High Commissioner Pillay was the keynote speaker at the conference on Non-discrimination and Development, organized by the European Commission on 1 June 2012 in Brussels. While addressing all forms and grounds of discrimination, the event focused above all on the rights of LGBTI persons. The High Commissioner acknowledged that Europe has been in the vanguard of LGBTI rights but also mentioned some East European countries where troubling proposals for laws have been tabled. She emphasized that such proposals were wrong and that, if adopted, such legislation would make open discussion of sexual orientation all but impossible.

Much of the discussion at the event concerned the perceived gap between the positions of European and African countries and the question whether the latter were “ready” to address the issue of LGBT rights. Lack of public support for protection of LGBTI rights, or even for decriminalization of same-sex relationships, were cited as reasons why this issue cannot be addressed in Africa at present.

The High Commissioner pointed out: “In South Africa, after the end of apartheid, the public was perhaps also not ‘ready’ for equality of LGBTI persons or even for the abolition of the death penalty. But politicians should show leadership on this issue rather than hide behind public opinion and use existing prejudices as excuses for lack of action.”

On the same day, the High Commissioner also met the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, and the EU’s Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, for bilateral talks on key human rights issues in the contemporary world.

Finally, the High Commissioner received an honorary degree from the Catholic University of Leuven, one of the most prestigious universities of Western Europe. In her acceptance speech, she stressed the urgency to draw appropriate lessons from the events of the Arab Spring. Namely, these events show that even seemingly positive development indicators cannot satisfy human beings if they are not accompanied by the enjoyment of basic freedoms; that civil and political rights are clearly linked to economic, social and cultural rights; and that human rights should never be sacrificed to short-term goals in other policies, such as the control of migration.