US ambassador says move by Organization of Islamic Cooperation represents an ‘epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the UN’

A group of 51 Muslim states has blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level meeting at the United Nations next month on ending Aids, sparking a protest by the US, Canada and the EU.

Egypt wrote to the president of the 193-member general assembly on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to object to the participation of the 11 groups. It did not give a reason in the letter, which Reuters has seen.

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, wrote to the general assembly president, Mogens Lykketoft, and said the groups appeared to have been blocked for involvement in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy.

“Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/Aids pandemic,” Power wrote.

UN officials said the EU and Canada also wrote to Lykketoft to protest against the objections by the OIC group, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Sudan and Uganda.

The issues of LGBT rights and participation in events at the UN have long been contentious. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has advocated for LGBT equality but faced opposition from African, Arab and Muslim states as well as Russia and China.

“We are deeply concerned that at every negotiation on a new general assembly gathering, the matter of NGO [non-governmental organization] participation is questioned and scrutinized,” Power wrote.

“The movement to block the participation of NGOs on spurious or hidden grounds is becoming epidemic and severely damages the credibility of the UN,” she said.

In 2014, Ban said the UN would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive its benefits. Russia, with the support of 43 states including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan and Syria, unsuccessfully tried to overturn the move last year.

In February, the 54-member African Group, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member Group of Friends of the Family led by Belarus, Egypt and Qatar protested about six new UN stamps promoting LGBT equality.

The Group of Friends of the Family promotes the traditional family. It launched a photo exhibit, Uniting Nations for a Family Friendly World, at the UN on Tuesday, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

Bron: The Guardian, 05/17/16, http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ps-aids-meeting

Eigen mening:
Het doel van de VN is niet om westerse waarden te forceren op de rest van de wereld, maar ik denk niet dat er een goede rede is om de aanwezigheid van LGBT-groepen in de onderhandelingen over aids te blokkeren.
Het is geen geheim dat de mensen in deze groepen meer kans hebben om besmet te worden (In Belgie mogen homoseksuele mannen geen bloed doneren door deze rede).
Iedere groep die getroffen wordt en ervaring heeft met deze ziekte heeft in mijn ogen het recht om betrokken te worden bij de onderhandelingen.
Als de VN onderhandelingen zouden houden over tsunami's gaan ze toch zeker en vast Japan en de Filipijnen betrekken?
Ik begrijp dat moslimlanden nog problemen hebben met homofobie, en ik verwacht niet dat hun standpunt gaan veranderen in de komende jaren.
Maar het is essentieel dat ze hun angsten niet in de weg laten staan van het vormen van een goed beleid.