Monday 9 April 2018 - LGBTI persons and supporters of the community in Trinidad and Tobago came out to represent their views outside  the country's parliament as a response to "fear mongering" from other activists who do not want the government to repeal discriminatory laws against same sex relations.

UN Cares is another way we demonstrate our support for LGBTI equality

The UN Cares programme designed to reduce the impact of HIV on the UN workplace by supporting “universal access” to a comprehensive range of benefits for all UN personnel and their families. These benefits – known as the UN Cares 10 Minimum Standards – include information and education, voluntary counseling and testing, access to male and female condoms, and emergency prevention measures in case of accidental exposure, among others. The Standards also call for increased measures to stop stigma and discrimination. 

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  UN Trinidad and Tobago rolled out its 2017 programme that has a special focus on LGBTI persons . The aim of this segment of the training for staff is create a better understanding on what it means to be LGBTI and to identify some of the invisible or unnoticeable ways that people sometimes practice homophobic and transphobic discrimination; sometimes not even knowing themselves that they are doing that.

learn more about UN Cares

• Protecting LGBTI

  Protecting LGBT people from violence and discrimination does not require the creation of a new set of LGBT-specific rights, nor does it require the establishment of new international human rights standards. The legal obligations of States to safeguard the human rights of LGBT people are well established in international human rights law on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequently agreed international human rights treaties. All people, irrespective of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, are entitled to enjoy the protections provided for by international human rights law, including in respect of rights to life, security of person and privacy, the right to be free from torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to be free from discrimination and the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

  The core legal obligations of States with respect to protecting the human rights of LGBT people include obligations to: 

  • Protect individuals from homophobic and transphobic violence.
  • Prevent torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
  • Repeal laws criminalizing homosexuality and transgender people.
  • Prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • Safeguard freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly for all LGBT people.

  For more information on applicable international human rights standards in this context, please refer to the Born Free and Equal booklet published by OHCHR in September 2012.