{"id":10651,"date":"2018-08-10T13:30:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T07:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=10651"},"modified":"2018-08-21T18:43:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T12:58:15","slug":"countries-use-registration-laws-to-hinder-lgbti-advocacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/countries-use-registration-laws-to-hinder-lgbti-advocacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Countries use registration laws to hinder LGBTI advocacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael K. Levers\/Pahichan – A new\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0indicates governments around the world are using registration laws to target LGBTI advocacy groups.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>, which OutRight Action International released on Tuesday, indicates 28 percent of the 194 countries surveyed have LGBTI groups that \u201ccannot legally register as LGBTIQ organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these countries disclosing an intention to serve LGBTIQ people sets up a barrier to legal registration,\u201d reads the\u00a0report\u2019s introduction.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThus, many organizations pursue registration using more neutral language about their aims and objectives that do not identify that they work with LGBTIQ people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0notes 56 percent of the 194 countries surveyed allow groups to legally register as LGBTI organizations. The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0also notes OutRight Action International could not identify LGBTI-specific organizations in 15 percent of the countries it surveyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been talk for a number of years around shrinking civil society space,\u201d OutRight Action International Deputy Executive Director Maria Sj\u00f6din told the Washington Blade on Tuesday during a telephone from the Canadian city of Vancouver where she was attending\u00a0a global LGBTI rights conference.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWe wanted to look at this through the specific LGBTIQ lens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sj\u00f6din said LGBTI organizations that are allowed to legally register and \u201cbecome officially recognized\u201d are able to open bank accounts and receive final support, among other things. Sj\u00f6din added restricting LGBTI organizations\u2019 ability to register is part of the \u201ctool box\u201d that governments can use to target them.<\/p>\n

\n
Singapore sodomy law \u2018influences all kinds of policy making\u2019<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0highlights Russia, Nigeria and Singapore as three of the countries in which LGBTI advocacy groups seeking legal recognition face barriers.<\/p>\n

A Russian law requires any non-governmental organization that receive funding from outside the country to register as a \u201cforeign agent.\u201d The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0also notes Russian authorities under a 2015 law can \u201cban the operation of foreign organizations deemed to be a risk to national security, public order or national health.\u201d<\/p>\n

A law that then-Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed in 2014 prohibits, among other things, membership in an LGBTI advocacy group.<\/p>\n

Jean Chong, co-founder of Savoni, an organization for queer women in Singapore, told the Blade on Wednesday during a Skype interview the country\u2019s government prevents LGBTI advocacy groups from registering because they are \u201cagainst national interest.\u201d Chong, who also works for OutRight Action International, also noted consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in Singapore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt influences all kinds of policy making,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0notes Morocco, Malaysia and other countries with anti-sodomy laws also prohibit LGBTI advocacy groups from registering. It also notes LGBTI organizations in other countries with homophobic and\/or transphobic statutes have been able to legally register.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0notes a transgender group in Kenya in 2014 was able to register with the country\u2019s NGO Coordination Board. Botswana\u2019s highest court in 2016\u00a0ruled<\/a>\u00a0Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana, an LGBTI advocacy group, should be allowed to register with the country\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

The governments of St. Lucia and other English-speaking Caribbean countries have allowed LGBTI organizations to legally register, even though consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cLGBTIQ communities and LGBTIQ civil society leaders are strong and resilient,\u201d reads the\u00a0report.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cYet, this data represents entrenched restrictions on LGBTIQ civil society\u2019s rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile legal registration is not right for every community-based organization, when it is desired, it should be available without discrimination on the basis of the sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and sex characteristics of the populations that the organization serves,\u201d it adds. \u201cAny restrictions based on these factors amounts to discrimination in the fundamental human rights to expression, association and assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copy :\u00a0http:\/\/www.washingtonblade.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael K. Levers\/Pahichan – A new\u00a0report\u00a0indicates governments around the world are using registration laws to target LGBTI advocacy groups.
\nThe\u00a0report, which OutRight Action International released on Tuesday, indicates 28 percent of the 194 countries surveyed have LGBTI groups that \u201ccannot legally register as LGBTIQ organizations.\u201d
\n\u201cIn these countries disclosing an intention to serve LGBTIQ people sets up a barrier to legal registration,\u201d reads the\u00a0report\u2019s introduction.\u00a0\u201cThus, many organizations pursue registration using more neutral language about their aims and objectives that do not identify that they work with LGBTIQ people.\u201d
\nThe\u00a0report\u00a0notes 56 percent of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1827,981,621,492,490,11],"tags":[1060,1014,912,1159],"class_list":["post-10651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-issue","category-diplomacy","category-model","category-news","category-opinion","category-slider","category-world","tag-bisexuals","tag-gays","tag-lesbians","tag-lgbtiq"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10653,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10651\/revisions\/10653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}