U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, just released an official statement regarding her criticism of Ali Abdessalam Treki, the new president of the United Nations General Assembly and former foreign minister of Libya, in favor of the criminalization of homosexual behavior:
“The anti-gay bigotry spewed by this Qaddafi shill demonstrates once again that the UN has been hijacked by advocates of hate and intolerance.
“Likewise, the leadership of the UN Development Program is held by the Iranian regime, which denies the presence of gays in Iran even as it murders them and other innocent citizens.
“We must ensure that billions annually in U.S. taxpayer dollars no longer foot the bill for the UN’s anti-freedom agenda without significant reform.
“Congress must demand better by enacting pending legislation that would leverage our contributions to the UN to produce sweeping, meaningful reform of that body.”
Just a point of clarification for your readers. The position of Chair of the UNDP Executive Board rotates among member states on a geographic basis and is strictly for the purpose of administering and presiding at Board meetings. The Board Chair is not responsible for setting policy or directing operations. That is the responsibility of the UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark.
As a gay man who currently works with the UNDP I want everyone to know that both Administrator Clark and the UN Secretary-General himself have spoken out forcefully and explicitly about protecting and promoting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, which is a matter of both human rights and public health, given the global HIV epidemic.
UNDP has also taken a clear and strong position on human rights issues related to sexual orientation and expression. In May 2008, UNDP committed to act as the lead agency in the UNAIDS family on HIV among men who have sex with men and transgender people.
Helen Clark, who became the UNDP Administrator in April, after nine years as Prime Minister of New Zealand, is strongly committed to these efforts. At her direction, UNDP officials are working with UNAIDS to develop and launch an ‘in-reach’ programme to sensitize, educate and motivate UN staff at the country level around these issues throughout the world, an effort that will be launched shortly with a pilot session in North Africa.
Posted by: Brad Minnick | September 25, 2009 at 02:30 PM