New Zealand Wins 2018 ILGA World Conference Bid
LGA International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex
Association www.ILGA.org
New Zealand
Wins
2018 ILGA World Conference
Bid
Release Date: Friday, 02
December 2016
[IMMEDIATE RELEASE]
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A
collaborative bid of three (3) major New Zealand LGBTI
organisations, i.e. Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand
(ITANZ), Tiwhanawhana Trust, and Rainbow Youth, has
successfully won the bid to hold the next ILGA World
Conference in 2018.
The unanimous decision was made at
the final day of the current 2016 Thailand ILGA World
Conference (Friday, 02 December 2016). Mani Mitchell, bid
representative and ITANZ convenor, said “It is a wonderful
milestone and I am feeling very proud”.
The 2018 ILGA
World conference will mark the 40th anniversary of ILGA
World (formed 1978), the largest and oldest United Nations
(UN) Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) for LGBTI (Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex) people. ILGA’s World
conferences are held rotationally in different countries
around the world, hosting hundreds of international LGBTI
organisational representatives, like this year’s Thailand
ILGA World conference which attracted over 600
delegates.
Until now, an ILGA World conference has never
been hosted in ILGA’s Oceania region, i.e. Australia, New
Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Rawa Karetai, the 2016-2018
ILGA Oceania co-convenor, said “We were very pleased to
have supported this successful bid and look forward to
welcoming ILGA World to our region with open arms, as well
as the many LGBTI activists which will be populating
Wellington in 2018”. He went onto say, “This is a
historic moment as this is the first time an ILGA World
Conference will be in the Oceania Region.”.
Renato
Sabbadini, ILGA World’s Executive Director, “The fact
that the first ILGA World Conference in Oceania will
coincide with ILGA’s 40th anniversary, at the antipodes of
its origin [Coventry, UK], cannot be overstated. It is not
only a testament to the incredible growth of ILGA World in
the last four decades, but also to its genuine ability to
embrace all cultures and let its own spirit be shaped by
them.”
ILGA Oceania is one of six regions of ILGA World (International lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex association) and represents the geographic region encompassed by the sovereign countries of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, based on the South Pacific Forum as well as the non-sovereign territories located in the Oceania Region.
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