The 23rd world conference of the International lesbian and gay association (ILGA), who fights for the recognition of LGBT rights in the whole world started last Thursday 30th of March, and will be held until Monday April 3rd at the international center of conferences of Geneva.

The Conference is held at the same time as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, an international forum which has failed to this day to recognize us and our rights. It will be another opportunity to remind the UN of the imperative necessity to explicitly declare that sexual orientation and the free expression of gender identity are human rights.
200 Hundred Organizations from all over the world participated to this conference, including HELEM.

ILGA members join every two years during a world conference. In their last Meeting in Manila - 2003, a clear mandate was given to its board and administrative Office to push for a debate on LGBT representation within the UN system.

Not surprisingly, Geneva was also chosen to host ILGA’s 23rd world conference, the event was delayed to Spring 2006 in order to coincide with the 62nd session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. But the odds seem to be against us: the
discreet death of the Brazilian resolution, ILGA’s rejection from ECOSOC last January, the reform of the UNCHR which will leave the place for a new “Human Rights Council”, the hesitations of our allies, Foreign Offices reluctant to fund our Geneva initiatives because of the uncertainties surrounding this last session of the UNCHR, have compromised our party and its celebration… But, stubbornly as the LGBT struggle itself ought to be, ILGA is holding its 23rd world meeting in Geneva. Though it is unclear if we will be able to hold panels within the UN at this stage, the conference, located just a few steps away from the UN, will tackle major questions:

How can we strategize to split this 1,2 billion people Muslim “fantasy block” which supposedly rejects LGBT rights as a whole?

What’s the way forward to have sexual orientation and gender identity come out at the UN? How to best strengthen our relationships with the political world? And last but most importantly, what is ILGA to do to best serve the world community of activists?

For more information check the website of ILGA: http://www.ilga-world-conference-2006.ch