Pakistan drives new UN resolution on "protection of the family." Aims to stop LGBT individuals from "polluting" families

The UN top rights body is about to take a big step backward concerning the promotion and protection of LGBT rights. The UN Human Rights Council, currently meeting in Geneva, is poised to adopt its first ever resolution on "protection of the family".

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been on the war path for years against any UN recognition of LGBT rights. In March 2012 they boycotted a panel discussion of the subject at the UN in Geneva, and a report on the subject by UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay carefully avoided mentioning the worst violators by name. There have been no resolutions or formal discussions of the subject since.

On June 13, 2014 the UN delegates in Geneva held informal consultations on a draft UN Human Rights Council resolution entitled "Protection of the Family". The main sponsors of this initiative are some of the world's worst human rights violators: Bangladesh, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, El Salvador, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Russia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Qatar and Uganda.

During the backroom meeting, Pakistan, Iran, the African Union, Malaysia, Belarus, and Bolivia also expressed their strong support for the draft text.

Pakistan, a member of the "Human Rights" Council, made clear real intentions of the sponsors: "It is clear what we are talking about. Family is a man, a woman and his children. We are talking about the pollution of the family by bringing an idea for which there is no consensus on the international level. We are very clear about the definition of the family."

On the other hand, a suggestion to include in the resolution reference to protecting women and children from domestic violence was rejected by the main supporters.

The European Union proposed that "states have the responsibility to promote and protect the rights of women and children" within the family as well as to recognize the "rights of individuals". The African Union strongly objected to mentioning women and children. Iran, where girls below the age of 10 are registered for marriage and minors are hanged for being gay, had this to contribute: the "family is the basic core of the society" and "family role is more important than the state's" role in protecting children's rights.

The sponsors of the draft resolution also made sure that the issue of "the family" stays on the Council's agenda as long as possible. The text requests the Council to organize a "panel discussion on the protection of the family" at its September 2014 session and asks the High Commissioner to prepare a report on the discussion and present it to the Council at the March 2015 session.