Graphic showing an image icon

Marking International Human Rights Day and the 20th Anniversary of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr Greg Ussher, METRO Acting Chief Executive said:

Today on Human Rights Day we celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and consider how far we have come to realise its promise of recognising and honouring the human rights of every member of our global community.

It is clear that there is still a long road to travel to full respect for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. It is only as recently as 2008 that any resolution supporting LGBT rights was discussed at the UN - that resolution remains open and is unsupported by 46 countries and opposed by 54. We have to recognise that progress has been made but all too slowly in many countries, not at all in others and as recent developments in Russia demonstrate, the tide of human rights progress can turn back all too quickly. In the UK progress has been relatively fast, particularly in recent years and we are thankful for it.

In the new year we will be launching findings from our Youth Chancesresearch into the experiences of young LGBTQ 16-25 year olds across England. Our findings reveal that despite domestic progress, discrimination and disadvantage remains high and is impacting significantly on their life chances. We need more progress, more quickly to mitigate the impact and to ensure that another generation does not feel less important, less valid, less human. On this Human Rights Day let's commit to doing what we can wherever we are in the world to make that progress towards the full expression of human rights for everyone.

Notes:

  1. Find out more about Human Rights Day here
  2. Youth Chances is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and is led by METRO in partnership with the University of Greenwich and Ergo Consulting. It is a five year social research project working directly with individuals, providers and commissioners to influence service provision and policy for 16-25 year old LGBTQ youth.www.youthchances.org