The United Nations has issued a new set of stamps promoting LGBT rights.
It’s a little known fact that the body has its own postal service, which issues postage stamps and stationery, in the three main United Nations offices around the world.
The United Nations Postal Administration this week unveiled a new set of stamps – and they’re dedicated to equality, in collaboration with the UN’s Free & Equal Campaign.
The stamp’s feature artistic representations of LGBT people – with same-sex couples, a butterfly representing transitioning gender, and a person who is half-red, half-white, possibly representing bisexuality or intersex people.
A statement explains: “On 5 February 2016, the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) will issue a set of six commemorative stamps to promote the UN Free & Equal campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality.
“The new stamps, which celebrate the diversity of the LGBT community, mark the first time that the UNPA has issued stamps with an LGBT theme.”
It adds: “An initiative of the UN Human Rights Office, Free & Equal is a global public education campaign dedicated to raising awareness of homophobic and transphobic violence and discrimination globally.
“Since its launch, the campaign has generated a stream of popular content and engaged millions of people in an effort to promote the fair treatment of LGBT people and generate support for measures to protect their rights.”
The UN affirms that equality is a “fundamental principle of human rights” and that all countries “have a legal duty to promote and protect the human rights of all”.
However, some countries still openly defy the body on the issue, with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe shouting ‘We are not gays!’ in a UN speech last year.
The UN recently launched its global goals as a series of ‘ambitious targets’ for its 193 member states related to poverty, equality and ending climate change – but overt references to LGBT equality were stripped out of the final agreement after pressure.
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