Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said ending homophobia is ‘critical’ to the UN’s work and called for an end to anti-gay laws and better education.

His comments were delivered today (17 May) at an event in The Hague, The Netherlands, to mark International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The speech was delivered on his behalf by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in the presence of the new Queen of the Netherlands, Máxima.

The UN Human Rights office has released a new video telling LGBT people they are not alone and promising to work for their protection and freedom.

It reminds viewers that 76 countries still criminalize consensual same-sex relationships and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people everywhere continue to suffer violent attacks and discriminatory treatment.

The ruling coalition in Malaysia, Barisanl Nasional (BN), who hope to get re-elected on Sunday, has printed anti-LGBT election material.

A list of BN's policies includs 'menyekat LGBT', meaning 'block LGBT'. The text underneath says BN are 'curbing a damaging culture'. The flyer also says that the opposition coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS are 'encouraging LGBT'.

Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch said the Malaysian government 'should be ashamed' for having their name associated with such material.

The niece of retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been denied a visa by the US State Department to travel to Philadelphia to accept an award for her work on behalf of gay rights.

Mariela Castro, director of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education, is already in the US attending meetings in New York. But Cuban diplomats are prevented from traveling more than 25 miles from the United Nations without permission.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has promised to lead a global campaign for LGBT rights.

And he has told governments around the world that they have a ‘legal duty’ to protect gay and trans people and that ‘culture, tradition or religion’ could not be used as an excuse for failing to do so.

His comments in a video message to the Oslo Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity yesterday (15 April) were not his first remarks on sexual orientation or gender identity – but were the strongest-worded.

LGBT rights activists from across Asia gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal last week for a UN seminar to discuss strategies in the region.

'I laud the courage you have shown despite the circumstances you live and work in, said Nepal's Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Riddhi Baba Pradham, AFP reports.

'This conference in Kathmandu proves that the common assertion that LGBT rights are incompatible with Asian values is false.'

A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) currently debated by the UN Human Rights Council found that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity remains widespread and persistent throughout the world.

The council is due to pass a resolution on the matter next week, and human rights groups have urged it to take a strong stand against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Malaysia of violating international standards against discrimination with their words and actions against LGBT people.

HRW submitted a wide-ranging report to the UN on Malaysia's human rights failures, which included curtailing freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression - and abuses in the justice system.

Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman ruled out any possibility of adoption of Russian orphans by French gay couples if France introduces gay marriage.

During an interview with the Rossiskaya Gazeta daily, the ombudsman, Pavel Astakhov said: ‘The official position on gay marriages is stated in Russian official documents, the Family Code and the constitution.

They put it straight that the marriage is a union of a man and a woman. We do not have anything else. Period’.

A group of United Nations independent human rights experts called on Russian lawmakers to scrap the law against ‘homosexual propaganda’.

The group call upon the lower house of the Russian parliament, today (1 Feburary) to drop the bill that imposes severe penalties and which has already been approved by the State Duma.

Reports have just emerged from a remote part of Nigeria, that three men have been brutally assaulted and humiliated after allegedly being caught having gay sex.

According to eyewitness reports, the three men from Ekwe a village close to Umuka in Njaba LGA of Imo state, were stripped naked, tied in ropes and paraded publicly by their community.

Maurice Tomlinson, a Jamaican gay activist, had recently sued the two station alleging they breached Jamaica's constitutional charter on fundamental rights and freedoms by refusing the air the pro-gay ads.

During the first hearing on 12 December the court assigned three judges for the constitutional case and marked the next formal hearing to take place from 27 to the 31 of May, 2013.