IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 173

Expressing the concern of Congress regarding human rights violations against

lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered (LGBT) individuals

around the world.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 26, 2001

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. WEXLER, Mr.

MCGOVERN, Ms. LEE, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. ALLEN, Mr.

ENGEL, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. WYNN, Ms. RIVERS,

Mr. WEINER, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr.

FRANK, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. PELOSI, Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. STARK, and Ms.

WOOLSEY) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the concern of Congress regarding human rights

violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and

transgendered (LGBT) individuals around the world.

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring),

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This concurrent resolution may be cited as the

5 ‘‘International Human Rights Equality Resolution’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds the following:

3 (1) Treaties, conventions, and declarations to

4 which the United States is a party address govern5 ment obligations to combat human rights violations,

6 and the overall goals and standards of these treaties,

7 conventions, and declarations in promoting human

8 rights of all individuals have been found to be con9 sistent with, and in support of, the aspirations of the

10 United States at home and globally, as well as con11 sistent with the Constitution of the United States.

12 (2) Articles 3 and 5 of the 1948 Universal Dec13 laration of Human Rights and Articles 6, 7, and 9

14 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Po15 litical Rights guarantee all individuals the right to

16 life, liberty, and security of person, and guarantee

17 that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,

18 inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,

19 and the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other

20 Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punish21 ment reinforces the commitment of countries to pre22 vent torture within their jurisdictions.

23 (3) The fundamental human right not to be ar24 bitrarily deprived of life is violated when those con25 victed of homosexual acts in Afghanistan are sen26 tenced to be executed and are crushed by having
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1 walls toppled over them, and there remain a number

2 of other countries around the world that call for the

3 possible execution of those convicted of homosexual

4 acts, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Mau5 ritania, and Iran.

6 (4) The fundamental right not to be subjected

7 to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading

8 treatment is violated when, because of their real or

9 perceived sexual identity, gay men, lesbians,

10 bisexuals, and transgendered individuals (hereafter

11 referred to as ‘‘LGBT individuals’’) are subjected to

12 severe beatings while in police custody in Argentina

13 and Uganda, and individuals in these groups are

14 also routinely the victims of human rights abuses,

15 such as extortion, entrapment, physical assaults, and

16 rape, committed by the police in Mexico and Ecua17 dor, among other countries.

18 (5) A number of LGBT individuals are targeted

19 and tortured or killed because of their real or per20 ceived sexual identity by paramilitary groups in Gua21 temala and El Salvador, which collude with the mili22 tary, police, and other government officials in those

23 countries.

24 (6) Articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declara25 tion of Human Rights and Articles 2, 14, and 26 of
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1 the International Covenant on Civil and Political

2 Rights guarantee all individuals freedom from arbi3 trary discrimination and equal protection before the

4 law.

5 (7) Individuals in many countries, such as Ro6 mania, are convicted pursuant to penal laws which

7 criminalize sexual conduct between same-sex part8 ners, and these individuals are subjected to torture,

9 including rape, in prison, for which they have no

10 legal recourse for redress.

11 (8) In Pakistan and Saudi Arabia the sentence

12 for sexual conduct between same-sex partners who

13 are consenting adults includes flogging, and in

14 Singapore and Uganda the sentence for sexual con15 duct between same-sex partners who are consenting

16 adults can extend to life in prison.

17 (9) Many governments, on the basis of vague

18 laws, may target and persecute LGBT individuals

19 because of their real or perceived sexual identity, in20 cluding in Egypt where individuals in these groups

21 may be imprisoned under laws that penalize offenses

22 against public morals, and in Venezuela where indi23 viduals in these groups are imprisoned under the

24 laws against vagrants and crooks, and the vagueness
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1 of these laws makes it difficult to monitor govern2 mental persecution.

3 (10) Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Dec4 laration of Human Rights and Articles 19 and 22 of

5 the International Covenant on Civil and Political

6 Rights guarantee all individuals freedom of expres7 sion and freedom of association.

8 (11) The fundamental rights of freedom of ex9 pression and association are violated when govern10 ments deny the right of LGBT individuals to form

11 organizations or advocate for rights under inter12 national humanitarian laws, such as in Zimbabwe

13 where members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe

14 (GALZ) have been threatened and brutally assaulted

15 for mobilizing around issues of concern to LGBT in16 dividuals.

17 (12) In some countries, agents of the govern18 ment are directing or are complicitous in abuses

19 committed on the basis of sexual orientation and

20 gender identity, and investigation and prosecution of

21 those agents for these violations of international law

22 often do not occur.

23 (13) Due to the failure by governments to in24 vestigate and prosecute human rights violations

25 based on sexual orientation and gender identity, pri-
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1 vate individuals feel encouraged to attack violently

2 LGBT individuals with impunity, contributing to an

3 atmosphere of fear and intimidation for LGBT indi4 viduals.

5 (14) The human rights violations that lesbian

6 and bisexual women suffer because of their real or

7 perceived sexual identity are particularly vitriolic be8 cause of their gender, and, moreover, the aggravated

9 abuse of these women often goes unreported because

10 of their gender.

11 (15) Violations of internationally recognized

12 human rights norms are to be considered crimes re13 gardless of the real or perceived sexual identity of

14 the victims and are to be punished without discrimi15 nation.

16 (16) Fundamental access to legal protection

17 from violations of internationally recognized human

18 rights norms is often unavailable to the victims.

19 (17) Lesbians and bisexual women face addi20 tional obstacles in these countries when seeking as21 sistance from police, judges, and other officials due

22 to pervasive gender bias.

23 (18) The preceding clauses constitute only a

24 few examples of the violations suffered by LGBT in25 dividuals because of their real or perceived sexual
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1 identity, the full range and extent of such violations

2 are not known because governments create

3 atmospheres of immunity for those perpetrating

4 such human rights violations and prevent victims

5 from seeking effective protection and just redress,

6 and, thus, their suffering remains undocumented

7 and unremedied.

8 (19) Many nongovernmental human rights or9 ganizations, including Amnesty International,

10 Human Rights Watch, and the International Gay

11 and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, as well as

12 the United States Department of State and the

13 United Nations, have documented, and are con14 tinuing to document, the ongoing violations of the

15 human rights of LGBT individuals.

16 SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

17 Congress—

18 (1) condemns all violations of internationally

19 recognized human rights norms based on the real or

20 perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of an

21 individual;

22 (2)(A) recognizes that human rights violations

23 abroad based on sexual orientation and gender iden24 tity should be punished without discrimination be25 tween these and other crimes, regardless of the real
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1 or perceived sexual identity of the victims, and that

2 such violations should be given the same consider3 ation and concern as human rights violations based

4 on other grounds in the formulation of policies to

5 protect and promote human rights globally; and

6 (B) further recognizes that the protection from

7 human rights abuses, such as torture and other

8 cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punish9 ment, is fully embedded in international humani10 tarian law, regardless of the sexual orientation and

11 gender identity of the victim; and

12 (3) commends nongovernmental human rights

13 organizations, including Amnesty International,

14 Human Rights Watch, and the International Gay

15 and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, as well as

16 the United States Department of State and the

17 United Nations, for documenting the ongoing abuse

18 of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation

19 and gender identity.

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