NEW YORK, NY –

The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly voted to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The resolution had urged nations to protect the right to life of all people, including investigating killings based on discriminatory grounds. For the past 10 years, the resolution has included sexual orientation in the list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based.

“This vote is a dangerous and disturbing development,” said Cary Alan Johnson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. “It essentially removes the important recognition of the particular vulnerability faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

The decision in the General Assembly flies in the face of the overwhelming evidence that people are routinely killed around the world because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, and renders these killings invisible or unimportant.