The light at the end of the tunnel

Imagen | Blanca Martínez

On our second day at the URJCmun’s Human Rights Council the positions of our delegates became clearer. The debate continued and after the last intervention the floor was opened. Only the moderated caucus proposed by the UK on the matter of ‘Decriminalization’ had enough majority to take place.

Everything was following the same steps as yesterday until Israel called out Brazil on being a bit of a hypocrite because their official position didn’t match what was actually happening in the country nowadays. From here on the Delegates started calling each other out until Iraq said: ‘there are no homosexual people in our country. It is you, the western media, the ones making them believe they are’.

Firm proposals where trying to come up but here is where all hell broke loose. The German delegate criticized this statement and refused to apologize later when asked to. Israel confronted North Korea on their incapability to provide for the LGBT+ community when most of their population didn’t even had access to food or health insurance. France called out Armenia stating that religion is, in no way possible, an obstacle for the human rights of the LGBT+ people to be granted. And with this polarized stage, an unmodulated caucus to try to come up with working papers  took place.

More than four extensions where needed for the working papers to see the light. Two major blocs were formed.

The first working paper to be presented was the one presented by Russia and China, which was also signed by the majority of arab countries. It ended up being made of six major clauses which main objectives were the acceptance of the existence of LGBT+ people. This was a big step for this countries but the western bloc said that this wasn’t enough for protecting and promoting the LGBT+ rights.

The second working paper was presented by Finland, India and the US. It contained eleven points that are ‘the next step toward progress’ for the protection and promotion of LGTB+ rights.

The voting started and by only the minimum majority of 16 votes in favor. This result was widely applauded by the Comite.

A motion for starting the discussion for the second topic tomorrow was passed.

Could we be on the verge for a new era on inclusion and tolerance?