LGBTQIA+ Equality Switzerland Project #46172

ILGA World

by ILGA World

Project Report | Dec 11, 2025
Driving Global Progress for LGBTI Rights in 2025

By J. Andrew Baker | Fundraising and MEL Manager

From UN Advocacy to Community Connection

ILGA World’s work in the second half of 2025 demonstrated the strength of our global movement in a year marked by both breakthrough wins and intensifying anti-rights pressure. With your support, we advanced LGBTI rights across international human rights mechanisms, strengthened national advocacy, and ensured communities worldwide remained visible and informed.

Securing Impact in UN Human Rights Spaces

ILGA World played an influential role across three Human Rights Council sessions, amplifying SOGIESC issues even as hostile narratives grew stronger.

Highlights from this period include:

Intersex Rights Breakthrough at HRC60

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presented the first-ever global report on discriminatory laws, violence, and harmful practices against intersex people. Contributions from over 190 intersex organisations informed the report. ILGA World co-hosted and supported multiple events to elevate intersex-led advocacy and ensure this landmark moment fuels long-term policy change.

Advancing Gender Equality and Countering Anti-Gender Narratives

At HRC58 and HRC59, our team coordinated high-level meetings, delivered statements, and worked with feminist and SRHR partners to counter disinformation and harmful framings that threaten gender equality. Through strategic briefings with governments, coalition organising, and targeted messaging, we helped strengthen protections for women, girls, and LGBTI communities.

Supporting National Advocacy Through the UPR

Across three UPR Advocacy Weeks, ILGA World trained and supported 30+ human rights defenders from more than a dozen countries, enabling them to meet with over 15 Permanent Missions per cycle, access UN mechanisms, and begin building national monitoring matrices for follow-up.

Trans and Gender-Diverse Leadership at the UN

The 2025 UN Trans Advocacy Week brought together advocates from all ILGA regions. Participants addressed the impact of foreign aid cuts, restrictive legislation, and the importance of the IE SOGI mandate. They delivered statements, met UN mandate holders, and coordinated events with feminist and human rights allies, demonstrating the growing strength of trans-led global advocacy.

Growing Global Visibility Through Communications

From August to November 2025, ILGA World’s communications team significantly expanded our global reach:

460+ media articles across four months, with a combined estimated readership exceeding 1.16 billion people.
August: 43 million readers reached
September: 351 million readers reached
October: 201 million readers reached
November: 563 million readers reached
Digital campaigns engaged over 430,000 people, showcasing community stories, UN advocacy, historic intersex developments, and key international observances.
ChatGPT referrals emerged as a new access point, directing 330 active users to ILGA World resources in August alone.

These communications made sure that LGBTI voices and issues remained visible despite global pushback.

Strengthening Our Global Network

The Membership Team continued its Data Integrity Project, completing a full regional review with ILGA-Europe and preparing major updates to ensure an accurate, engaged membership database.

A notable trend: multiple organisations applying for membership had first engaged with ILGA World through the 2024 conference scholarships, a promising indicator that our convenings cultivate long-term movement-building.

The Difference You Make

Your support enables ILGA World to sustain advocacy at the UN, build defenders’ skills, amplify trans and intersex leadership, and keep LGBTI issues visible across the world’s media landscape. In 2025 alone, we helped secure a renewed IE SOGI mandate, advanced intersex rights, strengthened national advocacy strategies, and reached millions with messages of equality and solidarity.

Together, we are shaping a world where every LGBTI person can live free, safe, and equal.

Thank you for standing with us.
Learn more at www.ilga.org

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Aug 12, 2025
Mid-Year Impact Report: Advancing Global LGBTI Rights Through Advocacy, Solidarity, and Action

By J. Andrew Baker | Fundraising and MEL Manager

A Strong Start to 2025

In the first half of 2025, ILGA World continued to champion the rights of LGBTI people worldwide, navigating growing anti-rights pushback with resilience and solidarity. From grassroots networks to the United Nations, we ensured that voices on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) remained heard and influential.

Mandate Victory: IE SOGI Renewal

A major milestone came in July when the UN Human Rights Council voted to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IE SOGI) for three more years. This success was the result of coordinated global advocacy, with 1,259 civil society organisations from 157 states and territories uniting behind the campaign. The renewal passed with 29 votes in favour, 15 against, and 3 abstentions — a clear message that LGBTI rights remain firmly on the international human rights agenda.

IDAHOBIT 2025: Coordinating a Global Movement

As host of the IDAHOBIT Secretariat, ILGA World coordinated the global theme and provided tools, resources, and visibility for the International Day Against LGBTI-phobia on May 17.

This year’s theme — “The Power of Communities: loud, bold, and unapologetically ours” — was embraced around the world, fostering solidarity across movements and highlighting community resilience in the face of rising hostility. ILGA World’s leadership ensured cohesive global messaging, a widely endorsed joint statement, and amplified visibility for hundreds of local and national events across all regions.

