Use of legislation to regulate activities of human rights defenders 2012, para. 35

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Paragraph text: The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that the Human Rights Committee has found adult consensual sexual activity in private to be part of a person's privacy, which is protected under article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992, para. 8.2). Laws criminalizing consensual homosexual acts conducted in private violate a person's rights to privacy and to freedom from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, in breach of applicable international human rights law (A/HRC/19/41, para. 41). Defenders working on these issues are advocating human rights standards that are internationally recognized. States should therefore ensure that defenders working to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights can do so in a conducive and open environment without fear of persecution. Given that it is the right of human rights defenders to develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance under article 7 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, it is the responsibility of the State to ensure that its legislation relating to public morals caters to this right and does not compromise the rights of defenders to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of peaceful assembly.

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Reference: SR Human Rights Defenders, Report to the UNGA (2012), A/67/292, para. 35.