Finding Sexual Minorities in United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Towards the Deconstruction of Gender Binary in International Development Policies

AuthorWarisa Ongsupankul
PositionPhD Candidate at Monash University and a casual research assistant at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University
Pages1-30
2020 LSE LAW REVIEW 1
Finding Sexual Minorities in United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals: Towards the Deconstruction of
Gender Binary in International Development Policies
Warisa Ongsupankul*
ABSTRACT
‘Leave No One Behind’ is an underlying principle enshrined in United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), among which Goal 5 aims to achieve ‘gender equality and empower
all women and girls’. The question remains as to the manner in which the term ‘gender’ is
interpreted. Does it accommodate the sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex
characteristics (SOGIESC) of non-conforming individuals? This paper will examine the gender
politics within the United Nations which resulted in the f ailure of SDGs to explicitly recognise
the rights of sexual minorities in its agenda. Bearing in mind that all Goals are interrelated and
that marginalisation by oppressive institutions is often interconnected and cannot be examined
separately from one another, this paper will also consider how such exclusion has had a negative
impact not only on the achievement of Goal 5 but also on the overall success of the SDGs.
Harnessing the insights of feminist legal theories, this paper will address the challenges as well as
propose a more inclusive framework that goes beyond the sex/gender binary to promote gender
equality in all of its manifestations.
* PhD Candidate at Monash University and a casual resear ch assistant at the School of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University. The idea of writing this paper came
from the field work the author undertook in 2018 at Association Shams, an NGO
defending the rights of sexual minorities in Tunisia. This paper is also developed from
her conference presentation at the 3rd International Conference of the NIDA Law for
Development on 23 November 2018 a t National Institute of Development
Administration (NIDA) in Bangkok, Thailand.
2 Sexual Minorities in United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals Vol. 5
“If the immutable character of sex is contested, perhaps this construct called ‘sex’
is as culturally constructed as gender; indeed, perhaps it was always already gender,
with the consequence that the distinction between sex and gender turns out to be
no distinction at all.”
Judith Butler in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
INTRODUCTION
In 2015, all United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development, a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people
and the planet, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which reflect
global efforts ‘to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate
change, while ensuring that no one is left behind’.
1
The 17 SDGs carry on the
work begun by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which globalised
an international effort between 2000-2015 to end poverty in its various
dimensions. However, unlike the MDGs which only concerned developing
countries, the SDGs apply universally to all United Nations member states and
are considered by advocacy groups to be more comprehensive and ambitious than
the MDGs.
2
In addition, although SDGs are non-binding in nature and states are
expected to implement the SDGs by establishing a national framework,
monitoring progress, and arranging follow-ups and reviews to ensure the
achievement of all 17 Goals, the SDGs are considered to not only reflect existing
commitments expressed in various international legal instruments, but also have
the potential to fill the gaps in fragmented international law.
3
1
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal s, The Sustainable Development Agenda
t/development-agenda/> accessed 25
October 2019.
2
ICLEI Briefing Sheet, ‘From MDGs to SDGs: What are the Sustainable Development
Goals?’ (2015) 1 Urban Issues 2, contrasting MDGs and SDGs in that the latter are
‘uniformly applicable to all countries of the world, removing the ‘developing’ versus
‘developed’ dichotomy that left the MDGs open to criticism’; Jon Coonrods, From
MDGs to SDGs: Top 10 Differences (August 2014)
-to-sdgs/> accessed 4 April 2019.
3
Rakhyun Kim, ‘The Nexus between International Law and t he Sustainable
Development Goals’ (2016) 25 Re view of European, Comparative and International
Environmental Law 15.

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