UN rights chief warns of a coordinated global rollback of LGBTQ and intersex rights

The useful part

UN human rights chief sounds alarm over 'comprehensive onslaught' against LGBTQ rights Connect with us U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk (Screen capture via UN Human Rights Council/YouTube) Share Tweet UNITED NATIONS — U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday said there is a "comprehensive onslaught" against LGBTQ and intersex rights around the world.

How it works

• Quaye was among the 21 people who Ghanaian authorities arrested in 2021 during a human rights workshop for LGBTQ activists.
• "We know that progress for human rights has never been linear … but today's backlash is deep and it is coordinated and the persecution of LGBTIQ+ people around the world is escalating at an alarming rate,"...
• "We know that across every region, LGBTIQ+ people continue to live and to love in the face of hostility and exclusion," said Türk.
• Türk in his remarks specifically referenced Turkey and Senegal, which further criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations earlier this year.
• Türk noted "more and more candidates and political parties … use bigotry in order to promote anti-LGBTIQ+ sentiments" during election campaigns.

What to take from it

African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of gaps in U.S. Agency for International Development contacts had been cancelled, and the State Department would administer the remaining programs. Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other "life-saving humanitarian assistance" programs to continue to operate during the funding freeze.

Example or evidence

• Continue Reading United Nations UN Human Rights Council extends LGBTQ rights expert's mandate 29 countries voted for resolution Published 1 year ago on July 7, 2025 By Michael K.
• Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2016 headlined the Core Group event that coincided with that year's U.N.
• envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration, and former U.S.
• "The movement for the equal rights of LGBTIQ+ people has much to teach the world, particularly at this moment, but some seek to erase or reject those lessons," said Türk.

Details worth keeping

LGBTI Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of the U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights. "Their rights, safety, well-being are under attack … it's a comprehensive onslaught." The event took place days after Turkish authorities carried out raids in Istanbul and in other cities across the country that targeted the country's LGBTQ community.

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• Hrw: Click to expand Image Demonstrators assemble on September 15, 2026, outside the Istanbul courthouse to protest the arrests of LGBT activists and raids on LGBT rights associations in cities across Türkiye.