GIN-SSOGIE Secretariat, in the pursuit of GIN’s objectives to promote pro-LGBTI voices of faith in order to impact messaging, policies, and legislation within governmental and human rights bodies, made it possible for one of its Program Managers, Thomas Ndayiragije, to attend the NGO forum preceding the 60th ordinary session of the Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).
The ACHPR is an important African human rights mechanism that has recently taken a positive stand on LGBTI rights against all odds on the continent through its historic 2014 resolution 275 on protection against violence and other human rights violations against persons on the basis of their real or imputed sexual orientation or gender identity .
The ACHPR offers an avenue for GIN to compliment other efforts led by LGBT activists and allies on the continent by introducing and using faith and religion components that have been in the past, the source of many human rights violations. GIN explores positive interpretation of scriptures and use it to undo harms and human rights violations inspired by past wrong interpretation and application.
GIN Secretariat is currently programming for the creation of a Speakers’ Bureau made of LGBT Activists and Allies who are comfortable to speak from the conviction of their faith to participate in the spaces of power such as the UN or at various regional human rights bodies in all the regions of GIN such as the Arab Human Rights Committee, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights ,the European Committee of Social Rights; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights .
