The Yogyakarta Alliance

 

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The Yogyakarta-Alliance is a civil society forum whose aim is to contribute to a German foreign policy and development cooperation that are inclusive of the concerns of lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people (LGBTI). The Yogyakarta-Alliance is an open network. It publishes policy papers and works toward challenging German development cooperation and foreign policy to raise awareness of the often, extremely precarious situations LGBTI people have to live in. One of the basic demands of the Yogyakarta Alliance is for German development cooperation and foreign policy to have an LGBTI inclusion plan.

The Yogyakarta-Alliance was founded in 2012 following an initiative of Dreilinden, Hirschfeld-Eddy-Foundation, and TransInterQueer (TrIQ). Additional founding members include Discover Football and the German section of Amnesty International queeramnesty.

The name refers to the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta where international experts gathered in 2006 to draft the Yogyakarta-Principles. The Principles are an application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) and outline  what has to be done to guarantee full enjoyment of human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt) people.
If you have an interest in helping promote the rights of LGBTI people, you are welcome to get in touch and join us.

Members of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are welcome to join us as well as committed individuals of all backgrounds.We would especially like to encourage members of faith based organizations in the cooperative development cooperation, of migrant and diasporic organisations based here in Germany to join the Yogyakarta-Alliance. We meet in person at regular intervals in Berlin.

If you need more information or would like to attend one of our meetings, please don´t hesitate to contact Sarah Kohrt, Platform LGBTI-rights at Hirschfeld-Eddy-Foundation and the Yogyakarta-Alliance´s coordinator.

About the Yogyakarta-Alliance

  • Do something – Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation and Yogyakarta Alliance urge key steps toward implementing the LGBTI Inclusion Strategy blog article, November 2022
     
  • The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) must set up a project group to implement the LGBTI inclusion plan! The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation, Dreilinden organization and filia women’s foundation call on the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to set up a project group to implement the LGBTI inclusion plan. Press release, November 2021
     
  • Finally! The German government approves an LGBTI inclusion plan for foreign policy and development cooperation (blog article April 2021)
     
  • 3 March 2021 the adopts the “LGBTI inclusion strategy to promote the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) in foreign policy and development cooperation”. The strategy is published on the Website of the Federal Foreign Office in German and an English translation. It was drafted in response to Demands of Civil Society Organisations, read more in this blog article (Jan 2021)
     
  • Guest Article for the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation´s blog: "The Yogyakarta Alliance: A Postcolonial League" - Development work needs postcolonial impulses.
     
  • One of the basic demands of the Yogyakarta Alliance is for German development cooperation and foreign policy to have an SOGI inclusion plan. The German Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have now announced they will produce an “LGBTIQ* Inclusion Plan for Foreign Policy and Development Cooperation”, with input from civil society. The Yogyakarta Alliance will be critically monitoring and constructively contributing to this process. Here is the first draft of our list of requirements for the Inclusion Plan in German: 13-Point-Plan
     
  • International conference at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, 1 June 2017: Time to react – Creating an enabling environment for civil society
    Conference Program and Blog articles
  • Blog: Equal footing? The Yogyakarta Alliance: A postcolonial course of action (may 2016)
     
  • Do no harm but do something!
    Proposed title by Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung for a LGBTI inclusion concept in April 2012,
    cf. Sauer, Arn: Bilateral agencies mapping study (2013), page 15.
     

Relevant documents on protecting LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) human rights

  • Guide to inclusion of LGBTI people in development and foreign policy, OutRight Action International, New York 2021.
  • Madrigal-Borloz, Victor, UN OHCHR: Report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, United Nations General Assembly, seventy-fifth session, Report A/75/258, New York, 28 July 2020.

  • Victor Madrigal-Borloz, UN independent Expert on SOGI presents his third report at the UN General Assembly in Oct 2019 after the mandate has been renewed at the UN-Human Rights Council in July 2019
  • The Role of the United Nations in Combatting Discrimination and Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People, A Programmatic Overview, 19 June 2018 Download here
  • June 2017: UN-SOGI-expert Vitit Muntarbhorn publishes his first two reports to the Human Rights Council (June 2017) and to the General Assembly (October 2017). Victor Madrigal-Borloz is his successor and publishes his first report in May 2018.
     
  • June 2016: The UN Human Rights Council adopted the resolution "Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, and gender identity" to mandate the appointment of an Independent Expert on the subject.
     
  • September 2015: 12 United Nations entities called on States to act urgently to end violence and discrimination against LGBTI people.
     
  • May 2015: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released the report "Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity" (A/HRC/29/23), a second and updated version of the 2011 report (A/HRC/19/41).
     
  • September 2014: The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted the resolution “Human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity” introduced by Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay. Among other things, this resolution requested an update to the A/HRC/19/41 report of 2011.
     
  • October 2013: The Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) released a 9-page publication entitled “Sexual orientation and gender identity as human rights issues in development cooperation”, which provides a very good overview as well as many links and examples.
     
  • June 2013: The EU adopted the LGBTI Guidelines, a 20-page document instructing officials of EU institutions around the world and EU member states to promote and protect the human rights of LGBTI persons.
     
  • November 2011: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released the report “Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity” (A/HRC/19/41).
     
  • June 2011: The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted its first resolution on human rights, sexual orientation, and gender identity, introduced by South Africa.
     
  • In 2006, in response to well-documented patterns of abuse, a distinguished group of international human rights experts met in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to outline the Yogyakarta Principles. They are a set of international human rights principles relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.