De­c­la­ra­tion by the Eu­ro­pean Union's High Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for For­eign Af­fairs, Cather­ine Ash­ton, on the oc­ca­sion of In­ter­na­tion­al Day against Ho­mo­pho­bia and Trans­pho­bia: To­day, peo­ple around the world cel­e­brate the In­ter­na­tion­al Day against Ho­mo­pho­bia and Trans­pho­bia. On be­half of the Eu­ro­pean Union, I am proud to join this cel­e­bra­tion.

Around the world, peo­ple ex­pe­ri­ence dis­crim­i­na­tion and vi­o­lence, and even die, be­cause of their sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion or gen­der iden­ti­ty. Con­sen­su­al same- sex re­la­tions are still crim­i­nalised in 76 coun­tries, and pun­ished with the death penal­ty in at least five.

We are some­times told that sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion and gen­der iden­ti­ty con­flict with tra­di­tion­al val­ues. Let me be very clear: when we speak about the rights of les­bian, gay, bi­sex­u­al, trans­gen­der and in­ter­sex per­sons, it is not about in­tro­duc­ing new rights for one group of peo­ple. It is about the same hu­man rights be­ing ap­plied to every per­son every­where with­out dis­crim­i­na­tion. I call on all States to make this a re­al­i­ty for every­one.

• More in­for­ma­tion on the EU Del­e­ga­tion to T&T can be found at http://eeas.eu­ropa.eu/del­e­ga­tions/trinidad/ in­dex_en.htm