Livewire - Amnesty International blogging for human rights

Kate Sheill, Amnesty International’s Identity-based Discrimination Team Coordinator, blogging from the UN in New York

Statement day dawns in New York. We’re not sure quite when it will happen, but in a few hours we will hear an affirmation of human rights and sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s that simple. Except that it isn’t – 60 years on from the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), we still have to work hard to get countries to say that human rights apply to all people, without discrimination.

But, thanks to the hard work of a lot of people, our count now has 64 countries supporting the joint statement. This is an increase of 10 countries from the last joint statement delivered in 2006 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

This groundbreaking number is testament to the leadership shown by the cross-regional core group of States working on this statement and the bravery of some smaller States signing on for the first time in the face of often considerable pressure not to do so. Activists all over the world have been lobbying their governments to support the statement and show leadership to gain support from other States.

Activists have come here from Africa, from Latin America, from Central Asia, from Europe, to talk to their and other governments, to raise the issues that they are facing at home, share their analyses of these and to have their voices heard. Today, 64 countries will do the thing that the UN was created for, what the UDHR was adopted to say – affirm dignity and justice for all.