Date: Feb 17 2005.

PETER TATCHELL - HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS 2004

Annual Report

There follows a copy of Peter Tatchell’s Annual Report on his human
rights campaigns during 2004 – and previews of some upcoming campaigns
in 2005.

You are free to quote from or reproduce any or all of his Annual
Report.

Also below are details of the fourth annual reception to raise funds
for Peter Tatchell’s human rights work. Please publicise this event.
Book tickets for Tatchell Ball – 14 March 2005
**********************************************

The Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund’s 4th annual Tatchell Ball will
take place at The October Gallery in central London on Monday 14th
March 2005, to raise funds for Peter Tatchell’s human rights work.
Tickets cost £20 (£10 concessions; £35 for two) and include drinks and
refreshments throughout the evening. Send a cheque made out to ‘PTHRF’
for the correct sum to ‘Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund, PO Box
35253, London E1 4YF’, including your name(s), address and a contact
telephone number.

PETER TATCHELL - HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS 2004

Dear PTHRF Supporter,
Greetings and thanks for your solidarity in 2004. Over the last 12
months I have worked on a wide range of human rights issues. Here are
a few of the highlights:

Stop Murder Music
Hailed as the Gay Times ‘Campaign of the Year 2004’, Stop Murder Music
(SMM) challenged the eight reggae singers who advocate the murder of
lesbians and gays. It was part of a broader campaign against
homophobic violence and anti-gay discrimination in Jamaica.
Jamaican activists and OutRage! had lobbied the Jamaican government
for 10 years That strategy did not work. I calculated that targeting
the manifestations of violent homophobia in popular culture could be a
way of bringing gay-bashing attacks in Jamaica to public attention and
putting the Jamaican music industry and government under pressure for
change. Hence the strategy of financial pressure, through concert
cancellations.
Beginning with OutRage! in London, the SMM campaign mobilised 150
local groups in 40 cities in 12 countries. The campaign secured the
cancellation of dozens of concerts in the UK, Europe and the US.
Lobbying the Home Office resulted in some murder music stars being
refused entry into the UK.
Overall, the five-month campaign generated around 5000 newspaper
stories worldwide, raising international awareness of murder music and
gay human rights abuses in Jamaica. SMM prompted the biggest ever
debate on gay issues in Jamaica, throughout the Caribbean and in the
UK black communities – helping to kick start the process of changing
hearts and minds. Clothing giant Puma and six of the biggest sponsors
of Jamaican music responded by announcing they would no longer fund
artists who promote violence. The financial losses caused to the
reggae industry by the SMM campaign (around £5 million) eventually
pressured record companies and promoters to come to an agreement to
end the release of songs advocating homophobic violence.
In parallel with this campaign against the singers, and acting in
concert with gay and human rights groups inside Jamaica, SMM met with
Jamaican government representatives. We urged the repeal of the
anti-sodomy law, or at least a moratorium on prosecutions. Another
proposal was comprehensive hate crimes legislation to protect all
Jamaicans, including gay people; and police training in human rights
to stamp out police brutality against gays - and everyone else. These
proposals are currently under consideration by the Jamaican
government.
I am pleased to say there is now broad support for gay law reform from
human rights groups within Jamaica, including Jamaicans for Justice,
Families Against State Terrorism and the Independent Jamaica Council
for Human Rights. I am honoured to be able to show solidarity with
their courageous demands for an end to homophobic discrimination and
violence.

Asylum campaign
My campaign, in partnership with OutRage!, is geared to highlighting
the illogical and unjust nature of the asylum system. Many refugees
are highly qualified with valuable skills. But they are not allowed to
work (and pay tax). Instead they cost the taxpayer. Forced to depend
on meagre state handouts, they live in semi-destitution. Lots of
genuine refugees are being turned away, sometimes with tragic
consequences. Gay Iranian Israfil Shiri burned himself alive rather
than be deported back to Iran where he would have faced execution by
stoning.
As well as assisting individual Jamaican, Algerian and Zimbabwean
asylum seekers, I am working with the former Home Office Minister,
Barbara Roche MP, to expose the Home Office’s inaccurate country
information reports, which prompt many asylum refusals. I am also
pressing the Home Office to introduce sexuality awareness training for
asylum appeal adjudicators (they don’t have any and it shows in their
frequently bigoted rulings), and for new guidelines on how
adjudicators should assess asylum applications based on sexual
orientation.

Buttiglione’s appointment scuppered
Working with liberal Catholic campaigners, I helped alert the EU to
the far right politics of the prospective Justice and Home Affairs
Commissioner, Italian Rocco Buttiglione. He wanted to ban abortion and
fertility treatment for childless couples. He denounced immigrants,
asylum seekers and Muslims. Buttiglione also condemned homosexuality
as a “sin”, opposed including non-discrimination on the grounds of
sexual orientation in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, and
watered down the EU directive banning discrimination against gays in
the workplace; thereby permitting homophobic discrimination by key
Italian government bodies. His appointment was eventually blocked
(despite a gay Commissioner-designate, Peter Mandelson, defending
him).

