Equality Parade 2017 – Open Letter

Equality Parade 2017 – Open Letter

Open letter of the Ambassadors of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam, as well as the General Representative of the Government of Flanders and the Representative of the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, as well as the director of OSCE/ODIHR and representatives in Poland of the European Commission and of the UNHCR, on the occasion of the Equality Parade in Warsaw on June 3rd, 2017. The coordination of this letter is ensured by the Embassy of Austria in Poland.

On the occasion of this year’s Warsaw Equality Parade, we express our support for efforts to raise public awareness of the issues affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community and other communities in Poland facing similar challenges. We also acknowledge similar efforts as in Warsaw undertaken in Gdańsk, Łódź, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław.

We affirm the inherent dignity of each individual as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Respect for these fundamental rights, which are also enshrined in the obligations and standards of the Council of Europe and the European Union as communities of rights and values, obliges governments to protect all citizens from violence and discrimination and to ensure they enjoy equal opportunities. To this end, and in particular to shield communities in need of protection from verbal and physical abuse and hate speech, we need to jointly work on an environment of non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual acceptance.

This includes in particular sectors such as education, health, social affairs, citizenship, public service and public documents. We pay tribute to the hard work of LGBTI and other communities in Poland and around the world, as well as the work of all those who seek to ensure human rights for LGBTI and other persons belonging to communities facing similar challenges and end discrimination in particular on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTI rights are universal human rights, which everyone should support.

H.E. Mrs. Shpresa Kureta, Ambassador of Albania

H.E. Mrs. Patricia Beatriz Salas, Ambassador of Argentina

H.E. Mr. Paul Wojciechowski, Ambassador of Australia

H.E. Mr. Thomas M. Buchsbaum, Ambassador of Austria

H.E. Mrs. Colette Taquet, Ambassador of Belgium

H.E. Mr. Alfredo Leoni, Ambassador of Brazil

H.E. Mr. Stephen de Boer, Ambassador of Canada

H.E. Mr. Alfredo García Castelblanco, Ambassador of Chile

H.E. Mrs. Isabel Montero de la Cámara, Ambassador of Costa Rica

H.E. Mr. Jakub Karfík, Ambassador of the Czech Republic

H.E. Mr. Petros Kestoras, Ambassador of Cyprus

H.E. Mr. Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, Ambassador of Denmark

H.E. Mr. Harri Tiido, Ambassador of Estonia

H.E. Mrs. Hanna Lehtinen, Ambassador of Finland

H.E. Mr. Pierre Lévy, Ambassador of France

H.E. Mr. Rolf Nikel, Ambassador of Germany

H.E. Mr. Evangelos Tsaoussis, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic

H.E. Mr. Gerard Keown, Ambassador of Ireland

H.E. Mrs. Anna Azari, Ambassador of the State of Israel

H.E. Mr. Alessandro De Pedys, Ambassador of Italy

H.E. Mr. Shigeo Matsutomi, Ambassador of Japan

H.E. Mr. Conrad Bruch, Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

H.E. Ms. Natasha Meli Daudey, Ambassador of Malta

H.E. Mr. Alejandro Negrín, Ambassador of Mexico

H.E. Ms. Ljiljana Tošković, Ambassador of Montenegro

H.E. Ms. Wendy Hinton, Ambassador of New Zealand

H.E. Mr. Roland van Dartel, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherland

s H.E. Mr. Karsten Klepsvik, Ambassador of Norway

H.E. Mr. João Silva Leitão, Ambassador of Portugal

H.E. Mr. Robert Krmelj, Ambassador of Slovenia

H.E. Mr. Simon Jabulani Ntombela, Ambassador of South Africa

H.E. Mr. Agustín Núñez Martínez, Ambassador of Spain

H.E. Mrs. Inga Eriksson Fogh, Ambassador of Sweden

H.E. Mr. Andrej Motyl, Ambassador of Switzerland

H.E. Mr. Andrii Deshchytsia, Ambassador of Ukraine

H.E. Mr. Jonathan Knott, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

H.E. Mr. Paul Jones, Ambassador of the United States of America

H.E. Mr. Pablo Schreiner, Ambassador of Uruguay

H.E. Mr. Luis Gomez Urdaneta, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

H.E. Mr. Vu Dang Dung, Ambassador of Vietnam

Mr. Yves Wantens, General Representative of the Government of Flanders

Mr. Franck Pezza, General Representative of the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation

Mr. Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Mr. Marek Prawda, Head of the Representation, European Commission in Poland

Mrs. Anna-Carin Öst, Representative, UNHCR Representation in Poland