Dear IFLA President and Governing Board,
The LGBTQ+ Users Special Interest Group (SIG) is responding to the announcement that the WLIC 2024 will be hosted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. https://www.ifla.org/news/dubai-2024/
The LGBTQ+ Users SIG applauds the decision to schedule the conference in an area where we have not met before. We are indeed convinced that meetings between different cultures and different countries strongly enrich professional dialogue at the international level. Everyone must be given the opportunity to express themselves while respecting opinions and differences.
We are also glad to see in the announcement this reference:
“IFLA is built on a commitment to shared values and principles, and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion across its work. As we begin to design the programme, we look forward to working together with our hosts and volunteers to ensure that these values are at its heart”
Still, we are considering questions about how any LGBTQ+ members of IFLA can attend the WLIC 2024.
We do not know how it will be possible for the LGBTQ+ Users SIG members to attend the Congress, because LGBTQ+ persons, will not only not feel safe but could face legal issues and prison just for being who they are in the United Arab Emirates, because homosexuality is illegal there. Cross dressing is illegal. Public displays of homosexuality are illegal there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_Arab_Emirates
And for international visitors, it has become increasingly dangerous:
https://www.dw.com/en/uae-is-becoming-increasingly-hostile-to-the-lgbtq-community/a-63257963
As world travellers, we know we need to respect local traditions and customs, and we know that not every country will be like our own, but there is a difference in facing safety, cultural or prejudice concerns, and facing limited freedom of speech related to LGBTQ+ issues, legal issues, and/or prison.
As an official group in IFLA, the LGBTQ+ Users SIG, will not be able to do the work and activities we normally do, including:
- Holding a business meeting for the LGBTQ+ Users SIG
- Holding an open program on LGBTQ+ issues for libraries
- Hosting a social event for our members and for LGBTQ+ members of IFLA, as we regularly do at each WLIC
- Hosting a satellite meeting in the region
- Speak openly and embrace freedom of information
Our names are listed on IFLA’s Website on our LGBTQ+ Users SIG Website, so we could face issues related to having our information publicly available in a country like this.
How can we work on “shared values and principles, and promoting equity, diversity and inclusion”, when freedom of expression and freedom of conscience does not seem to be assured? How can we have a diverse and inclusive program where we cannot use the terms related to LGBTQ+ persons?
IFLA’s Core Values state:
- the commitment to promote and value diversity and inclusion, notably as regards age, citizenship, disability, ethnicity, gender-identity, geographical location, language, political philosophy, race, religious beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status, and actively pursue relevant policies and practices.
As the fundamental and informational rights of LGBTQ+ people are under threat around the world (see recent laws passed in Uganda with the death penalty for homosexuality or the many calls for censorship in the United States, for instance), it is startling that IFLA Leadership would either be not considering the rights and well-being of some of its members or that they are comfortable erasing the participation of members of the LGBTQ+ community at this upcoming WLIC.
Are you expecting us to hide who we are to be able to attend and to not meet to discuss the issues of our SIG? Are you asking us to risk prison to be able to go? We know colleagues who have the immediate reaction that “I will not be safe, and I cannot risk going to a meeting in Dubai.” How does that make them feel about our value to the larger IFLA community? To be a truly all-inclusive organization, IFLA must consider who is being included and who is not. If there had been a real consultative process in advance of the final decision, we would have shared these ideas with the Board sooner.
We therefore ask the Board how they plan to reconcile this situation where one of the parts of IFLA is not allowed to meet and many of the individual members will feel they cannot attend, because of the choice of the location, and how can IFLA avoid these situations in the future?
Sincerely,
The IFLA LGBTQ+ Users Special Interest Group
https://www.ifla.org/units/lgbtq/
IFLA LGBTQ Users 