Since 2011, the Human Dignity Trust has worked with LGBT activists and lawyers in 18 different jurisdictions to challenge laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity. We provide expert assistance to ongoing, prospective and concluded legal cases.
You can find us working on key cases in these regions.
We support court cases that:
- Decriminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity;
- Uphold freedom of association rights for LGBT people;
- Ensure that constitutional protections against discrimination include discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and/or gender identity;
- Challenge degrading treatment of LGBT people such as the use of forced medical examinations.
We draw on our global experience in international law and comparative constitutional law to assess cases using a rigorous assessment tool that analyses over 20 relevant factors. Alongside our legal strategy, we work with local activists to design local media and public information campaigns to dispel myths around LGBT people and manage the sensitive public debates around litigation. Our work is highly sensitive and rarely made public, in order to protect local activists and lawyers.
As an illustration of our work, the Human Dignity Trust has publicly provided support in the following cases:
- Belize:Â A Constitutional Challenge to the Laws Criminalising Homosexuality
- Eastern Caribbean: Constitutional Challenges to Laws Criminalising Same-sex Activity
- European Union:Â Asylum Case before the Court of Justice
- Jamaica: Petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- Mauritius: Case before Supreme Court
- Namibia: Case before the High Court
- Northern Cyprus:Â Petition before the European Court of Human Rights
- Singapore: Two separate cases before the Court of Appeal
- Sri Lanka: Case before UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)