As UN faces a key vote on expert to protect LGBTQIA rights, will India finally be on the right side?

India’s foreign policy faces other test, when it comes to the vote on July 7 during the 59th session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, when member states will vote on whether to renew the mandate of the first UN independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

This mandate was established in 2016 and renewed in 2019 and 2022 and has been supported by a growing number of states from all regions. The current resolution to renew the mandate was presented by a core group of six Latin American countries – Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Uruguay .

It was co-sponsored by countries from all regions of the world, including European countries such as the United Kingdom and Spain, African countries such as South Africa and Cabo Verde and Asian countries such as Japan. Asian countries that have voted for the mandate in the past include Nepal, South Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand, thereby strongly indicating that for Asia, LGBTQIA rights is no more a zone to be avoided but actively supported.

In this trend of increasingly global support (with strong participation from the global south) for the proposition that discrimination and violence on...

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