“I am deeply concerned about increased bias-motivated incidents of harassment, threats, and violence against LGBT people, including a rampant surge in hate crimes in the UK,” said Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the human rights expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, who completed an official visit to the country on 5 May.

“All of this is attributed – by a wide range of stakeholders – to the toxic nature of the public debate surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity,” said the Human Ritexpert.

Mr. Madrigal-Borloz warned that these developments could endanger very significant achievements, built over decades, to address violence and discrimination in the country.

Violence and discrimination risk

In an extensive statement after his 10-day visit, Mr. Madrigal-Borloz lauded achievements in data gathering and said the UK was poised to take transformational public policy steps, on the basis of solid evidence.

The data makes it possible to determine social exclusion against LGBT persons but, equally importantly, the way factors such as race, ethnic background, and socio-economic status interact with sexual orientation and gender identity to exacerbate the risk of violence and discrimination, he said.

Mr. Madrigal-Borloz also noted the progress made through strategies, plans of action and public policies, which are evident in all four nations of the UK.

He was also encouraged by the actions of national governments and civil services in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in relation to devolved competencies in health, education, housing, and employment.

While acknowledging achievements in health and education, he expressed concern at the overrepresentation of LGBT persons among the homeless population in homelessness and relatively scarce data in relation to employment.

“Waiting lists for gender affirming treatment at the National Health Service continue to be years-long, and current initiatives risk erosion of achievements in comprehensive sex education,” the independent expert said.

Fighting for protection

The expert expressed grave concern about delays in long-promised legislation to ban the practice of “conversion” of sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The vicissitudes of this and other necessary public policies appear to be connected to political discourse concerning gender-diverse persons and refugees and asylum seekers, two areas in which recent State actions are cause for concern,” Mr. Madrigal-Borloz said.

He cited the example of the Illegal Migration Bill, and blanket policy decisions in relation to trans persons deprived of liberty.

The expert also took issue with recent advice by the UK Equalities and Human Rights Commission to the Government in Westminster, that promoted the reduction in human rights protections for trans persons with legal recognition of their gender.

“These actions were admittedly with the objective of withdrawing trans women from legal protections to which they are entitled under the Equality Act,” Mr. Madrigal Borloz said.

Demanding political accountability

The expert urged all stakeholders to recognise that democracies benefit from healthy debate, in an environment that includes protection of free speech, and accountability for hate speech, yet reminded them that they must keep the objective of human rights protection at the centre of State and non-State action.

“Politicians must carry out evidence-based evaluations, free from stigma and preconception,” the independent expert said.

Special Rapporteurs and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.

The urgent call from the ten Special Rapporteurs and members of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, came in response to an announcement by the Taliban-appointed Supreme Court in favour of punishments including stoning, flogging and burying people under a wall.

Women most vulnerable

The de facto deputy chief of the court, announced on 4 May that they had sentenced 175 individuals to “retribution in kind” punishments, and 37 to be stoned. Dozens of others were condemned to “crimes against God” punishments such as lashing, said the press statement.

The experts, including the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett, noted that “women are more likely to be sentenced to death by stoning, due to deeply entrenched discrimination and stereotypes against them… held by the exclusively male judiciary”.

Cruel, inhuman, degrading

The said that stoning or being buried alive under a wall, constituted torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. “These cruel punishments are contrary to international law.”

According to a recent report by the UN Assistance Mission in the country, UNAMA, 274 men, 58 women and two boys have been publicly flogged and one judicially sanctioned execution has been carried out within the last six months alone.

Both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Afghanistan is a State party, prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

Discrimination outlawed

Afghanistan is also a State party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which outlaws discrimination against women as well as “prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”

The experts expressed serious concerns about the fairness of trials preceding corporal punishment and death sentences.

“We urge the de facto authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty and all forms of corporal punishment” including flogging and amputation, “each of which constitute torture or another form of cruel and inhuman punishment,” the experts said.

Special Rapporteurs and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.

The development comes after more than three weeks of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) loyal to General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

UN rights chief Volker Türk opened the meeting condemning the “wanton violence” which has brought more hunger, deprivation and displacement upon the Sudanese people, while both sides “trampled international humanitarian law”.

