{"id":8416,"date":"2012-02-29T02:41:27","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T00:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/archbishop-of-canterbury-steps-into-u-n-gays-row\/"},"modified":"2012-02-29T02:41:27","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T00:41:27","slug":"archbishop-of-canterbury-steps-into-u-n-gays-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/archbishop-of-canterbury-steps-into-u-n-gays-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop of Canterbury steps into U.N. gays row"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Robert Evans<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

GENEVA<\/span> Feb 28 (Reuters) – Archbishop of Canterbury
\nRowan Williams, spiritual head of the global Anglican communion,
\nstepped on Tuesday into a row which is flaring at the U.N. Human
\nRights Council over the persecution of gays and lesbians.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams, who has faced strong opposition from parts of his
\nown church especially in Africa for his stance on gays, did not
\ndirectly refer to the current controversy at the Council,
\naccording to the text of a speech prepared for delivery at the
\nGeneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC).<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

However, he said laws against sexual minorities were
\nequivalent to racism, and warned that legal regulation of
\nconsensual sexual conduct “can be both unworkable and open to
\nappalling abuse – intimidation and blackmail”.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A panel of the U.N. rights body will consider action in
\nGeneva on Wednesday aimed at halting persecution of gays and
\nlesbians around the world, despite fierce condemnation from
\nMuslim and some African countries.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A report prepared for the gathering by U.N. High
\nCommissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says homosexuals and
\nbisexuals face execution in at least five countries and 76
\nnations had laws criminalising gay sex.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

They also accounted disproportionately for torture cases in
\njails around the globe, said the report which was mandated by a
\ncouncil resolution backed by Western and a range of developing
\nstates that was passed narrowly last June.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But in a statement in advance of the panel, Pakistan said
\nthe 57-nation Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opposed
\nthe convening of the panel and would not accept any
\nrecommendations that it might issue.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pakistani statement, in a letter to the president of the
\ncouncil, said “abnormal sexual behaviour” was an outcome of
\npersonal behaviour and preferences “having nothing to do with
\nfundamental human rights”.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Evans GENEVA Feb 28 (Reuters) – Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the global Anglican communion, stepped on Tuesday into a row which is flaring at the U.N. Human Rights Council over the persecution of gays and lesbians. Williams, who has faced strong opposition from parts of his own church especially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}