A/79/151 garner political support are often amplified during election campaigns. 46 “Particularly during times of political transitions, in highly polarized discourse regarding national identity, gender stereotypes can be magnified”, 47 leading to intensified violence and discrimination against women and LGBT individuals in the name of upholding these patriarchal norms. IV. Suffrage rights 16. Matters of private sexual conduct that have been determined under international law to be protected under the human rights to privacy and non-discrimination 48 should not be used to restrict citizens’ rights to take part in the conduct of public affairs, or to vote and be elected. Eligible electoral participants, whether voters or candidates, “may not be suspended or excluded except on grounds which are establis hed by law and which are objective and reasonable”. 49 A. Right to vote 17. Disenfranchisement is today only formally directed by law for a few enumerated statuses, variably across jurisdictions: age, non-citizenship, foreign residency and conviction for specific crimes. Some of these limitations specifically and disproportionately affect LGBT persons, for example, through unjust criminal conviction under discriminatory laws. Moreover, disenfranchisement frequently arises informally as an outcome of other limitations, including, for example, restrictive identification procedures or voting requirements that disproportionately impact trans and non-binary persons. 50 Worldwide, 62 countries criminalize consensual same-sex intimacy. A criminal conviction in countries that prosecute same-sex relations would mean automatic disenfranchisement in several countries. 51 Disenfranchisement based on criminal conviction, in particular the discriminatory operation of criminal law targeting same-sex conduct, the exchange of sex for money, sex outside of marriage, gender identity or sexual expression, 52 is against international human rights principles. Disenfranchisement based on criminal conviction is reported to disproportionally affect LGBT persons. 53 Fear of discrimination among LGBT voters, which inhibits voting, has disproportionately affected women from racial minorities in the United States. 54 18. The most commonly reported limitation of suffrage based on a voter’s gender identity is linked to difficulties in obtaining accurate identification documents __________________ 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 8/25 A/HRC/20/28, para. 27; and submission by Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS, pp. 2 and 3. A/HRC/23/50, para. 72. See CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 25, para. 4. See O’Neill and others, “The potential impact of voter identification laws” (see footnote 5); Colombia, Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil, “Protocolo de atención de las personas trans” (2023); and Abdul Qadir Sediqi and Storay Karimi, “Afghan women fear mandatory poll photos could stop them from voting”, Reuters, 25 September 2019. Submission by the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria. See CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation. No. 35 (2017); A/HRC/WG.11/39/1; International Commission of Jurists, “The 8 March Principles for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law Proscribing Conduct Associated with Sex, Reproduction, Drug Use, HIV, Homelessness and Poverty” (Geneva, 2023); and Amnesty International, Body Politics: A Primer on Criminalization of Sexuality and Reproduction (London, 2018). Submission by the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, p. 3. Submission by Human Rights Campaign, p. 4. See also Courtney Avant, Banned from the Ballot Box: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws on LBTQ Women of Color (Washington D.C, Human Rights Campaign, 2020). 24-12964