UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

47th session

 

ID with the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

 

25 July 2021

 

Statement by Portugal

Chairperson,

Portugal aligns with the statements of the EU and Uruguay, on behalf of the group of friends on SOGI, which Portugal proudly integrates.

The situations of violence, discrimination and human rights violations for gender identity- or gender expression- related reasons are appalling. We thank the Independent Expert for raising awareness to the heinous practices of conversion therapies of gay men; “corrective” rape of lesbians; and “normalizing” surgeries of intersex persons. They constitute flagrant violations of human rights, including the rights to bodily autonomy, integrity and self-determination.

Portugal condemns all forms of violence and discrimination, including on grounds of real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or sex characteristics.

Over the last decade, Portugal reached significant achievements on the protection of the human rights of LGBTI+ persons. We highlight the legal framework that since 2018 guarantees the right to legally determine one’s gender based on self-identification and the right to the protection of sex characteristics and expressions for all persons.

Chairperson,

The adoption of legislative measures that target LGBTI+ persons, in particular when this adoption is included in a broader set of measures regarding the crime of paedophilia, is unacceptable. Associating the human rights of LGBTI+ persons to such a crime is dangerously incorrect and highly condemnable. This represents an act of discrimination and repression against LGBTI+ persons.

Thank you.

 

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