GENEVA (20 April 2023) – The UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, will conduct an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 24 April until 5 May 2023. “The visit provides a valuable opportunity to assess the implementation of existing national and international human rights standards to combat violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other gender diverse persons (LGBT) people in the country,” Madrigal-Borloz said. The Independent Expert will travel to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to meet with government officials, political representatives, and civil society organisations working on issues related to the human rights of LGBT persons, and others. The expert will study the different manifestations of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Madrigal-Borloz hopes to identify good practices as well as challenges towards the elimination of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity during his visit, on the basis of which he will provide recommendations to UK authorities based on international human rights law and standards. Madrigal-Borloz will hold a news conference to share his preliminary findings in London on Friday 5 May at 11:30 a.m. local time, at the International Maritime Organization (IOM), located on 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR. Access will be strictly limited to journalists, who may request to confirm their attendance to the news conference by emailing brian.griffey@un.org and marina.sandul@un.org. The final findings and recommendations from the visit will be presented at a later session of the UN Human Rights Council. ENDS Mr. Víctor Madrigal-Borloz (Costa Rica) assumed the role of UN Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity on 1 January 2018. Victor Madrigal-Borloz is the Eleanor Roosevelt senior visiting researcher at the Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program. Until June 2019, he served as the Secretary-General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). A member of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture from 2013 to 2016, Mr Madrigal-Borloz was Rapporteur on Reprisals and oversaw a draft policy on the torture and ill-treatment of LGBTI persons. Prior to this, he led technical work on numerous cases, reports and testimonies as Head of Litigation and Head of the Registry at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and has also worked at the Danish Institute for Human Rights (Copenhagen, Denmark) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (San José, Costa Rica). The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.