Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, Head of the EU Delegation

Ambassador Hedda Samson, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation

Emilie Kneip, EU Delegation Trainee

Emilie: Hi Ambassadors, these are for you.

Ambassador Lambrinidis : Hi Emilie. Thank you very much.

Emilie: Thank you.

Emilie: Did you know that May 17^th is the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia?

Ambassador Lambrinidis: Absolutely, it’s IDAHOT in fact. A very important job as EU Ambassador to the United Nations is to promote human rights of everyone, including, of course, of LGBTQI persons. This is in the European Union’s DNA. These are fundamental norms at the EU: equality and non-discrimination. LGBTQI people, like everyone else, deserve the exact same rights. They’re not asking for additional rights, just the exact same rights as anyone else to achieve their own human dignity and equality.

Emilie: Well, that’s wonderful. So, how does the EU promote LGBTQI+ issues?

Ambassador Samson: Well, we do in several ways. We do it internally within the EU so in the Member States, we have EU policies in place against discrimination against LGBTQI people and it concerns the labour market, it concerns the workforce, so that’s something where we are very active, and we expect our Member States to follow through to enforce those rights. Also externally, the EU has human rights dialogues with third countries where we raise this topic of equality, and our Member States do so too. So it’s at different levels where we are very active, including here at the UN.

Emilie: Wonderful, but I do wonder: Has the EU faced increased opposition to include the protection of all human rights in UN resolutions?

Ambassador Lambrindis: Yes, unfortunately we have. Not by huge numbers of countries, but some have, and what we always tell them is two things: First, the UN Declaration on Human Rights is entirely clear: Every human being is born free and equal in dignity and rights. Every human being! And when some people tell us: ‘You know what? In our country, people don’t like gay people. Why are you poisoning the well of this discussion?’ My answer is: ‘You know what? Human rights are not for the people who are like me or the people I like. Human rights are for everyone. And if you open the door to discriminate against people you don’t like because you’re in the majority in some issue. You will absolutely find yourself in the minority in some other issue, and you will be discriminated against as well. So instead of having that conversation, let’s join hands at the UN as well to make sure that every human being, including LGBTQI persons enjoy their dignity and rights like everyone else.

Emilie: Well, then I guess it’s great this year’s IDAHOT calls for unity. We can only fight injustice through solidarity across the world.

Ambassador Lambrinidis: Absolutely! I think that both of us are very happy that an excellent intern of ours is passing that message along.

Thank you, thank you!