Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell wants the Commonwealth to discuss LGBT human rights issues at their meeting in October.

Tatchell is urging attendees at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Australia to discuss the decriminalisation of homosexuality. He has written to the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, requesting that he lobby for LGBT rights to be put on the agenda. Other areas he request be looked at are laws prohibiting discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, the enforcement of legislation to protect people from hate crimes and more consultation and dialogue with LGBT organisations. Tatchell points out that CHOGM have never discussed these issues before.

In a statement, he said, “It is long overdue that CHOGM addressed this humanitarian issue, which it has neglected for far too long. We hope that this year’s CHOGM will end these decades of silence and inaction… Like the United Nations, the Commonwealth is a significant international forum. CHOGM’s support for the decriminalisation of homosexuality would be a symbolic and moral victory in the long global battle for LGBT human rights.” However, he admits it will be difficult to both get the item on the agenda and to gather support from some countries for the equality legislation.

More than 40 of the 54 countries in the Commonwealth still uphold bans on homosexuality. These include Uganda, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania.

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