Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd will call for an end to
the laws criminalising homosexuality at the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in Perth, next week.
This announcement follows intense lobbying of Rudd by LGBTI
activists from the global north and the global south.
Rudd is the host of CHOGM and will have significant influence over
the Commonwealth summit's deliberations.
"Lobbying the Commonwealth is paying off. It is great news.
Australia did not push for decriminalisation at the last
Commonwealth summit, held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009. This
announcement is positive progress," noted Peter Tatchell, Director
of the human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell
Foundation.
"Huge thanks to the many LGBTI groups and individuals from all
over the world who lobbied Kevin Rudd and the Commonwealth
Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma," he added.
Tatchell wrote to Kevin Rudd on 5 September, urging him to ensure
that LGBTI rights are on the official agenda at the Commonwealth
summit.
Rudd responded with a commitment to press for gay law reform
throughout the Commonwealth.
