From Safe Harbours to Equality

Conference worldOutgames Antwerp 2013
31 July -2 August

Conference on Migration and the supportive themes Health, Justice & Security and Religion

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." - Eleanor Roosevelt (1946, Universal Declaration Human Rights)

Together with the Antwerp Human Rights team, The Radisson Blu venue in the centre of Antwerp welcomes you to the Human Rights conference from 31 July to 2 August 2013.

Your local partner, the Human Rights Conference, as one of the three mainstays of the worldOutgames Antwerp 2013, is committed to creating meaningful progress through the effective assembly of motivated change-workers from around the world. The involvement of the speakers and participants will have a significant impact on making this an energizing experience for all participants, a moment of focus for networks and a lasting success for the movement.  As Antwerp is one of the larger port cities we have chosen the theme ‘From Safe Harbours to Equality.’ The melting pot of cultures called Antwerp keenly looks forward to welcoming you.

This Human Rights Conference will bring together an optimalmix of people from the entire world representing their position in life and in the world. We are therefore partnered with many organizations working on LGBT Human Rights. An International Expert Group is helping with critical feedback on the content and organization of the conference. Striving for a balanced representation of LGBT people, of different ages, of volunteers vs. board members and staff and of all regions, as well as critical people from outside the LGBT movement telling us how they regard the movement and its efforts and agendas.

The cause of extending human rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons equal to those enjoyed by everyone else is neither radical nor complicated; as Navi Pillay (United Nations High Commissionar for Human Rights,South Africa, 1941) stated, it rests on equality and non-discrimination. Nevertheless, in all regions of the world LGBT people of all ages are exposed to violations of their human rights. In no less than 76 countries consensual same-sex relationships are still criminalized.

With the success of the conference, in the light of the above-mentioned, the focus of the conference will be Migration, which will henceforth be the main theme. The aim is to handle the Migration theme in-depth and globally. Migration and LGBT must be placed higher on the international agenda.
The subjects Health, Justice & Security and Religion will be underpinning this theme.

The themes contribute to the substantiation of the Migration theme, which may be clarified by the following examples:

·         State of art on migration and LGBT

·         The migration of knowledge

·         Access to health care

·         Family and children

·         Migration and sexwork

·         Primary care of LGBT Migrants in a Asylum Centre

·         LGBT rights in Africa

·         Gender dynamics

·         The influence of the internet and social media

·         Religious opinions and dialogue on how to create safe harbours

An interactive event, where the voice and the vote of every participant will count. The chairs along with influential supervisors on the main theme Migration and the 3 supportive  themes will guide you through the conference programme (please view the website).

This Conference ends in a ' Antwerp Declaration ', a calendar for the period 2013-2018.
'Antwerp Declaration', the success of the conference in general:
We wish, by means of a diverse audience, chairs, supervisors, members of the International Expert Group (IEG) and conference speakers, to achieve a balanced 'Antwerp Declaration'. This will definitely reinforce the basis of support. Given the composition of the group of politicians and others present on the last day, 2 August, of the conference, it is assumed that they will put the outcome of the conference prominently on their national and international agendas. And we expect this also from the chairs, the supervisors and the members of the IEG. All of this in order to create new initiatives towards improving the rights of the LGBT community worldwide. The official Legacy of the conference will be handed over to GLISA (the official licensor of the worldOutgames)and others at the end of August 2013.
Official national and international partners of the Conference:GLISA, European Aids Treatment Group (EATG), P&V, PCO AIM-group International, Koning Boudewijn Foundation, ILGA World, Ministery Equal Opportunies, National Lottery, Sensoa, Pink House Antwerp, Rainbowhouse Brussels and the City of Antwerp