Photographer Robin Hammond Speaks Out at UN

The United Nations has celebrated 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, at a high-level event on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) persons around the world. New Zealand-born documentary photographer Robin Hammond, 43, was a speaker at the meeting.

Hammond, well known for his work at National Geographic, is author of the powerful photo-series ‘Where Love is Illegal’, a collection of stories of discrimination and survival.

“Inaction means death,” Hammond said at the event, having witnessed first-hand the suffering of LGBTI people across the world.

“How many more must be raped and mutilated and murdered before we can say never again?” he asked.

Hammond is the recipient of the W.Eugene Smith Fund for Humanistic Photography, a World Press Photo prize, and four Amnesty International awards for human rights photography.

To date, only one UN General Assembly resolution addressing violence includes explicit reference to sexual orientation and gender identity, while none refer to sex characteristics.

The resolution on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions urges States to “protect the life of all people” and calls upon States to “investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds”, with “sexual orientation and gender identity” mentioned in that context.

“Most countries do not track homophobic and transphobic crimes. The result is impunity,” regretted the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet. “Too many victims go without recognition, remedy or justice. Too many perpetrators are free to strike again, undeterred by the prospect of rule of law.”

Original article by UN News, September 25, 2018.

Photo by Laura Jarriel.