Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-27-Speech-2-694-000"
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"en.20110927.32.2-694-000"2
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"Madam President, may I thank the High Representative Catherine Ashton for her statement. Cathy, may I also thank you for your personal commitment to this issue of non-discrimination. It is always a pleasure to follow Michèle Striffler who equally has been outspoken in the defence of people who have been discriminated against because of their difference.
You rightly, Vice-President, mentioned David Kato, a man who, because he sought to end discrimination in Uganda against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, was ultimately murdered; the three Iranian men who, only days ago, were hanged by their neck until they were dead because they were gay; Jamie Rodemeyer in the United States of America who committed suicide because he was bullied to death. They are the real examples of what discrimination does. Those who speak out using either their belief or their religion or their politics on behalf of such discrimination support those who would murder and those who would discriminate and by so doing, they demean themselves.
The Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, yet that was what we had to settle for in the Cotonou Agreement. It was shameful that our Cotonou partners would not accept our definition, a wider definition, and it is a wonderful example that 63 years after the Universal Declaration in 1948, people still feel that we can find others to discriminate against in order to reinforce our position in society.
That is why we in the Socialist and Democratic Group welcome the resolution at the UN. It is a historic time; it is a turning point in the history of human rights. Sexual orientation and gender identity are at last increasingly understood to deserve equal protection.
The EU does not have a perfect track record on human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Parliament is aware of this and has made it clear in the resolution which lists outstanding issues within the EU. This is vital because, if we are to be taken seriously in the defence and the promotion of human rights, we must hold the same mirror up to ourselves and examine our own record.
The work and the commitment of the High Representative and the External Action Service and Member States’ diplomats are outstanding. They have worked in partnership with countries from around the world, and I emphasise ‘in partnerships’. This is not cultural imperialism because human rights know no boundaries and no borders. They are universal and indivisible. Therefore, the Parliament is equally respectful of the ongoing progress at the UN and does not seek to dictate to it or influence its process. But, with this resolution, this House wishes to encourage positive developments for universal and indivisible human rights, both at home and in the world.
I am pleased with the lead that both South Africa and Brazil have given in their sponsoring and their promotion of the resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. It is ground-breaking work, we need to do more to support them, but equally can I please give a plea on behalf of trans people. We need to depathologise their right to health, we need to end the fact that being trans is to be seen to be suffering from an illness or a sickness. To be yourself is no illness and no sickness. It is to demand that your unique place in the world is respected. That is why we must do all we can to support this resolution, and I so move."@en1
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