UN expert report demands ‘conversion therapy’ bans worldwide
by Carys Moseley, Christian Concern:
Last month the United Nations LGBT expert published a report demanding that countries across the world should enact laws and policies to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ both for same-sex attraction and transgender confusion. His report is a response to his call for evidence, issued in November 2019. It is due to be discussed at the upcoming 44th meeting of the UN Human Rights Council. The meeting was due to have started last week but has been postponed due to the coronavirus crisis. In light of this, the UK government’s leaked proposals to ban ‘conversion therapy’, reported on by The Sunday Times two weeks ago, may not be a coincidence.
Who is the UN LGBT expert?
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a lawyer from Costa Rica, is the UN Independent Expert on protection on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to succeed Vitit Muntarborn and started in the post on 1 January 2018.
This is the official description of his mandate:
“The mandate holder has been invited to assess the implementation of existing international human rights instruments with regard to ways to overcome violence and discrimination against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and to identify and address the root causes of violence and discrimination.”
He is required to submit annual reports to the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council on his work. He also consults with member states, UN agencies, ‘national human rights institutions’ (the UK body is the Equality and Human Rights Commission), civil society organisations and academic institutions. He is actively involved in working with UN member states to help them implement the policies that he wants in this area, as well as to foster international co-operation.
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