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The Protection of LGBT+ rights in International Criminal Law

Olofson, Adam LU (2020) JURM02 20201
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Sexual and gender minorities have historically and globally been vulnerable to persecutory and discriminatory acts. Today, sixty-eight United Nations member states criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct and nine states expressively criminalize the gender identity/expression of transgender people. These discriminatory laws are exposing millions of individuals to the risk of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. In at least five of these states, LGBT+ conduct is punishable by death.

The legal persecution of LGBT+ people violates international human rights law. However, there remains a debate whether the rights of LGBT+ people are equally protected under international criminal law. It is a controversial and highly... (More)
Sexual and gender minorities have historically and globally been vulnerable to persecutory and discriminatory acts. Today, sixty-eight United Nations member states criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct and nine states expressively criminalize the gender identity/expression of transgender people. These discriminatory laws are exposing millions of individuals to the risk of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. In at least five of these states, LGBT+ conduct is punishable by death.

The legal persecution of LGBT+ people violates international human rights law. However, there remains a debate whether the rights of LGBT+ people are equally protected under international criminal law. It is a controversial and highly debated issue if the criminalization of LGBT+ people can be considered a crime against humanity of persecution under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.

This thesis examines if LGBT+ people can be considered a protected group under Article 7(1)(h) and thus internationally protected from legal persecution. The research is conducted through a critical examination of a number of arguments arguing for the inclusion of LGBT+ people under the three different protected grounds of “gender”, “political” and “other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law”. Additionally, with a purpose of assessing and furthering the rights of all LGBT+ people in international criminal law, the examined arguments are analysed from a queer critical perspective.

The thesis concludes that there are valid and strong arguments for the inclusion of some LGBT+ people under all of the examined protected grounds in Article 7(1)(h). However, as revealed through the queer critical analysis, the protection of all LGBT+ people, especially non-binary people and intersex, remains dubious. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Historiskt och globalt har sexuella minoriteter och könsminoriteter varit utsatta för förföljelse och diskriminering. Idag är samtyckliga sexuella handlingar mellan personer av samma kön kriminaliserat i sextioåtta av FN:s medlemsstater och ytterligare nio stater kriminaliserar uttryckligen könsidentiteten eller könsuttrycket hos transpersoner. Dessa diskriminerande lagar utsätter miljoner människor världen över för godtyckliga arresteringar, åtal, och fängelsestraff. I minst fem av dessa stater är hbtq-kodat beteende förlagt med dödstraff.

Legal förföljelse av hbtq-personer bryter mot de internationella mänskliga rättigheterna. Dock kvarstår en debatt om hbtq-personer är lika skyddade under den internationell straffrätten. Huruvida... (More)
Historiskt och globalt har sexuella minoriteter och könsminoriteter varit utsatta för förföljelse och diskriminering. Idag är samtyckliga sexuella handlingar mellan personer av samma kön kriminaliserat i sextioåtta av FN:s medlemsstater och ytterligare nio stater kriminaliserar uttryckligen könsidentiteten eller könsuttrycket hos transpersoner. Dessa diskriminerande lagar utsätter miljoner människor världen över för godtyckliga arresteringar, åtal, och fängelsestraff. I minst fem av dessa stater är hbtq-kodat beteende förlagt med dödstraff.

Legal förföljelse av hbtq-personer bryter mot de internationella mänskliga rättigheterna. Dock kvarstår en debatt om hbtq-personer är lika skyddade under den internationell straffrätten. Huruvida kriminaliseringen av hbtq-personer utgör ett brott mot mänskligheten i form av förföljelse under artikel 7(1)(h) av Romstadgan är en kontroversiell och vida debatterad fråga.

I detta examensarbete undersöks om hbtq-personer kan anses utgöra en skyddad grupp under artikel 7(1)(h) av Romstadgan och således skyddade under den internationella straffrätten från legal förföljelse. Undersökningen är genomförd genom en kritisk granskning av ett antal argument som argumenterar för inkluderandet av hbtq-personer under de tre skyddade grunderna: ”genusmässiga”, ”politiska” och ”andra skäl som universellt är erkända som otillåtna enligt folkrätten”. Ytterligare, med ett syfte att bedöma och främja rättigheterna för alla hbtq-personer, analyseras argumenten utifrån ett kritiskt queerperspektiv.

I examensarbetet dras slutsatsen att det finns grundade och giltiga argument för inkluderingen av vissa hbtq-personer under alla de undersökta grunderna i artikel 7(1)(h). Dock klargör den kritiska queeranalysen att situationen gällande skyddet för alla hbtq-personer, särskilt för icke-binära och intersexpersoner, kvarstår tvetydlig och betänklig. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Olofson, Adam LU
supervisor
organization
course
JURM02 20201
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Folkrätt, Public International Law, Queer Law, Queer critical Theory, Crimes against humanity, Persecution, International Criminal Law
language
English
id
9011007
date added to LUP
2020-06-16 10:54:08
date last changed
2020-06-16 10:54:08
@misc{9011007,
  abstract     = {{Sexual and gender minorities have historically and globally been vulnerable to persecutory and discriminatory acts. Today, sixty-eight United Nations member states criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct and nine states expressively criminalize the gender identity/expression of transgender people. These discriminatory laws are exposing millions of individuals to the risk of arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment. In at least five of these states, LGBT+ conduct is punishable by death. 

The legal persecution of LGBT+ people violates international human rights law. However, there remains a debate whether the rights of LGBT+ people are equally protected under international criminal law. It is a controversial and highly debated issue if the criminalization of LGBT+ people can be considered a crime against humanity of persecution under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute. 

This thesis examines if LGBT+ people can be considered a protected group under Article 7(1)(h) and thus internationally protected from legal persecution. The research is conducted through a critical examination of a number of arguments arguing for the inclusion of LGBT+ people under the three different protected grounds of “gender”, “political” and “other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law”. Additionally, with a purpose of assessing and furthering the rights of all LGBT+ people in international criminal law, the examined arguments are analysed from a queer critical perspective. 

The thesis concludes that there are valid and strong arguments for the inclusion of some LGBT+ people under all of the examined protected grounds in Article 7(1)(h). However, as revealed through the queer critical analysis, the protection of all LGBT+ people, especially non-binary people and intersex, remains dubious.}},
  author       = {{Olofson, Adam}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Protection of LGBT+ rights in International Criminal Law}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}