MOBOs & Urban Music Awards
The press launches of the Music Of Black Origin and the Urban Music
Awards were picketed. This resulted in murder music singers Elephant
Man and Vybz Kartel being dropped from the MOBOs, and in Beenie Man
and Vybz Kartel being axed from the UMAs. The MOBOs have, to their
credit and our appreciation, given an undertaking that singers
advocating the killing of other human beings will not, in future, be
eligible, for nomination.

Darfur genocide
The UN prevaricated as 50,000 black Africans were massacred in Darfur
by racist Arab Islamists. A further 1.3 million were displaced as
refugees. I helped set up the ad hoc Darfur Solidarity Campaign, and
last December organised a picket of the Sudan Embassy, where we called
for a five-point UN action plan:

* Enforce a no-fly zone over Darfur to halt the Sudanese bombing of
African villages
* Send into Darfur a 15,000-strong peace-keeping force to protect
the civilian population and aid workers, and to
keep the warring factions apart
* Provide food, clothing and shelter to the victims of the
conflict
* Impose sanctions against the Sudanese government leaders and
the leaders of the Janjaweed militia, including
an arms embargo and an assets freeze
* Put the Sudanese and Janjaweed leaders on trial before the
International Criminal Court, on charges of war
crimes and crimes against humanity.

Lesbian & Gay Museum
My proposal for a national Queer Museum to document and display
lesbian and gay history and lives - in Britain and internationally -
was taken up by Green Party member of the London Assembly, Darren
Johnson, and later adopted by Mayor Ken Livingstone. The project is
now being developed by Jack Gilbert and others.

Vatican sabotage of gay rights
Catholic cardinal, Murphy-O’Connor, was confronted during the Palm
Sunday procession at Westminster Cathedral last April, over the way
the Catholic Catechism denounces gay relationships as 'debased',
'disordered' and a 'grave depravity', and in protest at the Vatican’s
role in blocking a UN resolution condemning the persecution of
lesbians and gay men. In Britain, the Catholic Church has protected
paedophile priests, while the Pope has attacked gay marriages as
'evil' and vilified supporters of gay equality as 'gravely immoral'.
He also denounced homosexual equality as a 'deviant trend' and
condemned same-sex relationships as being ‘without any social value’.

Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi
City Hall was picketed in July by a coalition of gay, humanist and
green activists. We were appalled that the Mayor of London had rolled
out the red carpet for a fundamentalist cleric, Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
His books and the website he supervises - IslamOnline - endorse female
genital mutilation, wife beating, execution of gays by Islamic states,
suicide bombing of innocent civilians, and destruction of the Jews. He
also blames – and implicitly approves the punishment of - rape victims
who do not dress with sufficient modesty. Our primary concern was
solidarity with progressive Muslims who reject clerical tyranny, and
with the victims of Islamist repression. One of my projects for 2005
is to work with liberal and left Muslims to help establish a
progressive Muslim alliance to counter the reactionary leadership of
the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain.

Rename Australian capital cities
During my visit to Australia in early 2004, I triggered a debate about
honouring the country’s Aboriginal heritage with my proposal that the
capital cities should be renamed with the original Aboriginal names
for the areas where they now stand. Sydney, for example, would be
renamed Warrung. This initiative follows my long-standing campaigns in
support of Aboriginal land rights and scholarship schemes to educate
and empower the Aboriginal nation.

Solidarity with Palestinian queers
At a Palestine Solidarity protest in May, I teamed up with OutRage!
and the Queer Youth Alliance to back the struggle of the Palestinian
people, and to also urge the Palestinian authorities to halt the
arrest, jailing and torture of gays. We urged: "Israel: stop
persecuting Palestine! Palestine: stop persecuting queers!" This
provoked other protesters to attack us as “racists”, “Zionists”, “CIA
and MI5 agents”, and “supporters of the Sharon government”. The
subsequent global press coverage did a great deal to raise awareness
of the plight of Palestinian lesbians and gays.

Mugabe legal action
My application for an arrest warrant and extradition order against
President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, on charges of torturing two black
Zimbabwean journalists, was rejected by Bow Street Magistrates in
January 2004. Judge Timothy Workman acknowledged that my case was
“most thoroughly and carefully prepared”, but ruled that President
Mugabe, as a serving Head of State, has “absolute immunity” from
arrest and prosecution.
What is the point of having laws against torture if the main abusers –
Heads of State like President Mugabe – are exempt from prosecution? We
may as well tear up the UN Convention Against Torture and throw it in
the bin. It offers no protection or redress to people who are tortured
at the behest of Heads of State. The verdict highlights the urgent
need to reform international human rights law, to end immunity for
Heads of State for crimes against humanity, such as torture.

Challenging Labour’s blocking of queer equality

Much of my campaigning in the last year has addressed government
failings on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues.
Labour has enacted several very welcome and positive reforms, such as
equalising the age of consent and ending the ban on gays in the
military. But these progressive changes are no excuse for the
government’s current backing of homophobic discrimination in 10 key
policy areas:

1. Labour says it is acceptable for charities to discriminate against
LGBTs (and against Muslims, people with HIV and others). It is
refusing to amend the draft Charities Bill to make equal opportunities
for everyone a condition of charitable status.

