The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is on the verge of an historic breakthrough in the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions that will be considered on Tuesday, April 20, 2005. After much lobbying and negotiation efforts from LGTBI, human rights and feminist organizations, the resolution on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, E/CN.4/2005/L.47, was tabled (i.e. moved from informal to formal status for negotiations) by Sweden on April 13, 2005. The draft resolution includes references to both sexual orientation (as it has for several years) and gender identity (for the first time).

While the resolution will come before the Commission on Tuesday, the inclusion of both sexual orientation and gender identity in the formal draft can, itself, be considered a significant step forward. (see the 2005 Action Kit at http://www.iglhrc.org for more information about the Commission) Moreover, we believe that there is a good possibility that the resolution will be adopted with the inclusion of both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as discriminatory reasons for which people are targeted for extra-judicial executions, and for which States are called upon to investigate promptly and thoroughly. Please lobby your governments immediately to ensure this significant step at the Commission on Human Rights.

Operative Paragraph 5 (OP5) of the resolution reads,

Reaffirms the obligation of States to protect the inherent right to life of all persons under their jurisdiction and calls upon States concerned to investigate promptly and thoroughly all cases of killings including those committed in the name of passion or in the name of honour, all killings committed for any discriminatory reason, including sexual orientation and gender identity; racially motivated violence leading to the death of the victim; killings of members of national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, of refugees, of internally displaced persons, of street children or of members of indigenous communities; migrants, killings of persons for reasons related to their activities as human rights defenders, lawyers, doctors, journalists or as demonstrators, in particular as a consequence of their exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; as well as other cases where a person's right to life has been violated, all of which are being committed in various parts of the world, and to bring those responsible to justice before a competent, independent and impartial national tribunal or ,where appropriate, international tribunal and to ensure that such killings, including those committed by security forces, police and law enforcement agents, paramilitary groups or private forces, are neither condoned nor sanctioned by government officials or personnel.

Several governments, including Sweden, France, Finland, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Australia, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina have indicated that they will support this language during the informal negotiation phases on the resolution. Pakistan, Egypt and the Holy See expressed their opposition. Italy, Ireland and Norway have not yet clearly indicated their positions. The position of the US is not yet clear. According to Scott Long, Director of the LGBT Rights Project at HRW, “The United States has indicated sympathy with a group of Islamic states that are opposed to this, and threaten to eliminate the entire list in OP5, or even vote against the resolution as a whole.” Yet, the Special Rapporteur (an independent expert who investigates and reports on human rights violations related to a particular theme or country) on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has consistently reported on human rights violations against transgender individuals for several years. (see the latest report of the Special Rapporteur at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/executions/annual.htm)

Please indicate to your government the importance of their support for this resolution -- with the entire listing of groups contained in paragraph 5 intact.

• If you believe your government might be willing to sign on as a co-sponsor of the resolution, please urge them to do so as quickly as possible.
• If you believe that they will not support the resolution, please urge them to abstain rather than oppose the resolution. Since resolutions at the Commission on Human Rights are passed by a simple majority, abstaining rather than opposing can be a critical move in helping a resolution to pass without indicating support.
• Finally, please urge your government to resist any effort to amend the resolution from the floor.

Contact information for your country missions and foreign ministries can be found in the IGLHRC Action Kit Annex at: http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/publications/reportsandpublications/799.html

Please send faxes, letter, emails, or call your missions and ministries IMMEDIATELY to gather support for the inclusion of gender identity language at the UNCHR.

The current co-sponsors of the resolution are: Andorra*, Armenia, Austria*, Belgium*, Brazil, Canada, Croatia*, Cyprus*, Czech Republic*, Denmark*, Estonia*, Finland, Finland, France, Germany, Greece*, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia*, Lithuania*, Luxembourg*, Mexico, Norway*, Poland*, Portugal*, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro*, Slovania*, Slovakia*, Spain*, Sweden*, Switzerland*, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.