Amnesty International on Thursday called on South Korea to decriminalize same-sex relationships for men in the military, warning current laws fuel violence, discrimination and stigmatization against gay soldiers.
The human rights group said South Korea’s military code “does not comply with the international human rights obligations the state has signed on to.”
“By institutionalizing discrimination, laws criminalizing sex between men reinforce systematic prejudices toward gay men, bisexual men, transgender people and non-binary people, whether in the military or in the street or in the home,” Amnesty said in a report released on Thursday.
The South Korean ministry of defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in the past South Korea has defended the code as necessary to maintain discipline.
The Amnesty report comes as South Korea engages in a broader debate over the future of its conscript military force – with recent court rulings clearing the way for conscientious objectors and political leaders promising to shorten service commitments – as well as controversy over changing social norms.
Amnesty urged South Korea to repeal Article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Act, which it said effectively prohibited and punished sex between men in the military.
“The military code in South Korea allows the invasion of privacy of soldiers alleged to be engaging in sex between men both on and off base, and on or off duty,” the report concluded.
“Decriminalization does not solve the entire issue, but it is a crucial first step toward respecting, protecting and fulfilling the human rights of LGBTI people.”
Homosexual activity is not criminalized for South Korean civilians, but same-sex couples do not have the right to marry of adopt.
In March, the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) submitted an amicus brief in a challenge to the military code now before South Korea’s Constitutional Court, alleging that the code “violates many norms of international law”.
“South Korea’s military sodomy law is a blight on the country’s human rights record and multiple human rights bodies have called for its abolition,” Graeme Reid, the LGBT rights director at HRW, said at the time.
A survey of South Koreans released in March by the Academy of Korean Studies found about 45 percent of respondents were comfortable working around gay people, while less than 16 percent said they would be comfortable with an gay person in their family.
A gay man in Dominica plans to challenge his country’s sodomy law.
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, a Toronto-based advocacy group, on Monday announced the man will file the lawsuit in Dominica’s High Court of Justice in the coming weeks. A press release says the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program is among the other organizations that are supporting the plaintiff who has asked to remain anonymous.
Dominica is a former British colony that is located between Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Lesser Antilles.
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network notes the gay man plans to challenge two provisions of Dominica’s Sexual Offenses Act that criminalizes anal sex and “gross indecency” with up to 10 years and 12 years in prison respectively.
“The claimant at the center of this case is a gay man who could face more than a decade in prison for private sexual intercourse with consenting adult same-sex partners,” reads the group’s press release. “Already, he has experienced homophobic hostility, discrimination, harassment and physical and sexual assaults fueled by these hateful laws.”
The press release specifically notes police “refused to investigate” an attack against the gay man that took place in his home and “allowed his attacker to remain free.”
Goal is ‘to end the criminalization of consensual sexual activity’
Dominica is among the Caribbean countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.
The Trinidad and Tobago High Court in 2018 found the country’s sodomy law unconstitutional. The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network has backed lawsuits against similar statutes in Jamaica and Barbados.
Darryl Philip, founder of Minority Rights Dominica, an LGBTI advocacy group in Dominica, in the press release said the experiences of the gay man who plans to challenge the island’s sodomy law “are sadly not unique and are instead a daily reality of many LGBT people in Dominica and elsewhere in the Caribbean.”
“Because the law criminalizes all LGBT people, it sends a powerful message that other people — whether law enforcement or regular citizens on the street — are entitled to discriminate and commit human rights abuses against LGBT individuals,” added Philip.
Maurice Tomlinson, a senior policy analyst at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, added the law also has an adverse impact on efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in Dominica.
“Dominica is in the midst of an ongoing HIV crisis,” said Tomlinson in the press release. “A man seeking HIV testing or visiting the doctor for a check-up who indicates he is sexually active with a male partner is actually confessing to a crime. This reality poses significant barriers to effective HIV and AIDS health programs.”
“Changing these laws is both a human rights and public health imperative,” added Tomlinson.
