Following a four-hour debate by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, 23 council members voted to create the new position of an independent expert on protection from violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people. Eighteen members voted against and six abstained. For the first time, work on this issue will be effectively institutionalized at the Human Rights Council, and there will regular reporting on these issues through the Council and the General Assembly. The expert will be appointed in September, initially for a three-year term.