Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions The Being LGBT in Asia country reports from Cambodia and Viet Nam described case studies of [lesbian, gay and bisexual] people sent to traditional healers to ‘cure’ their homosexuality or forced to receive psychiatric treatment intended to convert them to heterosexuality.138 Participants at the regional dialogue from India and Malaysia also raised concerns regarding ‘conversion therapy’. The China country report noted that “many mental health practitioners, often pushed by the families of [lesbian, gay and bisexual] people, recommend or impose ‘corrective treatment’ on [lesbian, gay and bisexual] people, sometimes involving involuntary committal to psychiatric hospital wards.”139 The Indonesia report refers to a regulation of the Ministry of Social Affairs that authorizes welfare authorities to round up people whose sexual behaviour is considered to cause them to be unable to function socially (including … gay men and lesbians) for the purposes of ‘rehabilitation’ and integration into society.140 These practices are discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation because a heterosexual person would not be subjected to them. Medical experts, including psychiatric experts, now accept that homosexuality or same-sex attraction is not an illness and should not be treated as an illness. Those who are subjected to so-called ‘curative’ therapies for their same-sex attraction are subjected to treatment to which people attracted to the opposite sex would not be subjected. Further, ‘conversion’ therapies are now accepted to ‘have no scientific basis and are rejected by medical authorities’.141 Being LGBT in Asia also identified the specific health care needs of lesbians and bisexual women: Lesbian and bisexual women experience health inequalities, largely related to experiences of discrimination and homophobia. These issues can lead to avoidance of routine healthcare and screening and reduced disclosure of sexual orientation within consultations. … It is apparent that lesbian women’s health issues are systematically ignored and there is a clear need for further research to inform improved understanding of health needs and appropriate approaches to service delivery. Lesbian and bisexual women have specific healthcare needs in areas of sexual and cervical health, reproductive health and parenting, mental health, substance use, and ageing.142 In relation to family and community, the High Commissioner for Human Rights has noted that State obligation extends to protection from human rights violations, including from violations by non-State actors. Failure to ensure the same protection to lesbian, gay and bisexual people as is provided to other people is discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Rejection, discriminatory treatment and violence by family members can have serious, negative consequences for the enjoyment of human rights. Examples include individuals being physically assaulted, raped, excluded from family homes, disinherited, prevented from going to school, sent to psychiatric institutions, forced to marry, forced to give up custody of their children, punished for activist work and subjected to attacks on personal reputation. In States where homosexuality is criminalized, victims may be reluctant to report violence perpetrated by a family member for fear of the criminal ramifications of revealing their sexual orientation.143 40 138 UNDP and USAID, Being LGBT in Asia: Cambodia Country Report, p. 50; and UNDP, Being LGBT in Asia: Viet Nam Country Report, p. 29. 139 UNDP and USAID, Being LGBT in Asia: Country Report China, p. 10. 140 Regulation of the Ministry of Social Affairs No. 8/2012. See UNDP and USAID, Being LGBT in Asia: Indonesia Country Report, p. 9. 141 UNDP, Leave no one behind: Advancing social, economic, cultural, and political inclusion of LGBTI people in Asia and the Pacific, 2016 forthcoming, referencing J. Serovich, S. Craft, P. Toviessi, R. Gangamma, T McDowell and E. Grafsky, ‘A Systematic Review of the Research Base on Sexual Reorientation Therapies’ in Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 34(2), 227–238; American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation, Report of the Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. 142 UNDP, Leave no one behind: Advancing social, economic, cultural, and political inclusion of LGBTI people in Asia and the Pacific, 2016 forthcoming. 143 High Commissioner for Human Rights, Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, 4 May 2015, A/HRC/29/23, para. 66, referring to A/68/290, para. 38, A/HRC/20/16/Add.4, para 20, A/HRC/22/56, para. 70 and A/HRC/26/38/Add.1, para 19.