The planned lawsuit was announced in New York during the 2019 WorldPride Human Rights Conference, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
“The ultimate goal of these legal challenges is to end the criminalization of consensual sexual activity between people above the age of consent, in particular among same-sex partners,” reads the press release. “The courts can make binding decisions obliging the state to end any breach of the Constitution, including by changing its laws.”
Japan’s major opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) pledged to protect LGBT rights as it announced its election promises on Monday.
It would implement anti-discrimination legislation and legalize same-sex marriage if it wins upper house elections this year, party president Yukio Edano said according to local media.
The party is stressing diversity as the source of creativity and a vigorous society, NHK reported.
Japan will next month elect 124 of the 245 members of the House of Councillors, the country’s upper house of parliament.
Conservative Japan does not allow same-sex marriage. National laws do not protect LGBTI people from discrimination.
But, in Tokyo, a city-wide anti-discrimination bill protects against discrimination based on gender identity or sexuality.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is known for its anti-LGBT stance. Its lawmakers have made homophobic comments. And, the administration has shown little interest in advancing LGBT rights.
But, in the last year, the CDP has drafted bills to end discrimination and bring marriage equality.
Earlier this month, the CDP joined other opposition parties to draft a bill that would change the country’s definition of marriage from a ‘man and a woman’.
Hate crimes against transgender people in England, Scotland and Wales have risen 81 percent, the BBC reported last week.
The news service obtained the data from 36 out of 44 police departments throughout Great Britain. The data showed an increase to 1,944 reported hate crimes based on gender identity compared to 1,073 in 2016-2017.
The U.K.’s Home Office told the BBC the uptick in the numbers of hate crimes is due to an increase in victims reporting them.
Two police forces — Suffolk Constabulary and Merseyside Police — saw a decrease in hate crimes, while both the West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire Police saw a threefold increase, according to the service.
In response to the BBC’s report, the U.K. LGBTI rights group Stonewall said the data shows just how much discrimination trans people face daily.
The organizations’ director of campaigns, policy and research, Laura Russell, pointed to the group’s Trans Report that found two out of five trans people were victims of a hate crime or incident within the previous year. She continued that Stonewall’s research also shows the significance of underreporting these crimes.
“These statistics are the real-life consequences of a society where transphobia is everywhere — from the front pages of newspapers, to social media, and on our streets,” Russell said. “We need people to realize how severe the situation is for trans people, and to be active in standing up as a visible ally to trans people, in whatever way they can.”
“Stonewall works with police services and criminal justice agencies across Britain to ensure LGBT people feel more comfortable reporting abuse,” Russell added.
The group’s Trans Report, which was based on responses from more than 800 trans and non-binary people, found that over half of the people included in the study were closeted at work because they were scared of being discriminated against. Thirty-four percent of the respondents had been discriminated against at a cafe or bar because of their gender identity and 44 percent of the study’s respondents even avoided going on certain streets.
Last month, the Guardian reported hate crimes against LGBTI people rose by over 140 percent from 2013-2018. The outlet also noted the vast increase in transphobic attacks, reporting that about half of hate crimes reported against trans people were violent offenses.
Since the U.K.’s referendum to leave the European passed in 2016, hate crimes across the board have increased, according to several studies and media reports. In May, the Guardian reported 71 percent of people from ethnic minority backgrounds said they faced discrimination based on their race. That number was up from 58 percent in January 2016, six months before the Brexit vote. Following Brexit, the LGBTI anti-violence group Galop released research showing a large spike of anti-LGBTQ violence. The group found an increase of almost 150 percent in the 3 months after the referendum.
Homophobic nations attempted to sabotage a LGBTI rights resolution at the United Nations today (12 July).
Nations like Egypt and Pakistan attempted to derail the vote on the Independent Expert for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
The role is intended to hold nations to account on LGBTI issues. Created in 2016, it will now continue for the next three years.
Distracting amendments included removing all mentions of sexual orientation and gender identity from the role.
Another amendment suggested ‘reiterating importance of respecting religion’ in the role.
What is the United Nations Independent Expert for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity?
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres | Photo: Facebook
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the current mandate holder, is chosen by the United Nations to further LGBTI rights.
