribati with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison,but the law is not enforced. Female homosexuality is legal,but lesbians may face violence and discrimination. Despite this,employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been prohibited since 2015.
The right to sexuality incorporates the right to express one's sexuality and to be free from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Although it is equally applicable to heterosexuality,it also encompasses human rights of people of diverse sexual orientations,including lesbian,gay,asexual and bisexual people,and the protection of those rights. The right to sexuality and freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is based on the universality of human rights and the inalienable nature of rights belonging to every person by virtue of being human.
Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian,gay,bisexual,or transgender (LGBT) than endosex people. According to a study done in Australia of Australian citizens with intersex conditions,participants labeled 'heterosexual' as the most popular single label with the rest being scattered among various other labels. According to another study,an estimated 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender,this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella,with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.
Monica Tabengwa is a lawyer and researcher from Botswana who works for Pan-Africa ILGA and Human Rights Watch (HRW). She is a specialist on LGBT issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Tabengwa has written on violence and discrimination faced by LGBT people in sub-Saharan Africa.
The United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is a United Nations Independent Expert appointed by the body's Human Rights Council under its special procedures mechanism. The Independent Expert's Mandate is to examine,monitor,advise,and publicly report on matters related to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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