, ,

China in Focus at UN “Selective Rights Council” (UNRC)

Photo by the UN-aligned design team.

On the 7th July, the Human Rights Council passed a resolution on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That’s no big deal, one would imagine, but sadly, for the United Nations, it is.

That is why a few months ago UN-aligned launched a campaign to bar countries that criminalise LGBTQ+ rights from the Human Rights Council. Despite the fact that our open letter to the United Nations was backed by several organisations and human rights activists, the letter was ignored.

This resolution, which is pretty basic when it comes to human rights, barely made it though, with 23 votes in favour, 17 against and seven abstentions.

In other words, less than half of the Council actually voted in favour. This is alarming by any standards, but a similar scenario happened when the council voted on whether to expel the Russian Federation from the Council, right in the middle of its genocidal operations in Ukraine.

The countries that voted against are no surprise: Cameroon, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Indonesia, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

Most of these governments like to think of themselves as theocracies, while in practice displaying the very opposite of godliness. As for China, well! A travesty of what is divine cannot be the excuse.

Nor the Confucian dedication to family values: that went out of the window with the one-child policy in 1980 and though relaxed in 2015, restrictions still apply (from 2021 families may now have three children).

No, it’s just that abusing human rights becomes an addiction, even when there is no logical or phoney religious reason behind it.

As for the countries that abstained (Armenia, Benin, India, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Poland and Uzbekistan), Poland stands out because it is an EU member state that is bound to uphold these rights. Well, we all know that it doesn’t.

As long as the Human Rights Council allows human rights abusers to sit in its ranks, it will remain a sad joke. At the very least there should be a list of articles members should sign up to before being allowed to vote on ethical issues that affect people all over the world and these should, of course, include LGBTQ+ rights.

Take ownership of UN-aligned

Unlike most organisations, UN-aligned is, primarily, its members. We are the New United Nations and though just a drop in the ocean, for now, we will carry on growing until we will become a force to be reckoned with!The more of us there are, the more chance we have of achieving our aims. Help us by promoting membership to you friends or to people you think have similar values. If every member added another, membership would snowball and we would be unstoppable!We also need active members: people who roll up their sleeves and contribute to the work of the organisation. Some already have, for instance, by writing articles for The Gordian, or offering to help with proofreading.

No matter what you can do, we want you. Write to us with your talents and we’ll make it work. 
The Gordian

Fair’s Fair: Entitlements Are Not Charity

No one needs to be poor. There is plenty for all of us! This is not utopia; this is a fact. In this second issue of our new Utopia series, we will be focusing on poverty and its elimination. Of course, our coverage does not end here. The March issue offers a wide range of insightful pieces by Partho Pratim Chatterjee, Pradeep Kumar Chatterjee, Elvira Ineza, Atika Harba, Carla Pietrobattista, Alex Liberto, Dinojah Patkunarajah, Dawn Roy, and Omar Alansari-Kreger. The editors are Adrian Liberto and Ariana Yekrangi.

Read The Gordian for free

The Gordian Magazine is a community-supported magazine that shares YOUR revolutionary ideas in regards to human rights, animal welfare and environmental protection. Every issue contains global news, opinions and long reads accompanied by striking photography and insightful companion pieces.

We promise not to spam your inbox. Find how we use your information.

Or become a free member.

Subscribe to The Gordian Magazine
The Gordian Magazine is a community supported magazine that shares YOUR revolutionary ideas in regards to human rights, animal welfare and environmental protection. Every issue contains global news, opinions and long reads accompanied by striking photography and insightful companion pieces.

UN-aligned uses cookies to make this website better.