A/HRC/38/43
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
11 May 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-eighth session
18 June–6 July 2018
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Independent Expert on protection against
violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and
gender identity
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the first
report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on
sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, submitted pursuant to
Council resolution 32/2.
In the report, the Independent Expert provides an overview of violence and
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Such acts are committed in
all corners of the world, and victims are presumed to be in the millions, every year. These
acts extend from daily exclusion and discrimination to the most heinous acts, including
torture and arbitrary killings. At their root lie the intent to punish the non-conformity of
victims with preconceived notions of what should be their sexual orientation or gender
identity. The Independent Expert highlights how lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender
non-conforming persons are affected differently by these acts and how intersecting factors
have an impact on their vulnerability and on their risk of exclusion and marginalization. He
also examines the link between hate speech and hate crimes, and the role of the media in
amplifying and disseminating messages that reinforce stigma and foster violence and
discrimination.
The Independent Expert also explores the root causes of violence and discrimination
based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including deeply entrenched stigma and
prejudice reinforced by discriminatory laws and regulations that foster a climate where hate
speech, violence and discrimination are condoned and perpetrated with impunity. He
examines the impact of social prejudice and criminalization on the marginalization and
exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans and gender non-conforming persons, and
addresses the issue of the negation of violence and discrimination based on sexual
orientation or gender identity and the resulting data gap, highlighting positive examples of
data-gathering and recent measures taken by States to address violence and discrimination
based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including steps to acknowledge
responsibility as an essential element in the establishment of historical truth, the process of
reparation and the reconstitution of the social fabric.
GE.18-07487(E)