Select a date Select month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 Select a category Agriculture Bihar Votes For Its (and India’s) Future BUDGET 2014 Budget 2015: Modi’s Moment of Reckoning Budget 2016: The stories behind the numbers Chart of the Day Climate Change Cover Story Currency Chaos Development Education Elections 2014 Employment Fact Check Governance Newsletter Health homepage video Hunger India’s Great Challenge: Health & Sanitation IndiaSpend In The News IndiaSpend Interviews Industry Investigations Central State Latest Headlines Latest Reports Making Sense of Breaking News Modi’s Message: India’s States Reply Modi’s Report Card Mumbai Special Mumbai Special: The Revival Agenda Opinion – Videos Opinions Pollution Poverty Prime Time: India’s Grand Challenges Resources Central State Sectors Agriculture Defence Economy & Policy Education Health Infrastructure Snapshots States Central India Chattisgarh Madhya Pradesh EAST Bihar Jharkhand Orissa West Bengal NORTH Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir New Delhi Punjab Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand NORTH EAST Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura SOUTH Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu WEST Goa Gujarat Maharashtra Story In A Minute The Air We #Breathe The Road To Delhi: Elections 2015 The Transition: 2015-2016 Uncategorized Viznomics: A Quick Glance At Big Issues Welfare Women Women@Work Women@Work Search with Google

India’s opposition to benefits for same-sex partners of United Nations (UN) employees has drawn a lot of criticism.

What is even more embarrassing for India were the kinds of governments it was allied with during the UN vote on March 24, 2015.

Opposing the benefits with India were 40 countries, including several authoritarian regimes such as the one-party state of China and a country with little freedom of dissent, Russia.

A look at Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2014 shows how all the countries that voted against benefits were less democratic than India. (See chart below)

Sources: UN Web TV , EIU Democracy Index 2014 data courtesy of Shakti Krishnan; *Three countries that voted against the benefits–Brunei, Solomon Islands & Somalia–weren’t part of the Democracy Index; View raw data here.

80 countries supported the benefits including South Africa, a country which is fairly advanced when it comes to recognition of gay and lesbian rights. It allows kids to be adopted by same-sex couples and even prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation.

With 80 countries voting for benefits in the UN General Assembly budget committee, 43 countries voting against and 37 abstaining, benefits will be continued for same-sex partners of UN employees.

Curiously, 10 countries that voted for benefits, such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, actually see homosexual acts as illegal, according to a 2014 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. (See chart below)

Sources: UN Web TV , “State-sponsored homophobia” by International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, Pew Research; Note: Same-sex marriage isn’t legal in all parts of USA, UK & Mexico; View raw data here.

With the opposition defeated, same-sex partners of UN employees will continue to be eligible for the same spousal benefits as opposite-sex partners. They would be eligible if they were married in a country or region that recognises same-sex marriage—even if it wasn’t their own country.

The situation abroad

India is one of a group of 78 countries that criminalises homosexuality and makes it punishable by either fines, imprisonment, corporal punishment or death.

As can be seen from the chart below, 39% of the world’s population live in countries where homosexual acts are illegal. Five countries (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania & Sudan) even give the death penalty for homosexuality.

20 countries recognise same-sex marriages, with Netherlands having been the first to do so in 2000. 16 other countries, including Australia and Germany, recognise civil unions or domestic partnerships between gay and lesbian citizens, in place of marriages.

Sources: World Bank, Pew Research, “State-sponsored homophobia” by International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association; Note: Same-sex marriage isn’t legal in all parts of USA, UK & Mexico; View raw data here.

The Indian government said it wasn’t opposed to same-sex partner benefits per se but to the way they were instituted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. In India’s view, it was done unilaterally without consulting member nations.

India may feel its actions were justified, but it was tarred by association because of the unsavoury company it kept and its intentions seen as less than noble.

Image Credit: Flickr/KavitaKapoor



__________________________________________________________________________

“Liked this story? Indiaspend.com is a non-profit, and we depend on readers like you to drive our public-interest journalism efforts. Donate Rs 500; Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000.”