Western Imposition or Knowledge Deficit? The Road of Political Engagement

He pointed out that litigation helped to advance rights, among Commonwealth countries came ‘in a number of courtroom’,..For Example, ‘ in Botswana;[1] Kenya;[2] Malaysia;[3] and Australia… In February 2015, the Supreme Court of Bermuda found in favour of a same-sex couple who complained about their inability jointly to adopt a child whom they were raising together. The Supreme Court of Bermuda held that the case was one of direct discrimination against unmarried couples because of their marriage status and indirect discrimination against them because of sexual orientation… Fiji (lately readmitted to the Commonwealth) adopted constitutional provisions in 2013 prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of ‘sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression’…. A minor amendment was made in Samoa by the Crimes Act 2013 deleting ‘indecency between males’ from the Crimes Ordinance 1961. The same amendment in 2013 removed the previous offence of a ‘male impersonating a woman…’Rwanda where the President terminated a Bill to introduce a sodomy crime saying that it was not part of that country’s legal tradition (which had been Belgian). Similarly Mozambique adopted a new Penal Code in July 2014. This removed a previous provision criminalising same sex sexual conduct even though between consenting adults…The hard work for removal was done by the local legislature after local civil society organisations sought reform, supported by the United Nations.’

Kirby goes on to point out the culture of indifference in the Commonwealth and referred to the efforts of the EPG or Eminent Persons Groups to recommend support for a commissioner. The EPG at the Perth CHOGM  2011, found out,’Effectively, the Secretary-General’s negative opinion torpedoed the proposal for a commissioner.’ When this is placed in context with addressing the political commitment to the rights of L.G.B.T individuals, he reports,

Belize is no different in this regard, the Maya’s of Belize fought for close to 30 years for customary land rights acknowledgement and used the courtroom  as a tool to hold the state accountable for its lack of recognition. It finally succeeded in 2015. The strength and effectiveness of Civil Society,it seems, in using democratic tools like, international systems at the OAS, UN or national and regional courts, seems to be the last bastion of upholding commonwealth values in practice. What is clear is that Civil Society has a clear role in advancing rights, in an environment where political leader lack knowledge about their legal responsibility to their L.G.B.T citizens. This is reflected in in the idea that that L.G.B.T issues is a Western Imposition,despite, constitutions across the commonwealth, which speaks to all citizens rights. For Belize, the education, laws, religion, political system are western concepts that have been adopted already. The laws specifically, were adopted from the British. More precisely, the constitution, does not say fundamental rights extends only to heterosexuals and as such, leaders already have a legal responsibility to protect all their citizens. Regionally, among CARICOM member states political leaders, seems to play on national values, which is self-serving that reflect, the self-interest and personal prejudice of political leaders willing to absolve their legal responsibility. So what makes leaders resist acknowledging their legal responsibilities? Is anyone guess, one can theorize, personal prejudice, never meeting anyone L.G.B.T, being in the closet themselves, self-interest in sustaining personal power, are just some assumptions.  

It was clear, however, that U.N.D.P role is to provide technical assistance, as it maintains a fragile balance of diplomatic relations and supporting civil society in rights engagement in Belize. To have call our government to task, would have disturbed its diplomat standing. Furthermore, in advocacy, one realises that its about timing, strategy, human relations and politics and that getting attention for an issue can be either a cloudy or clear process. 

It is clear to me that L.G.B.T advocates domestic and international is affected by political messages and that we have a responsibility to share strategies to help transform policy norming, development interventions, mechanisms and laws into a process that is accessible, reliable, and helpful in holding national system accountable for the lack of protections that exists. More importantly, international spaces are vital, in leverage political engagements, nationally. This also applies to international spaces that can be used to advance funding targeting areas, policy priorities and development positions on a global scale. In the end, the idea that we can progress with our rights, in societies that are accustom to marginalising groups, is to ignore fundamentally that no society will just acknowledge rights of a marginalised group without opposition.