Please sign the petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/takeaction/580/647/706/
The next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will take place in the UK in April 2018. CHOGM organisers are being asked to:
- adopt the theme “A diverse and equal Commonwealth”
- include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and inter-sex (LGBTI) human rights on the main CHOGM agenda
- invite openly LGBTI people from the Commonwealth to address the CHOGM leaders.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has never in its entire six-decade history discussed LGBTI human rights. The time has come.
37 out of the 53 member countries of the Commonwealth criminalise same-sex relations. They account for half of the world’s nations where homosexuality is illegal. Most of these countries inherited their anti-gay laws from Britain during the period of colonial rule; making these laws a colonial hang-over.
At least eight of these 37 countries impose life imprisonment for same-sex acts and there is the death penalty in parts of northern Nigeria, rural Pakistan and, possibly, in Brunei.
Hate crimes against LGBTI people often pass unchecked in most Commonwealth countries, with frequent mob violence. The vast majority of LGBTIs living in Commonwealth states have no legal protection against discrimination in employment, housing and the provision of goods and services.
This makes a mockery of Commonwealth values and the Commonwealth Charter 2013.
We urge CHOGM 2018 to lead the way in raising awareness of LGBTI rights as human rights and to act to remedy LGBTI rights abuses.
Nearly four out of five Commonwealth countries, which are signatories to the Charter, have failed to adhere to its principles and the Commonwealth has failed to ensure that these nations respect the human rights of their LGBTI citizens.
This petition is sponsored by the Out and Proud African LGBTI (OPAL)