Human Rights Watch

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Ukraine LGBT Center Broken Into, Vandalized

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A community center that has become a lifeline for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Ukrainians – and hub of humanitarian activity since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – was broken into and vandalized on Tuesday. Photos show that the door of the Insight office in the northwestern city of Lutsk was shattered, with broken glass and paper covering the entryway. Activists say no electronics or documents appear to be missing. Insight is a feminist organization that provides medical care, legal aid, and psychosocial services to queer community members. Since February 2022, the group has housed hundreds of people in three emergency shelters run by LGBT human rights defenders, and, together […]

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Russia Moves to Ban Trans Health Care

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Elected officials in Russia have proposed a new law that would ban transgender people from accessing gender affirming health services – including voluntary surgeries – while allowing operations on intersex children to be carried out without their consent. The bill also prohibits people from changing their name and gender marker on official documents. The bill essentially infringes on the rights of both transgender people and intersex children. Consenting transgender adults who seek medical interventions to affirm their gender identity will be barred from those services while children born with variations in their sex characteristics – also known as intersex children – will […]

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Marriage Equality Gets a Boost in South Korea

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Lawmakers in South Korea have introduced legislation that would extend the right to marry to same-sex couples. This important legislation would finally enshrine the rights of same-sex couples in the country. The bill would amend the gendered definition of marriage in the country’s civil code, allowing same-sex couples to marry and extending them the same rights and benefits afforded to heterosexual married couples. Meanwhile, the National Assembly is also considering legislation that would create civil partnerships as an alternative to marriage for both same-sex couples and heterosexual couples. In the absence of partnership recognition, same-sex couples in South Korea are […]

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Russia, Homophobia and the Battle for ‘Traditional Values’

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In December 2022, ten months into the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, the Duma extended the scope of Russia’s ‘gay propaganda’ law forbidding the public portrayal of ‘non-traditional sexual relations’. Previously focused on minors, the prohibited exposure would now apply to any age group. Why would Russia’s parliament do this in the middle of a war? The amendment might appear to have been a trivial effort to distract the public from Russian military losses in Ukraine. But the restrictions, which render life precarious for LGBT+ individuals in Russia, have a much more ambitious purpose—to consolidate conservative support at home and position Russia as the defender […]

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Uganda’s President Signs Repressive Anti-LGBT Law

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Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed a bill criminalizing same sex conduct, including potentially the death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” into law. The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 violates multiple fundamental rights guaranteed under Uganda’s constitution and breaks commitments made by the government as a signatory to a number of international human rights agreements. Uganda’s penal code already punishes same-sex conduct with life imprisonment – a criminal offense that is rarely prosecuted – but the new law creates new crimes such as the vaguely worded “promotion of homosexuality” and introduces the death penalty for several acts considered as […]

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Polish Activists Win Cases Against ‘LGBT-Free Zones’

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On April 21, an appeals court in the Polish city of Białystok threw out a case brought by Przasnysz county authorities against four lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists who founded the “Atlas of Hate” project. This is the first final verdict in favor of the activists who are facing multiple lawsuits for drawing international attention to Poland’s discriminatory “LGBT-Free Zones.” The Atlas of Hate is an interactive map of Poland showing provinces, towns, and municipalities across the country where local authorities have adopted discriminatory “family charters” pledging to “protect children from moral corruption” or declared themselves free from “LGBT ideology.” In December […]

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Nepal: Court Orders Recognition of Same-Sex Spouse

The Supreme Court of Nepal has instructed the government to recognize the same-sex foreign spouse of a Nepali citizen, Human Rights Watch said today. The court also instructed the government to urgently consider a 2015 court-ordered report that recommended broader recognition of same-sex relationships. Building on judgments from 2007 and 2017 that recognized rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, the court ruled that failure to recognize same-sex spouses violates Nepal’s constitution and its international human rights obligations. “The Supreme Court has again drawn attention to the government’s lagging implementation of court orders to recognize same-sex relationships,” said Kyle Knight, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights […]

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Peru Ruling a Victory for LGBT Equality

In a landmark unanimous ruling published last week, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found Peru responsible for violating Crissthian Olivera Fuentes’ rights to equality before the law and to judicial protection, after he faced discrimination in a commercial establishment and from Peruvian authorities. In August 2004, Olivera and his partner, both gay men, visited a supermarket in Lima, during which time they acted affectionately toward each other. After a customer complained that their public display of affection disturbed him and allegedly affected nearby children, supermarket staff and security asked Olivera and his partner to desist or exit the premises. Olivera called the interaction […]

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Marriage Equality Could Bring Women Autonomy and Safety

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A coalition of queer feminist organizations and individuals in India have issued a groundbreaking report that ties state and religious opposition to marriage equality to the subjugation of women, queer, and trans people via parental control. The report lands as India’s Supreme Court is hearing the final arguments in a case over the legalization of same-sex marriage. While India’s marriage equality debate has been framed almost exclusively as a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issue in the national and international media, the report’s authors see it as a family issue, because the court is ruling on whether adults have a say in forming chosen […]

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Would the Pope Fall Foul of Uganda’s Pending Anti-LGBTQ+ Law?

Ugandan lawmakers have passed extreme legislation, that includes the death penalty for repeat offenders, requires people to report anyone suspected of being gay or lesbian to the authorities, and could send activists to jail for 20 years. President Yoweri Museveni has 30 days to sign the bill for it to become law. This is an apt moment to recall Pope Francis’s recent statements that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unjust,” and that the Catholic Church can and should oppose them. Recognizing that certain Catholic bishops support such laws, the Pope remarked on the need for change within the Church and emphasized the importance […]

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