Sexual orientation

Definition

Sex­ual ten­dency towards another per­son is called sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion. Sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion could be to the oppo­site sex, the same sex, or both. No one shall be dis­crim­i­nated against on the basis of sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion. Under the inter­na­tional human rights frame­work, sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion is an inte­gral con­cept of sex; a state is obliged to respect, pro­tect, and ful­fill any rights enjoyed by peo­ple with­out dis­tinc­tion of any sex and sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion. How­ever, in some coun­tries, cul­tural, soci­etal, and insti­tu­tional dis­crim­i­na­tion based upon sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion remains ubiq­ui­tous. Of these, sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion is often the root of ver­bal and phys­i­cal vio­lence. Sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion may con­sti­tute the cause of crim­i­nal charges, tor­ture, or ill-treat­ment, forc­ing peo­ple of non-tra­di­tional sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion to seek asy­lum and deprive them of the right to return home. Some extreme cases also show the prac­tice of con­ver­sion ther­apy intend­ing to “cure” sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion. Law and pol­icy dis­tin­guish­ing between indi­vid­u­als on the basis of sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion could adversely label their iden­tity and fur­ther exac­er­bate the conun­drum fac­ing them.

Precedents

2009 ECOSOC Resolution on UNAIDS

• “Wel­comes the pro­mul­ga­tion of the UNAIDS Action Frame­work: Uni­ver­sal Access for Men Who Have Sex with Men and Trans­gen­der Peo­ple, and the fol­low-up action that is already under way, and calls on the Joint Pro­gramme and other part­ners to sup­port fur­ther action and strengthen part­ner­ships to address the polit­i­cal, social, legal and eco­nomic bar­ri­ers to uni­ver­sal access, as part of the agreed Uni­fied Bud­get and Work­plan pri­or­i­ties.” (para­graph 20)

Expert precedents

2022 Report of the Independent Expert on SOGI: Practices of Exclusion

• “In Myan­mar, United Nations inves­ti­ga­tors con­cluded that trans­gen­der peo­ple of Rohingya eth­nic­ity were tar­geted by author­i­ties with sex­ual vio­lence, report­edly because of their gen­der and sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion, and that the sex­ual vio­lence against trans per­sons amounted to crimes against human­ity of tor­ture, rape, other inhu­mane acts and per­se­cu­tion as part of the wide­spread and sys­tem­atic attack against the Rohingya civil­ian pop­u­la­tion.” (para­graph 29)

• “Anti-gen­der nar­ra­tives cre­ate sig­nif­i­cant risk for the fur­ther­ance of the rights of women and can fos­ter vio­lence and dis­crim­i­na­tion based on sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion and gen­der iden­tity.” (para­graph 41)

• “Gen­der iden­tity and gen­der expres­sion pro­vide actual or per­ceived links to sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion that are often at the ori­gin of stigma and vio­lence, a con­clu­sion which many United Nations and regional human rights mech­a­nisms have also reached.” (para­graph 50)