Amnesty International Australia

Amnesty: still defending LGBT rights

The decision will have an enormous impact across the United States.

In May, a Gallup poll found 53 percent of Americans believe in same-sex marriage. A similar poll conducted last year showed the figure was 44 percent.

This is similar to Australia where a Galaxy poll in 2007 found 57 percent of Australians favoured same-sex marriage. Earlier this year the same polling group found the number had increased to 75 percent.

The right of adults to enter into consensual marriage is enshrined in international human rights standards.

Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.”

For more than a decade, this non-discrimination principle has been interpreted by UN treaty bodies and numerous intergovernmental human rights bodies as prohibiting discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.

Non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation has become an internationally recognised principle and many countries have responded by bringing their domestic laws into line with this principle in a range of spheres including partnership rights.

New York’s move follows a decision by the Human Rights Council on June 17 to adopt the first-ever UN resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

The resolution will commission the first-ever UN report on the challenges LGBT people face and will open a broader international discussion on how best to promote and protect their human rights.

Despite these positive moves, people in many countries still face human rights abuses and violations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including torture, rape, criminal sanctions, and killing.

For many years Amnesty International (AI) has been fighting for the human rights of LGBT people around the world.

Our report Not an illness nor a crime: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Turkey demand equality highlights the discrimination LGBT people face from officials in health services, education, housing and the workplace.

The pervasive prejudice in Turkey, and the fear of ostracism and attacks, means many feel compelled to conceal their sexual orientation, even from their families.

After 50 years, Amnesty International puts its stamp on human ...

Amnesty International will celebrate 50 years of defending human rights by releasing a postage stamp on 5 July, in a nod to the organisation’s letter writing roots.

Australia Post will issue the distinctive yellow and black 60 cent stamp that shows the Amnesty International candle entwined in barbed wire.

This image refers to the proverb cited by Peter Benenson, the London lawyer who founded the group in 1961: "better to light a candle, than curse the darkness”.

Since Peter Benenson’s initial call for a letter writing campaign to help free those who had been imprisoned around the world simply for speaking out about their beliefs, Amnesty International has grown into a worldwide organisation with over three million supporters in 150 countries.

Though Amnesty International campaigns on many different issues using various techniques, the writing of letters remains a cornerstone.

“Even though we now live in a digital world of instant communication, activists from Australia to South Africa still write letters because letters still save lives,” said Claire Mallinson, National Director, Amnesty International Australia.

Amnesty International believes sending letters is one of the most effective ways for individuals to communicate their concerns to those responsible for violating the human rights of others, and to those in a position to bring about change.

“Over the last 50 years, we’ve seen steady streams of letters result in the release of prisoners of conscience and offer hope to the forgotten and oppressed,” said Claire Mallinson.

The stamp is the brainchild of a group of Amnesty International volunteers in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe that meet monthly to write letters to authorities around the world asking that human rights be protected.

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