From ‘beacon of hope’ to humanitarian disaster

Mr. Türk reminded the Council that in 2019 Sudan appeared as a “beacon of hope” after popular protests with women and youth “at the forefront” toppled Omar al-Bashir’s three decade-long dictatorship. He spoke of his visit to the country six months ago – his first mission as UN rights chief – when a transition to civilian rule was on the horizon.

Recalling his meetings at the time with both rival generals, the UN rights chief said that his message had been to insist on accountability and human rights as essential to any future agreement.

“Today, immense damage has been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people,” Mr. Türk said.

To date, more than 600 people have been killed in the fighting, more than 150,000 have fled Sudan, and over 700,000 have become internally displaced. Record levels of hunger are expected in the country in the coming months.

Urgent call for peace

The UN rights chief underscored the desperate need for a humanitarian truce and an end to human rights violations.

While noting that despite “intense” diplomatic efforts by actors including the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the League of Arab States and the United Nations, the leaders of the SAF and RSF have not agreed to discuss ending hostilities, the High Commissioner called on the parties to the conflict to “urgently commit to an inclusive political process and to a negotiated peace”.

The Council was expected to take action on a resolution on Thursday echoing this call and demanding “detailed” rights monitoring of the situation in the country.

‘Immense suffering’, rights abuses

Referring to a statement issued on Thursday by a group of independent UN-appointed human rights experts, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Chair of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures and Special Rapporteur on the right to health, highlighted the “immense suffering” endured by the people of Sudan.

The experts deplored human rights abuses experienced by “civilians of all ages”, including sexual assault and gender-based violence, and shortages of food, water and healthcare. The experts expressed alarm at the shelling of a shelter for girls with disability in Khartoum, as well as other attacks on healthcare, on humanitarian workers and on human rights defenders.

Ms. Mofokeng called on the parties to the conflict to commit to ensuring the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals.

Independent rights experts appointed by the High Commissioner in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions, are not UN staff nor are they paid for their work.

Lack of consent

Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Hassan Hamid Hassan, questioned the decision to hold the emergency session just weeks before the Council’s regular session in June.

Mr. Hassan further pointed out that the holding of the special session had not received the support of any African nor Arab state.

Diversity of perspectives

Some 70 countries, both Members and observers of the Human Rights Council, as well as NGOs, spoke during the day-long meeting. Their voices presented a diversity of opinions on the need for the Special Session and the extent and scope of the international community’s involvement in the crisis in Sudan.

Representing the United Kingdom, a key sponsor of the session, Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State for development and Africa, insisted on the need to carry out former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s “vision” for the Human Rights Council at its creation in 2006, as a body which could react quickly to human rights emergencies such as the one at hand.

The Special Session was also supported by the European Union and the United States.

On behalf of the group of Arab States, Lebanon’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Salim Baddoura, said that the group welcomed all international and regional initiatives aimed at ending the conflict, the latest being the talks in Jeddah under the auspices of the United States and Saudi Arabia.

He stressed that Sudan, as the affected country, had the right for its views to be taken into account before any new mechanisms were established or existing mandates extended.

Speaking on behalf of the group of African States, Côte d’Ivoire’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Allou Lambert Yao, also expressed support for “African solutions for African problems”, commending the mediation efforts of IGAD under the auspices of the African Union.

The representative of Pakistan, Khalil Hashmi, offered another critical perspective on the session, saying that it risked unnecessary duplication of work as the Security Council was already seized of the political situation in Sudan and that mediation efforts must now be “given primacy”.

Enhanced human rights monitoring

The resolution before the Council on Thursday called for an immediate cessation of hostilities “with no pre-conditions”, and a recommitment of all parties to return to a transition towards civilian-led government. The resolution also highlighted the urgent need to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, as well as to ensure accountability for human rights violations.

One of the resolution’s concrete effects is to expand the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, designated in December last year, to also include “detailed monitoring and documentation […] of all allegations of human rights violations and abuses since 25 October 2021”, when the Sudanese military led by General al-Burhan seized power in a coup.