He has analyzed barriers created by criminalization of homosexuality and stigma of being LGBTI. He intends to assess crises through an intersectional lens that respects grassroots LGBTI advocacy.
The resolution passed 27 to 12 with 7 abstentions during the 41st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Nazhat Shameem Khan, the representative for Fiji, opposed all of the derailing amendments.
‘All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights,’ she also said.
‘Human rights are universal.’
Countries held accountable to protect their LGBTQ citizens
‘Today’s vote ensures… countries will be held accountable to protect their LGBTQ citizens,’ Jean Freedberg, HRC Director of Global Partnerships, said.
‘Yet even as we celebrate this victory, there is so much more to be done to truly protect even the most vulnerable among us, including transgender and intersex people — and to advance our path towards full equality.’
Established in 2016, the IE SOGI also helps nations to develop policies and actions to protect LGBTI people.
‘The extraordinary work of hundreds of human rights defenders and grassroots organisations from all over the world is what made today’s historic result possible’, said Tuisina Ymania Brown and Luz Elena Aranda, co-Secretaries General at ILGA World.
‘Their continuous push for change prompted 56 states to support the renewal of the mandate and send a clear message that the Human Rights Council will support protections against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity’.
‘This resolution to Renew IE SOGI represents a landmark moment,’ Julian Braithwaite, representing UK, also said.
‘It will resonate much beyond this room, especially in the 69 countries that still criminalize consensual same-sex intimacy’.
Britain’s parliament voted on Tuesday in favor of a plan that would compel the government to legalize same-sex marriage and extend abortion rights in Northern Ireland, if the province is unable to re-establish its own devolved government.
The changes passed with a large majority in parliament in London on Tuesday and turned a routine, technical piece of legislation into a vehicle that could enact major social reforms in Northern Ireland.
The province is the only part of the United Kingdom where same-sex marriage is not allowed, and laws there forbid abortion except where a mother’s life is at risk.
To the south, once staunchly conservative Ireland legalized same-sex marriage in 2015 and liberalized its abortion laws in a separate referendum last year.
The legislation has several stages to pass before it creates a legal duty on the British government to amend Northern Ireland’s laws. That duty only comes into effect if the Northern Irish assembly, which collapsed in 2017, has not been re-established by Oct. 21.
Earlier this year, thousands of people marched through Belfast to demand the recognition of same-sex marriage.
Previous attempts to legislate for same-sex marriage have been blocked by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a key ally of British Prime Minister Theresa May, despite opinion polls in recent years showing most in the region are in favor.
Advocacy groups have called on the government to bypass the frozen local assembly and introduce legislation in the British parliament in Westminster.
Last year, Britain’s Supreme Court found Northern Ireland’s strict abortion law was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights but said it did not have the powers to make a formal declaration that the law should be changed.
Northern Ireland has been without a devolved executive for 2.5 years since Irish nationalists Sinn Fein withdrew from the compulsory power-sharing government with the pro-British DUP.
On-off talks to restore the executive resumed in May after a hiatus of more than a year but have made no obvious progress. Ireland’s government said last week key differences remained.
Sinn Fein, which has consistently raised the DUP’s stance on same-sex marriage as a major stumbling block in the political talks, said the issue should be addressed by the local assembly but that it was inevitable that the British government’s failure to defend “basic rights available everywhere else on the islands would be confronted”, as it was by parliament on Tuesday.
Police in the east African state of Malawi have arrested two of its most prominent LGBTI campaigners.
Authorities arrested Gift Trapence on charges of fraud. Trapence heads the LGBTI organizaton, the Center for Development of People (CEDEP).
They also arrested Anglican priest and human rights activist, Reverend Macdonald Sembereka. The two men are members of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC).
Police raided Trapence’s home, just a week after he staged public demonstrations, protesting the May election results. Trapence has openly criticized and protested against newly reelected President Peter Mutharika.
Recently, the president accused Trapence of trying to create a ‘lawless society’.
Sembereka and Trapence organized the protests on behalf of HRDC, which call for the chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission to resign.
