humanrights links

The international resource site for Schapelle Corby... an innocent suffering. Please visit, and help us to free her. She desperately needs YOU.

Sixty-six countries at the United Nations have called for homosexuality to be decriminalised.

The countries signed a declaration sponsored by France and the Netherlands demanding an end to legal punishment based on sexual orientation.

Sixty other countries of the UN's 192 member states, including a number of Arab and African states, rejected the non-binding declaration.

They said laws on homosexuality should be left to individual countries.

Gay men, lesbians and transsexuals worldwide face daily violations of their human rights.

Homosexuality is a criminal offence in more than 80 countries, while in at least seven nations, including Saudi Arabia, sex between men can be punished with the death penalty.

Considerable opposition

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the French and Dutch governments are using this to highlight discrimination against homosexuals.

Their statement calls for an end to the execution, arrest and detention of homosexuals and transexuals.

The Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said it was a significant declaration.

Yet there is considerable opposition to this at the UN. Socially conservative countries in the Arab world and in Africa did not want anything to do with it.

Syria spoke on behalf of 60 countries, arguing that domestic laws should be respected, and claiming the declaration could legitimise deplorable acts including paedophilia.

The US was the only major Western nation not to sign the declaration.

Even though the US Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot make homosexuality a crime, diplomats claimed the declaration was not compatible with the division between between state and federal law.

France and the Netherlands hope more countries will sign up to the declaration in the future.

In the United States, we currently have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding homosexuals in our military. It's against policy to either come out as gay or ask someone else if they're gay. A service member can be ejected if it's discovered they are a homosexual. Do you think this is fair? Should the policy remain in place or is this institutionalized discrimination?

With the growing use of cellphone cams and ready access to the Internet, a widespread and disturbing state of affairs has been increasingly brought to light.

The violation of basic human rights by some members of law enforcement agencies who's motto is "To Serve and Protect" should be held up and exposed in the uncompromizing spotlight, and their actions against the people and communities who trust them to act on their behalf absolutely condemed.

Please, check this site to learn something about the chinese occupation of Tibet.

Jenn takes on the Phelps and their "mission".