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President calls for end to silence to address equal rights

August 5, 2015 7:01 pm

Silence is the biggest enemy in the fight for equal rights.

President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau made the comment as he launched the ‘United Nations Free and Equal Campaign in the Pacific’, in Suva yesterday.

“Let us break this together by standing up and speaking out, that is the only way, we will be able to end homophobia and trans phobia and put at end to the violence and discrimination that we all have seen or heard of.”

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Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says section 26 (3) of the Constitution reads a person must not be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly on the grounds of his/her actual personal characteristics including sexual orientation and gender identity.

UN Resident Coordinator, Karen Allen says the UN encourages the governments of the Pacific to revise these laws in order to show that none of their citizens are discriminated against.

The campaign has reached over a billion people around the world through traditional and social media.

It is aimed at raising awareness to promote respect the rights of the LGTBIQ community everywhere.