#IESOGI - Renewal

14 Jul, 2025

On 7 July 2025, amidst a global backdrop of rising hostility and legislative rollback against queer lives, the UN Human Rights Council did something powerful and necessary. By a vote of 29 in favour, 15 against, and 3 abstentions, the Council renewed the mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (hashtag#IESOGI) for another three years. This role, held by Graeme Reid of South Africa, is the only UN-level position dedicated specifically to safeguarding LGBTQ+ persons from violence, erasure, and hate. Please let this sink in: In 2025, we still have just one official UN expert whose job is to say: “No one should be punished, discriminated against, beaten, jailed, raped, or silenced for who they love or who they are.” Why does this matter? Because:

• LGBTQ+ persons are still criminalised in 60+ countries.
• Trans people face barriers to legal recognition in many parts of the world.
• Queer refugees are often retraumatised in systems not built for them.
• And far too many policies claim “neutrality” while allowing discrimination to thrive. Over 1,250 civil society organisations from 157 countries and territories stood up to defend this mandate. That’s not activism. That’s a global human rights consensus. This renewal reminds us:
• That States have legal obligations, not optional preferences, to protect queer and gender-diverse people
• That international mechanisms, however imperfect, can hold the line when domestic systems fail
• And that dignity doesn’t belong to the "majority". It belongs to every human being.

As a professional committed to rights-based approaches in law, justice, and public systems, I believe this is more than symbolic. It’s a lifeline for those who are told they don’t belong. It’s also a mirror: How are we doing here at home? In our police stations, hospitals, schools, shelters? Do LGBTQ+ survivors feel safe walking into our systems? If not, then this mandate isn’t just about Geneva. It’s about Jaipur. Jorhat. Jaisalmer. Let’s make rights real. Let’s move from votes to voices to visible change.

Source for above.
Read the July 2025 under resolution 59/5
Learn more about the mandate