Celebrating 10 years of the Yogyakarta Principles: What have we learnt and where to now? SESSION 4: CHALLENGES, BARRIERS, LIMITATIONS OF THE YOGYAKARTA PRINCIPLES AND HOW CAN IT BE STRENGTHENED FOR THE FUTURE? Keynote speaker Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG, International Jurist, Educator and former Judge of High Court of Australia Panel members • Jean Chong, Programme Field Coordinator, Outright Action International • Vaialia Iosua, Co-Founder/Former Vice President, Samoa Fa’afafine Association Inc. • Mauro Cabral Grinspan, Executive Director, Global Action for Trans* Equality Moderator Edmund Settle, Policy Advisor, UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub This session was designed to stimulate ideas and discussions about where the opportunities lie for strengthening and supplementing the Yogyakarta Principles. Using the example of the Royal Barge procession of the Thai King, Justice Michael Kirby argued that although going down and facing setbacks is painful, they are often necessary for movement and must be taken as an opportunity to gather momentum. To this effect, the many challenges and defeats in the cause of LGBTI rights in many parts of the world since the adoption of the Yogyakarta Principles should not be reason for reducing down our efforts to achieve equal recognition. He also emphasised that gay people are everywhere from the most ordinary jobs to the most prestigious jobs in many parts of the world, including Australia. The innumerable sacrifices made by LGBTI advocates and people who stand up for the cause of human rights need to be reflected upon. Many individuals have been tortured and murdered in recent years for their work to achieve a more equitable and equal society. Such violence and intolerance are often rooted in unscientific views of human nature, which fails to recognise the diversity of natural ways to express one’s sexual orientation and gender identity. We must all recognise that violence and discrimination are not acceptable against anyone under any circumstance. There are continuing challenges in legal reform in many parts of the world, including the colonial legacy in Commonwealth countries of criminalisation under Section 377. Unfortunately, even today, 42 out of 54 former British colonies have this section in their penal codes and criminalise same sex relations. The level of opposition to establishing the new mandate of the Independent Expert on SOGI was strong, with 78 countries in the 3rd Committee voting against the establishment of the mandate. Similar results were also observed when the issue went to the 5th Committee. Although the Yogyakarta Principles are only repeating the language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNHR) in an LGBTI context, there is still resistance to accept these Principles in that context. Therefore, we need to address issues of stigma and prioritise actions which can be derived from the Principles, always keeping in mind that the fundamental basis of all human rights is love. Drawing attention to the soft law nature of the Principles, Jean Chong provided a brief description of recent LGBTI related court cases and good practice in disseminating the Principles. For example, an Indonesian CSO translated the Principles in a comic book format, which provided a very effective way to reach out to a larger audience. In order to push for the promotion of the Principles to a wider audience, simplifying the concepts and improving access to the practical application of these principles on the ground were identified as essential steps. 16