Human rights leaders from all over the world will be gathering in Los Angeles this month to attend The Global Arc of Justice: Sexual Orientation Law Around the World, a four day conference focused on advancing international GLBTIQ rights.
More than 300 speakers and guests are expected to participate in conference, including academics, litigators, judges, public officials, advocates, students and members of the community. It will be a working conference, with groups of experts and activists looking at effective strategies for addressing and advancing GLBTIQ rights around the world.
While the conference will have a special focus on Latin America, topics cover a broad range of issues from all over the world, such as international efforts to advance legal recognition for same sex couples, tackling the legal obstacles to fighting HIV/AIDS across national boarders, the repeal of sodomy laws in former British Colonies and advancement of the rights of transgender people.
Former Australian High Court judge, Michael Kirby AC CMG will be at the conference taking part in plenary panels, discussions and giving a keynote talk. While he may not be speaking on the subject of Latin America, Mr Kirby has a long history of involvement in human rights and law, and is a member of the UNAIDS Global Reference Panel on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights..
One of the many plenary sessions to be held at the conference will be dedicated to discussing the fight to repeal sodomy laws in former British Colonies – a subject very important to Mr Kirby.
‘My focus is going to be on the Commonwealth of nations, because if you look at the countries of the world where the criminal laws still operate to penalise and stigmatise homosexual people, most of those countries are former countries of the British Empire,’ he said.
‘In the developed countries of the Commonwealth, the laws have been reformed, but in the developing countries such as Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, the laws remain completely unchanged since colonial times.
‘This is one of the least attractive legacies of British rule, long after Britain itself has led the way in reforming the law. So, my objective will be to call attention to that phenomenon.’
With Australia in the grip of progress when it comes to law reform, Mr Kirby says it is important to remember that GLBTIQ issues are human rights issues and while we may be making progress, we should take some time to consider people living in countries less fortunate.
‘I think it is important for us to see issues of human rights in a global context. That’s the whole point of human rights, they relate to being human. Not just being a human being in Australia or in Malawi, they are matters that we share in common because we are human beings. And therefore have the same feelings and fundamental life experiences and the same genome as each other.’
The Global Arc of Justice conference runs from the 11th to the 14th of March and will be convened by the Williams Institute (a research centre on sexual orientation and gender identity law based at UCLA Law), the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association and the City of West Hollywood.
***
