According to this press release yesterday from Human Rights First the United Nations isn’t doing enough to protect refugees who are escaping persecution because of their sexual orientation.
Washington, DC– As a group of representatives from governments, civil society and academia meet in Geneva today to participate in a Roundtable discussion on how to better protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees, Human Rights First urges the UN refugee agency – UNHCR – to continue to undertake concrete steps to ensure LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers are protected on the basis of equality and dignity.
“Every day, refugees from all corners of the world are forced to flee their homes on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Human Rights First’s Jesse Bernstein, author of Persistent Needs and Gaps: the Protection of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugees, a report that will be presented today at UNHCR’s Roundtable in Geneva. “By definition, all refugees are vulnerable,” said Bernstein. “Yet LGBTI refugees often face particular challenges in accessing protection and assistance resulting in needs which frequently go unaddressed.”
Chickens all! Bok! Bok! Bok!
This issue raises lots of questions. However, the point I want to make and that really ticks me off is the way groups like Human Rights First and the United Nations refuse to say where the persecution is primarily coming from. Like most Leftists they are afraid to point a finger at the real problem—gays, lesbians etc. are permitted and even encouraged to be persecuted by Islamic extremists because Allah said it was O.K. to do so.
Just check out the report, and I challenge you to find the word ‘Islam,’ ‘Muslim,’ or even ‘religious’ in the text. The closest they come is in footnote 6 where five countries and portions of two others are listed which have the death penalty for such sexual behaviors. They are Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen and parts of Somalia and Nigeria. What do they all have in common? Islamic governments and/or fundamentalist Islamic control!
I would have so much more respect for the Left, especially Leftist women, if they had the nerve to speak out about human rights abuses by Islamic fundamentalists without dancing around the subject.