IBA Annual Conference Toronto 2025

2 Nov - 7 Nov 2025

Session information

IBA HRI Showcase - Rejecting the rights rollback: advancing LGBTQIA+ equality around the world

Committee(s)

IBA's Human Rights Institute (Lead)
LGBTQI+ Law Committee
Rule of Law Forum

Description

There is an erosion of LGBTQIA+ rights and equality in both law and practice around the world. A global wave of discriminatory anti-LQBTQIA+ laws and policies have targeted and persecuted LGBTQIA+ individuals and communities, from criminalising LGBTQIA+ persons; to restricting freedom of assembly and association; to hindering access to healthcare and education. As a result, LGBTQIA+ individuals continue to face disproportionate risks of violence, stigma, and discrimination based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This session will explore the historical and political context of the increasing criminalisation, examine the rise of populist governments attacking LGBTQIA+ persons, and call on the international community to resist the attacks against recent advances in LGBTQIA+ equality worldwide. 

Session / Workshop Chair(s)

Steeves Bujold McCarthy Tetrault, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Events Officer, LGBTQI+ Law Committee
Robert Ellison Private Practice, São Paulo, Brazil; LGBTIQ+ Committee Representative, IBA Diversity & Inclusion Council

Speakers

Joshua Block ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Projects, New York, New York, USA
Georgia Dawson Freshfields, London, England
Titan Deng Prisma Attorneys at Law, Taipei, Taiwan
Njeri Gateru National Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Nairobi, Kenya
Adam Goldenberg McCarthy Tetrault, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Frank Mugisha SMUG International, Kampala, Uganda
Tim Prudhoe 3 Hare Court Barristers Chambers, London, England
Krzysztof Smiszek European Parliament, Warsaw, Poland
Mykola Stetsenko Ukrainian Bar Association, Kyiv, Ukraine