Loading...

PGA’s vision is to contribute to the creation of a Rules-Based International Order for a more equitable, safe, sustainable and democratic world.

Campaign against Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)

The Challenge: The Situation of LGBTI People

Stigma, violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people contribute significantly to their exclusion from society, limit their access to health and other critical services and hinder social and economic development.

Although many important gains have been made, homophobic and transphobic attitudes, often combined with punitive laws and/or lack of effective legal protection against discrimination, continue to expose many LGBTI people around the world to serious violations of their human rights.

According to ILGA’s latest ‘State-sponsored Homophobia’ report, 70 countries still criminalize same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults and in 12 countries it is allowed to punish such acts with death sentence.

The Response: The SOGI Campaign

The Campaign against Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) was launched in 2013. It seeks to mobilize parliamentarians as human rights champions, taking action to guarantee that every individual has equal value, lives with dignity and is able to achieve their highest potential free from all forms of violence and discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). This is in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: To promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies; including target 16.b. on promoting and enforcing non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.

In order to achieve this goal, the SOGI Campaign pursues the following outcomes:

  • Sensitize and raise awareness among parliamentarians about equality and non-discrimination on the basis of SOGIESC in accordance with regional and international human rights instruments;
  • Strengthen communication and cooperation between parliamentarians and LGBTI civil society;
  • Introduce anti-discrimination legislation on the basis of SOGIESC; and
  • Decriminalize homosexuality in target countries where the law penalizes same-sex consensual relations in contravention of international human rights standards.

ILGA’s latest map on sexual orientation laws in the world


Advancing the Human Rights and Inclusion of LGBTI People


www.pgaction.org/inclusion/


Campaign Achievements

 

How We Work

Supported by an expert Secretariat, PGA members work together to educate, sensitize, build technical capacity, and strengthen the political will of parliamentarians to achieve campaign objectives through concrete legislative and policy initiatives. PGA works with individual parliamentarians in their national contexts through country-specific strategies, leveraging that capacity with international networking to facilitate connections among parliamentarians and build bridges with civil society, domestic and international policy-makers, and other stakeholders.

Read more on our Theory of Change

Latest News for this Campaign (view all)

The 3rd Pacific Human Rights Conference on Pacific Islanders of Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression and Sex Characteristics: Working for Global Justice and Local Human Rights.

PGA organized meetings for legislators to engage in dialogue on the situation of LGBTQI+ persons in Pacific Island States to effectively address pressing issues such as climate resilience, health, education and economic sustainability.

Photo by Marta Branco: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-multicolored-heart-decor-1173576/

In the last two years, there has been a surge in hostility and discriminatory legislation targeting LGBTQI+ persons fueled by foreign-funded, anti-rights movements and scapegoating of vulnerable populations for political gain

Photo by chris robert on Unsplash

To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, I invite my African sisters and brothers to know how to relativize our certainties, whenever human rights and human dignity are at stake, as in the treatment of the LGBTQ+ issue.

Campaign Donors

 

Arcus Foundation
Sigrid Rausing Trust
Oak Foundation