Celebrating 10 years of the Yogyakarta Principles: What have we learnt and where to now?
of the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to sexual
orientation and gender identity in 2006. Recently, he was on the Being LGBTI in Asia Regional Advisory
Board. He is the author of many publications on human rights issues, including sexual orientation and
gender identity.
Arvind Narrain
Geneva Director of Arc International
Arvind is the Geneva Director of Arc International which advocates for the right to be free from violence
and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status at the level of
international law and policy. Prior to being at Arc, Arvind was a founding member of the Alternative Law
Forum in Bangalore, India which is a human rights lawyering collective and where he worked from 2002
to 2014.
Karen S Gomez-Dumpit
Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights, Philippines
Karen was appointed as Commissioner to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Human Rights in
June of 2015 and will serve until 2022. In government service twenty-five years, Karen has worked at the
CHR since September of 1993 when she joined the Office of Chairperson Ordoñez. In 1994 she became
the first Director of the CHR’s Child Right’s Center (CRC). That same year, Karen earned her first Masters
in Public Management from the Development Academy of the Philippines. After nine years with the CRC,
Karen went on to serve as Director of the Government Linkages Office where she was the CHR’s Focal
Person on Human Rights Defenders, Older Persons, Migrant Workers (from 2004 to 2009) and was the
Focal Person in the Community Based Dialogues Project with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP),
Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocate (PAHRA), Hanns Seidel
Foundation and Ninoy & Cory Aquino Foundation. A Career Executive Service Office Rank IV since 1998,
Karen earned her second Master of Science in Human Rights from the London School Economics and
Political Science in 2004. She also was the member of various Legislative Technical Working Groups
including R.A. 9346: An Act Prohibiting the Imposition of the Death Penalty and R.A. 9745: Anti Torture
Law among others. She also took the lead in several human rights campaigns on issues such as those
relating to Children in Situations of Armed Conflict and Children in Conflict with the Law. Between 2007
and 2012, Karen has authored several papers on various rights issues the most recent of which is the
‘Application of the Human Rights Based Approach: An NHRI Perspective’. Karen’s areas of specialisation
are non-discrimination, right to life, restorative justice, human rights based approaches to governance,
child rights, persons with disabilities, persons deprived of liberty, migrant workers, human rights
defenders, rights of older persons and LGBT’s.
Sunil Babu Pant
Former Member of Parliament and Founder of the Blue Diamond Society
Sunil the first openly gay politician (Member of Parliament and Constituent assembly from 2008–12) in
Nepal, and the head of the Blue Diamond Society (BDS) – the only gay rights group in Nepal. The NGO
works on human rights, sexual health and HIV/AIDS for sexual/gender minorities in Nepal. Further, Sunil
conducted a study on the reasons, extent and impact of social exclusion of sexual minorities in Nepal,
which resulted in a report in 2005. He has also trained Nepalese media on LGBTI issues over the past 8
years, as well as conducted sensitisation trainings for police and security forces in Nepal. Sunil and BDS
also offer training to local activists and organisations in order to strengthen their capacity to document
human rights abuses and conduct successful advocacy campaigns. Sunil is also one the 29 experts who
formulated Yogyakarta Principles. Challenges, Barriers, Limitations of the Yogyakarta Principles; and How
Can it be Strengthened for the Future?
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