UN and LGBTI

 
The Yogyarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity were adopted in March 2007 by a group a recognized experts.
 
It defines sexual orientation as referring to each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender and to gender identity as referring to refer to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms;
 
It also sets out a list of legal human rights standards, as applied to gender identity and sexual orientation, which should be complied with by all States. It sets out:
 

  • Rights to Universal Enjoyment of Human Rights, Non-Discrimination and Recognition before the Law
  • Rights to Human and Personal Security
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  • Rights to Expression, Opinion and Association
  • Freedom of Movement and Asylum
  • Rights of Participation in Cultural and Family Life
  • Rights of Human Rights Defenders
  • Rights of Redress and Accountability

 
 
Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations had not immediately touched on the issue of non-sexual orientation or gender identity, but the universality of human rights with any distinction has been recognized since the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948.
At present, the issue has become one of the focus of the UN bodies dedicated to the HR protection, also thanks to a broader interpretation of human rights treaties and declarations.