The Yogyakarta Principles – Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity

"Human rights violations targeted towards persons because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity constitute a global and entrenched pattern of serious concern” – notes the introduction to the Principles. To address this, the International Commission of Jurists and International Service for Human Rights – two human rights organisations based in Geneva – undertook to formulate a set of principles on the “application of international law to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.” The consequent Yogyakarta Principles were released on March 1, 2007.

The principles were drafted by a group of experts in the field of human rights, including judges, academics, member of treaty bodies and a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. At the end of a seminar which took place during November 6 to 9, 2006, at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the principles were unanimously adopted by a group of 29 human-rights experts from 25 countries.

Reiterating that all humans are equal in rights and dignity, the document aims to put forth an understanding of international human rights as applicable to sexual and gender minorities. It defines sexual orientation as “each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender.” Likewise, it understands gender identity to mean “each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth.”

The following are excerpts from 13 of the 29 Principles outlined within the document:

Principle 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Human beings of all sexual orientations and gender identities are entitled to the full enjoyment of all human rights.

Principle 2: Everyone is entitled to enjoy all human rights without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity […] Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity includes any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on sexual orientation or gender identity which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing equality before the law or the equal protection of the law, or the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Principle 3: Persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities shall enjoy legal capacity in all aspects of life […] No one shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including sex reassignment surgery, sterilization or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity.

Principle 6: The right to privacy ordinarily includes the choice to disclose or not to disclose information relating to one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as decisions and choices regarding both one’s own body and consensual sexual and other relations with others.

Principle 7: Arrest or detention on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, whether pursuant to a court order or otherwise, is arbitrary. All persons under arrest […] are entitled, on the basis of equality, to be informed of the reasons for arrest and the nature of any charges against them, to be brought promptly before a judicial officer and to bring court proceedings to determine the lawfulness of a detention, whether or not charged with any offence.

Principle 10: Everyone has the right to be free from torture and from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including for reasons relating to sexual orientation or gender identity.

Principle 13: Everyone has the right to social security and other social protection measures, without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Principle 18: No person may be forced to undergo any form of medical or psychological treatment, procedure, testing, or be confined to a medical facility, based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Notwithstanding any classifications to the contrary, a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity are not, in and of themselves, medical conditions and are not to be treated, cured or suppressed.

Principle 20: Persons may form and have recognised, without discrimination, associations based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and associations that distribute information to or about, facilitate communication among, or advocate for the rights of, persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

Principle 23: Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution, including persecution related to sexual orientation or gender identity. A State may not remove, expel or extradite a person to any State where that person may face a well-founded fear of torture, persecution, or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Principle 24: Everyone has the right to found a family, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Families exist in diverse forms. No family may be subjected to discrimination on the basis of the sexual orientation or gender identity of any of its members.

Principle 28: Every victim of a human rights violation, including of a violation based on sexual orientation or gender identity, has the right to effective, adequate and appropriate remedies.

Principle 29: Everyone whose human rights, including rights addressed in these Principles, are violated is entitled to have those directly or indirectly responsible for the violation, whether they are government officials or not, held accountable for their actions in a manner that is proportionate to the seriousness of the violation. 

Focus by Swadesha Sharma.