The United Nations General Assembly on Monday rejected a bid by several African countries, led by Burkina Faso, to suspend the work of the UN's first ever expert dealing with discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The measure was defeated by 77 votes to 84, with 16 abstentions.
Vitit Muntarbhorn, an international law professor from Thailand, was appointed in September with a three-year mandate to investigate cases of discrimination and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people worldwide.
The African Group - which has 54 member countries, making it the largest of the UN's regional groups - argued that there was no legal basis for the expert's mandate and that "there is no international agreement on the definition of the concept of 'sexual orientation and gender identity'." [...]
According to a UN human rights report published last year, at least 76 countries still have anti-gay laws in place. Homosexuality is still illegal in 34 African countries.
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