Sexual orientation and gender identity at the United Nations

Discussions of LGBT rights at the United Nations have included resolutions and joint statements in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), attention by the expert led human rights mechanisms, such as the United Nations Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures, as well as by the UN Agencies.

Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations political bodies had not discussed LGBT rights (regarding equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity) until December 2006, when Norway presented a joint statement on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity at the Commission on Human Rights on behalf of 54 states. This was followed by a joint statement presented at the General Assembly by Argentina on behalf of 66 states in December 2008. The 2008 statement prompted an Arab League-backed statement opposing it. Both statements remain open for signature, and neither of them has been officially adopted by the General Assembly.

On June 17, 2011, South Africa led a resolution at the UNHRC requesting that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights draft a report "documenting discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity" to follow up and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The resolution passed with 23 votes in favour to 19 against, with the three abstentions being Burkina Faso, China, and Zambia. It was the first such resolution and was hailed as "historic".

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