September 29th,
2009 by Hilary
White
In an interview
prior to his first address, the UN General Assembly’s new president said that
homosexuality is “not really acceptable.”
Ali Abdussalam
Treki, a veteran diplomat from Libya, was responding to a journalist’s question
about his position on the UN’s “Declaration for the Universal Decriminalisation
of Homosexuality” at a press conference prior to the opening of the 64th session
of the General Assembly.
“It is a very
thorny argument,” he said. “As a Muslim, I do not agree with it. My opinion is
not in favor of this matter at all.
“I believe it
is not acceptable for most of the world, and it is totally unacceptable for our
tradition and religion. And there are some countries that allow that, thinking
it is a kind of democracy … I think it is not,” he added.
The response of
the international homosexualist movement was swift, with one group saying that
Treki’s comment was contrary to the principles of the founding Charter of the
United Nations. The International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA), one of
the leading international homosexualist lobby groups, this week issued a
statement demanding an explanation from Treki for his “failure to consider the
protection of the life and safety of lesbians, gay men, trans, intersex and
bisexual people all over the world.”
ILGA continued:
“The worrying and serious implications of this attitude, coming from the new
head of an institution which is supposed to regard human rights - all human
rights - as the most sacred value, cannot be overstated.”
The UN
declaration was opposed by a group of Arab countries and was signed only by a
total of 66 of the UN’s 192 member states, including all 27 European Union
members as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. Until
the election of Barack Obama as president, the US was the only western country
that had refused to sign.
Late last year,
the Vatican’s representative at the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, told a
French news agency that those opposed to the declaration were concerned that it
would place even more pressure on countries to adopt or expand same-sex
“marriage” or civil unions and would generally fuel the movement to normalize
homosexuality.
“States which
do not recognize same-sex unions as ‘matrimony’ will be pilloried and made an
object of pressure,” he said.