Strategic Vision for the Future

In March, we launched our 2025–2029 Strategic Plan, shaped at the 2024 Cape Town World Conference. It sets bold goals to strengthen the global LGBTI movement, expand advocacy, and build alliances across feminist, disability, and climate justice spaces.

Celebrating 2024 Achievements

The 2024 Annual Report, released in July, showcases a historic year: our largest-ever ILGA World Conference, the first International Pride Awards, record scholarship support for activists, and impactful advocacy in over 119 countries.

Global Advocacy Highlights

United Nations: Beyond the IE SOGI mandate renewal, we led and supported advocacy at the Human Rights Council, CSW69, preparations for Beijing+30, UPR, and treaty body sessions, enabling defenders from more than 20 countries to engage directly.
UN Trans Advocacy Week (TAW) 2025: Each year, ILGA World coorganises the landmark UN Trans Advocacy Week, a vital platform empowering trans and gender-diverse defenders to engage directly with UN decision-makers. In 2025, activists addressed critical issues such as foreign aid cuts, antigender legislative rollbacks, and the renewal of the IESOGI mandate. This initiative combines capacity-building with strategic advocacy, amplifying trans-led voices during the UN Human Rights Council session.
7 Recommendations from Intersex Advocates for Inclusive Change: Building on the historic adoption of the UN’s first-ever resolution on intersex rights, ILGA World published a report featuring seven expert recommendations from intersex activists. These outline priorities for driving inclusive social change, such as ensuring bodily autonomy, ending pathologization, deepening GIESC research, and centring intersex-led advocacy within broader justice movements.

Research & Programmes

GIESC Programme: Advanced intersex rights, inclusive sports policy work, and coalition-building.
Research Programme: Produced critical data and analysis to strengthen advocacy worldwide.
UN Team: Trained hundreds of activists to effectively engage with mechanisms like the UPR, CEDAW, and ILO.

Communications Impact

From January to July, our campaigns reached 130,000 people directly and appeared in 148 media articles with an estimated global readership of 585 million. Highlights included multilingual advocacy materials for IE SOGI renewal, IDAHOBIT global coordination, International Non-Binary People’s Day, and Disability Pride Month.

Looking Ahead

For the rest of 2025, ILGA World will:

Begin implementing the 2025–2029 Strategic Plan
Deepen intersectional advocacy with feminist, disability, and climate justice partners
Defend and advance SOGIESC rights amid growing challenges

The Difference We’ve Made Together

From influencing policy at the UN to connecting communities across borders, the first half of 2025 has been a time of tangible progress. Our work has helped ensure global protections for LGBTI people remain in place, brought coordinated visibility to a worldwide day of action, and placed trans and intersex voices at the centre of international human rights discussions.

Through skills training, evidence-based research, and strong alliances, we’ve backed advocates in every region to speak up for equality. We have seen those efforts resonate in courtrooms, parliaments, and grassroots gatherings alike. Our outreach this year has inspired conversations in more than 100 countries, reached millions through media and events, and built new pathways for lasting change.

Every step forward reflects the power of a united movement. You play a role in these efforts. By standing with ILGA World, you are part of a global network committed to making equality not just a principle, but a lived reality.

Thank you for standing with us. Your support through GlobalGiving fuels our work toward a world where everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics, can live free and equal.

Learn more at www.ilga.org

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Feb 14, 2025
Wise Rise Above: The 2024 End-Of-Year Message

By Julia Ehrt | Executive Director

Together at the 2024 ILGA World Conference

Dear donors and friends of ILGA World,

There is no denying it: 2024 has been an emotional, heavy year. Across the globe, crises and conflicts are shaking us all and are casting long shadows on the march towards progress.

Reactionary political forces continue to attack our communities and erode changes towards equality for all we have fought hard for— sometimes for decades and not only for LGBTI communities, but all who strive for freedom, justice, equality, and dignity.

Yes: the challenges we face are immense. Today, years of hard-fought progress are on the line. And that is why we need to be there for each other.

Whether resisting anti-rights governments, standing with those fleeing violence, or supporting marginalised communities, we are united by a shared determination to build a freer, more just, and inclusive world. Together, we fight back and defy the attempts to silence us, finding strength in each other and in the countless acts of courage by activists and allies around the world.

ILGA World is where the thousands of people forming our global movement see each other, have a home, and realise they are not alone.

But before we dive into 2025, let’s look back to an extraordinary year one last time. Our special thank you goes out to our outgoing Board members, and especially to Luz Elena Aranda and Tuisina Ymania Brown – our former co-Secretaries General who have fearlessly led the organisation since March 2019 and helped build a bigger, stronger, and more inclusive ILGA World. As they pass the torch to us, we celebrate their legacy and commit to continue working with and for our global community, alongside one another in global solidarity, throughout our victories and our setbacks.

Kimberly Frost and Yuri Guaiana
ILGA World Co-Secretaries General

Julia Ehrt
ILGA World Executive Director

The Power of Communities - IDAHOBIT 2025

Outgoing and Incoming Leadership at ILGA World

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