The protests descended into violence with some protesters turning to looting, burning tires and fighting police. Police arrested more than 70 people after the clashes.
‘We are not attacking the government; and no one wants to overthrow the government. These peaceful demonstrations are being done to force Jane Ansah to resign,’ Trapence said.
But police accused Trapence of fraud ‘involving millions of Kwacha.’ (hundreds of thousands in US dollars).
The state broadcaster said an international organization filed a complaint against. One report suggested the local UNAIDS bureau filed the complaint, but it has not confirmed that report.about Trapence’s alleged fraudulent activities.
‘National Police Spokesperson James Kadadzera said police have arrested the two for misappropriation of donor aid money, with the complaint being lodged by the United Nations (UN) Agency,’ according to the Malawi Freedom Network.
That some article also said people reacted with surprise at the timing of the two activists.
The MWF wrote: ‘many people, who are wondering as to why, their arrest comes at the pick of their heavy criticism of government, amid dissatisfaction over poor management of elections by the state appointed Charperson of the electoral body, Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC).’
Multiple people attacked ex-gay bar owner, Jorge Sarmiento, 42, and his 80-year-old partner, Gerard Argiud, in their Atlántida home, according to reports.
In April 2017, unknown assailants strangled a trans woman, who also performed in drag,to death.
Sherlyn Montoya’s body was wrapped in sacks in a small alley in the northern part of the capital Tegucigalpa.
Human Rights Watch has updated our marriage equality map, which provides an overview of countries with marriage equality, civil unions or registered partnership; links to the relevant legislation; and, where possible, a brief explanation of the path – legislative, judicial, or other – that these countries took to achieve marriage equality or to provide for same-sex civil unions or registered partnership.
As legal situations change in countries, this map will be further updated.
In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to open civil marriage to same-sex couples. Other countries followed. Today there are 28 countries with marriage equality—most recently, Austria, Ecuador and Taiwan– with Costa Rica expected to join the list soon.
An additional fourteen countries have made civil unions or registered partnerships available for same-sex couples. In some cases, civil unions or registered partnership provide all the same rights and responsibilities of civil marriage and differ in name only; countries with such laws include Croatia, Greece, Slovenia and Switzerland. In other cases, civil unions provide some, but not all, of these rights.
In 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion on the interpretation of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights in respect of marriage equality. The Court encouraged member states to take actions towards eliminating discrimination and achieving marriage equality.
There are causes to celebrate during Pride Month, as laws and policies continue to improve LGBT rights around the world.
We hope this map will assist those who are looking for this type of information. We decided to only mark independent countries on our map and not overseas territories, regions, departments or possessions. That’s why we did not include Bermuda, Greenland or Aruba for instance. If you have additional information, you can contact Human Rights Watch via [email protected]
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Click on each country for a snapshot of current legislation. For more information and Human Rights Watch reporting on LGBT rights, click on the country name in the black pop-up box.
According to The Guardian, the group are the first of 15 LGBT+ refugees finally coming to London after they were accepted onto a resettlement scheme, which is supposed to be faster than the lengthy asylum process, more than two years ago.
During that time, they have been waiting in Turkey where, although being gay is legal, homophobic and transphobic abuse are common and the government ruled that the group were in danger in the country.
Members of the group received death threats and were having to hide in safe houses to avoid violence, the newspaper reported.
The four refugees are in a “state of joy,” and the 11 others are expected to follow soon.
The refugees “will proudly march with Pride for the first time in their lives”
Toufique Hossain and Sheroy Zaq, solicitors who launched the legal action, told The Guardian: “These men have been forced to conceal an enormous part of their identity, not just in their country of origin but also in Turkey.
“The detriment they suffered as a result of their sexuality in Turkey simply could not go on any longer; we had to ensure that their resettlement was expedited through legal channels.
“We are elated that they will at last be able to be open about their sexuality in all walks of life, just in time for Pride.”
The refugees were offered housing by the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and the leader of the council also told the publication: “No one anywhere should ever face death threats because of their sexuality.
“I’m so happy that we have been able to provide safe refuge for these young people and that tomorrow they will proudly march with Pride for the first time in their lives.”