Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) was delighted to join the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, the LGBTQ Victory Institute and the Global Equality Caucus as an Executive Partner of the Interparliamentary Plenary Assembly (IPA) that took place at the seat of the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on August 20, 2021, as part of WorldPride Copenhagen 2021.
PGA co-designed an ambitious agenda, in which approximately 200 elected officials from 50 countries discussed the global situation of LGBTI+ people, exchanged best practices and lessons learned and identified strategies to promote equality and inclusion in their countries and globally.
You can watch the full video recording of the IPA in English here, in Spanish here and in French here.
As part of the IPA, PGA organized, in collaboration with the Human Dignity Trust, a session on “The Role of Legislative Reform in Promoting Protective Measures for LGBTI+ Persons and Decriminalization of Consensual Same-Sex Conduct”. The purpose of the breakout session was to highlight the role of parliamentarians in promoting the effective domestication of States’ international human rights obligations in relation to the principles of equality and non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and to encourage legislators to become champions for inclusion of LGBTI+ people.
You can watch the full video recording of this session in English here.
The IPA also served as a platform to present PGA’s and UNDP’s revised and updated LGBTI+ Handbook for Parliamentarians, forthcoming in late 2021.
PGA facilitated the participation of 13 PGA members (10 of them from the Global South) who delivered remarks across the different sessions.
Five PGA members participated in the discussions in person: Dip. Jorge Cálix (Honduras), Ms. Margareta Cederfelt MP (Sweden), Sen. Boris Dittrich (the Netherlands), Hon. Naveed Qamar (Pakistan) and Dip. Juan Dionicio Rodríguez Restituyo (Dominican Republic).
Eight PGA members delivered remarks virtually, either live or via pre-recorded messages: Dip. Karina Banfi (Argentina), Hon. Angela Brown Burke (Jamaica), Hon. Bernard Georges (Seychelles), Hon. Fox Odoi (Uganda), Hon. Esther Passaris (Kenya), Hon. Lenora Qereqeretabua (Fiji), Ms. Louisa Wall MP (New Zealand) and Hon. Valerie Woods (Belize).
Copenhagen 2021 participants were invited to sign onto the Øresund Declaration, a multi-level manifesto of goals for global LGBTI+ equality to be achieved by 2030. PGA continues to work with its members worldwide to promote these goals and make this vision a reality everywhere.
