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Declaration of Montreal

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Declaration of Montreal

The Declaration of Montreal on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Human Rights is a document adopted in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on July 29, 2006, by the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights which formed part of the first World Outgames. The Declaration outlines a number of rights and freedoms pertaining to LGBT and intersex people that it is proposed be universally guaranteed. It encompasses all aspects of human rights, from the guarantee of fundamental freedoms to the prevention of discrimination against LGBT people in healthcare, education and immigration. The Declaration also addresses various issues that impinge on the global promotion of LGBT rights and intersex human rights. Intended as a starting point in listing the demands of the international LGBT movement, it will ultimately be submitted to the United Nations.

The Conference aimed to raise the international community's awareness of LGBT rights issues. It was held immediately prior to the Outgames themselves and attended by almost 2000 delegates and 600 conference speakers from across the world, making it the largest LGBT rights conference ever held. A number of international experts took part including distinguished jurists, academics, church leaders and human rights activists. Among them was Joke Swiebel a former member of the European Parliament, who served as one of the primary drafters of the Declaration. The delegates unanimously approved the Declaration.

Among the keynote speakers to the Conference were:

The Declaration aims to address UN failings in consistently applying its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A number of fundamental freedoms, including the right to life, are violated in a number of member countries where homosexuality is criminalised. Homosexual acts are punishable by death in nine jurisdictions: Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. They remain illegal in 72 countries, and are in many cases punishable by imprisonment or corporal punishment.

The Convention identifies several areas in which action needs to be taken to uphold the essential rights of LGBT people: "A world where LGBT rights are systematically violated, is a world where nobody can feel safe and free" referring to the principle of World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna affirming that "All human rights are universal, indivisible, and interdependent and interrelated."

The declaration calls for an end to the death penalty and all violence against LGBT people whether state condoned or by private parties. States are required to take steps to protect LGBT people from all hate crimes. Forced marriages to persons of the opposite sex are identified as particular human rights violations to be combated.

Finally, violence against intersex people, in particular unnecessary surgery to force conformity to rigid models of sexual characteristics, is condemned as well as genital surgery to them unless they are old enough to understand it and consent to it. This gave influence to Principle 18 (protection from medical abuse) of The Yogyakarta Principles.

Laws which discriminate against LGBT people, such as bans of pride marches, LGBT journalism and registration of non-governmental organisations, are identified as a major stumbling blocks in campaigning for LGBT rights issues. The world community is therefore called upon to guarantee such rights and prevent their being denied by hostile public authorities.

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