2. Labour wants to create a new Commission for Equality & Human
Rights. It will place a legal duty on public bodies to combat
discrimination based on race, gender and disability - but not
discrimination based on sexual orientation. As a result, local
councils and other public bodies will remain free to do nothing to
tackle homophobic prejudice, harassment and violence.

3. Labour backs the ban on same-sex marriage. It supports a system of
sexual apartheid, whereby gays are banned from marriage (homophobia)
and straights are banned from civil partnerships (heterophobia). This
two-tiered system of partnership law is not equality. It perpetuates
and extends discrimination.

4. Labour is refusing asylum to LGBTs who have been jailed, tortured
and raped in countries like Jamaica, Iran, Algeria and Zimbabwe. The
Home Office says they won’t be at risk of arrest and murder if they
are sent back home, hide their sexuality and behave with
“discretion”.

5. Labour allows homophobic reggae singers to openly advocate the
murder of LGBTs, and it permits record stores and radio stations to
promote CDs inciting homophobic violence.

6. Labour has exempted religious bodies from the new laws against
homophobic discrimination in the workplace. This means religious-run
institutions - such as schools, hospitals, care homes and hospices -
are free to discriminate against LGBT employees.

7. Labour has failed to ensure that sex education and Aids advice
lessons address the specific needs of young lesbians and gays. This
failure is particularly serious when it comes to safer-sex information
for teenagers in same-sex relationships. It is putting their welfare
and lives at risk.

8. Labour is enacting a new law against incitement to religious
hatred, but it refuses to pass a law prohibiting incitement to
homophobic hatred. Double standards, yet again.

9. Labour has rejected calls for laws against homophobic
discrimination in the provision of goods and services, such as housing
and insurance, and in hotels, bars, restaurants and other leisure
facilities. This means that such discrimination remains lawful by
default.

10. Labour vetoed the inclusion of education against homophobia in the
National Curriculum Religious Education Guidelines. While all other
forms of discrimination are addressed in the Guidelines, Labour bowed
to pressure from religious fundamentalists to exclude understanding
and acceptance of LGBT people.

These are ten instances where Labour has had an opportunity to
overturn homophobia, but chose to maintain discrimination. The
government talks about equality, but sometimes fails to deliver.
Seeking reform in these ten policy areas will be a focus of my
campaigning in 2005.

Campaign aims, strategies, methods and priorities

The aim of my human rights work is to encourage awareness, promotion
and enforcement of UK and international human rights laws, in order to
challenge prejudice, discrimination, violence, repression and
injustice – mostly within the UK, but sometimes abroad as well.

The human rights laws that guide my campaigns include the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights 1948, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights 1966, the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights 1966, the European Convention on Human
Rights 1950, the Genocide Convention 1948, the Geneva Conventions
1949, the Torture Convention 1984, and the Human Rights Act 1998.

All my human rights work is based on the principle of solidarity with
the victims of oppression, and support for their struggle for justice
and liberation. The Stop Murder Music campaign, for instance, involves
solidarity with, and support for, Jamaican gay and human rights
groups.

I sometimes cooperate with groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International. They do valuable work, but to maintain their influence
with governments they cannot take direct action, such as attempting to
arrest tyrannical Presidents like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. That is
where my campaigns are useful. Being independent, I can do some of the
things that Amnesty and HRW cannot.

Rather than duplicate the campaigns of other organisations, I focus
mainly on human rights abuses that are either neglected or are not
being robustly challenged. Three good examples are the campaigns to
support the victims of Islamist repression in Algeria, to assist the
black freedom struggle in West Papua, and to back lesbian and gay
asylum-seekers who have fled homophobic persecution. I have made these
issues recent campaign priorities because they are largely ignored by
other activists.

I work mainly via ad hoc campaigns, like the 2004 Darfur Solidarity
Campaign. These bring together people from diverse backgrounds who are
committed to action on a particular issue. This independent, ad hoc
structure frees us from the constraints of the laborious
decision-making procedures of established organisations. It gives the
freedom and flexibility to do what is needed to tackle an issue fast,
including taking political risks that mainstream human rights groups
prefer to avoid.

I see my campaigns as being part of a bigger, broader movement. I am
just one of millions of people who are working for a fairer, more just
world. It is through our collective, cumulative efforts that universal
human rights will be achieved.

Thank you from Peter Tatchell

I am immensely grateful to everyone who supported my human rights
campaigns in 2004. Your generosity and solidarity is much appreciated.
Without this support, my campaign effectiveness would be greatly
diminished. I look forward to seeing you at the PTHRF annual reception
on 14 March. Warmest wishes, Peter Tatchell – www.petertatchell.net

Contact Us

Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund, PO Box 35253, London E1 4YF
www.tatchellrightsfund.org and  info@tatchellrightsfund.org





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