Clinton School student Ryan Ubuntu Olson partnered with the Unitarian Universalist – United Nations Office (UU-UNO) to identify advocacy strategies for faith-based NGOs surrounding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender human rights at the United Nations.
Olson served as the LGBT programs coordinator for the UU-UNO and conducted a needs assessment of faith-based NGO advocacy efforts surrounding LGBT human rights and matched those needs with resources and tools offered by LGBT community organizations. Olson completed the project as part of the Clinton School’s Master of Public Service degree program.
“I can only hope that the hard work that I did while working at the UN will be a catalyst for others to engage in more extensive research than I was able to complete in my short time there,” Olson said. “The results really are telling about where we are, and where we can potentially go.”
Results of the assessments indicated a need to improve relationships with LGBT community partners to enhance the basic levels of understanding of LGBT human rights by faith-based NGOs operating at the UN, Olson said.
The assessment also debased a common understanding that faith-based NGOs are not advocates for LGTB human rights, Olson said.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see that people of faith working in NGOs at the UN are very much willing to acknowledge that Lesbians, Gay, Bisexuals, and Transgender people from around the world should be accorded the same basic and equal human rights as everyone else in the world,” Olson said
“We were very grateful to have Ryan Ubuntu on our team,” said Bruce Knotts, executive director of the UU-UNO. “He shed light on some very important steps for us to take in the near future and we only hope to perpetuate the fine level of work he did while he was here at the UU-UNO.”
The project identified recommendations based on six themes including the integration of LGBT human rights with other human rights categories; increasing the levels of education surrounding LGBT human rights with NGOs around the UN; building greater partnerships and collaborations with these other faith-based NGOs; ending the culture of silence surrounding discussion of LGBT human rights; obtaining a greater authoritative voice on the issue of LGBT human rights, and utilizing civil society in developing education and policy surrounding LGBT human rights.
Olson will graduate from the Clinton School in May. He plans to further pursue his interests in International LGBT human rights whether through employment or continued education.
“I only hope that the work I did might have a small but important impact on the lives of gender and sexual minorities all over the world in relation to their acceptance and inclusion into their local communities,” Olson said.
Responses