NEW YORK
The U.N. Security Council on Monday held a meeting over Daesh attacks on sexual minorities, in which council members heard accounts from two gay men from Syria and Iraq.
The closed-door informal session, organized by the U.S. and Chile, marked the first time the council held a meeting focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said the meeting was "a sign that this issue is getting injected into the mainstream at the United Nations".
"We are getting the issue into the DNA of the United Nations," she told reporters after the meeting.
Subhi Nahas, a Syrian gay refugee who told the council of being targeted by Daesh, said his aim was to draw attention to the existence of the LGBT community in the Middle East and Africa.
Nahas had been targeted for being gay by Syrian government soldiers before he left the country, Power said.
Another gay man, nicknamed "Adnan" for security reasons, also told the council the account of how he fled northern Iraq after being marked for death by Daesh.
He spoke to the council by phone rather than by video link as he feared he could be attacked by Daesh if identified, Power said.
Attendance to informal meetings by council members is not compulsory. Representatives of Chad and Angola were not present at the session.
Daesh has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, on which it has declared what it calls a cross-border Islamic caliphate.
The terrorist group is said to have claimed responsibility for executing at least 30 people for sodomy.
