International

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Tunisia: Harassment, Arbitrary Detention of LGBT Rights Activist

A Tunisian court sentenced a prominent LGBT rights activist on March 4, 2021, to six months in prison and a fine for shouting outside a police station after officers refused to register her harassment complaint, Human Rights Watch said today. The activist, Rania Amdouni, 26, is in a women’s prison in Manouba, west of Tunis, where her lawyer said she has faced harassment by prison guards due to her gender expression. Police arrested Amdouni on February 27 at 8 p.m. after she left the 7 eme police station in downtown Tunis in a distraught state, said her lawyer Hamadi Hanchiri. At the […]

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Poland Breaches EU Obligations Over LGBT, Women’s Rights

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For 30 days, beginning January 17, European Union commissioners received daily Twitter notifications linking to personal stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Poles who have been harmed  by the  so-called “LGBT Ideology Free Zones” or anti-LGBT “Family Charters” in nearly 100 Polish regions, towns, and cities. The tweets were part of a campaign led by two Polish LGBT groups, Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii, KPH) and The Equality Foundation (Fundacja Równości, FR), calling on EU Commissioners to initiate an infringement procedure – a legal action that can lead to referral to the European Court of Justice – against Poland. The “LGBT-free zones” […]

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Colin Robinson, activist who fought for LGBT+ equality throughout the Caribbean, dies

LGBT+ trailblazer Colin Robinson has tragically died at age 59 of colon cancer. The author and activist, from Trinidad and Tobago, died at his sister’s house in Washington, DC on 4 March. Robinson was an LGBT+ activist for more than 40 years, fighting for pride and equality all over the Caribbean. He founded CAISO in 2009, a Trinidadian LGBT+ advocacy organisation. In the 1990s he co-founded the Audre Lorde Project and Caribbean Pride while he was studying in New York City. Between 1998 and 2003 he was on the international board of directors of OutRight Action. One of his most important […]

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Human Rights Watch Submission on the Republic of Malawi to the UN Human Rights Committee

We write to you ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s upcoming review of the Republic of Malawi to highlight key areas of concern in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity that Human Rights Watch hopes will inform this aspect of the Committee’s consideration of the government of Malawi’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This submission covers the lack of progress made on key concerns related to sexual orientation highlighted by the Committee during its last review of Malawi in 2014, including criminalisation of consensual adult same-sex sexual conduct, violence against lesbian, gay, […]

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Panama: Bill Bars Same-Sex Couples from Adoption

Panama’s National Assembly passed a bill on March 3, 2021, that includes a discriminatory prohibition on adoption by same-sex couples, Human Rights Watch said today. Bill No.120, which aims to protect children and adolescents from unnecessary separation from their biological family, allows for adoption by both single persons and married couples. However, not only are same-sex marriages not yet legal in Panama, but the bill defines eligible married couples as those composed of partners of “different sex.” President Laurentino Cortizo should veto articles 22 and 26 of the bill, which violate international human rights standards on non-discrimination, respect for private and family life, and […]

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Global Trends in LGBT Rights During the Covid-19 Pandemic

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It’s impossible to evaluate what the year 2020 looked like from the perspective of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s rights without recognizing how Covid-19 put a spanner in the works and made for an especially tumultuous year, including for LGBT people. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed fault lines of inequality, leaving some more vulnerable than others regarding infection, prognosis, and economic impact – including within LGBT communities. In countries where LGBT people face social stigma, moral opprobrium and legal discrimination, they have fewer economic opportunities, and more likely to be poor, particularly in contexts where some LGBT people were left out of […]

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Tunisia: Police Arrest, Use Violence Against LGBTI Activists

Tunisian security forces have repeatedly targeted protesters, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) activists at protests, Human Rights Watch said today. The targeting involved arbitrary arrests, physical assaults, threats to rape and kill, and refusing access to legal counsel. Human Rights Watch documented cases in which the police have singled out LGBTI activists for particular mistreatment at protests. At the same time, social media posts have harassed LGBTI activists, revealing their personal information including home addresses and phone numbers, and “outing” them. Individuals also smeared them online based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and posted their photos with messages inciting violence […]

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EU lawmakers to debate declaring bloc an LGBT ‘freedom zone’

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The European Parliament is scheduled to debate a resolution on Wednesday that would declare the entire 27-member European Union a “freedom zone” for LGBT people. The move comes largely in reaction to developments over the past two years in Poland, where many local communities have adopted largely symbolic resolutions declaring themselves free of what conservative authorities have been calling “LGBT ideology.”  These towns say they are seeking to defend their traditional Catholic values, but LGBT rights activists say the designations are discriminatory and make gays and lesbians feel unwelcome. The areas have come to be colloquially known as “LGBT-free zones.” […]

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Gay man beaten to death in Belgium’s first Anti-gay murder in 9 years

Belgium and its LGBT+ community are reeling from the country’s first homophobic murder in nine years. The victim, a 42-year-old man, was lured to a park before being brutally beaten to death by three youths using Grindr to snare the victim, according to the police. He has been named by Belgian media as “David P”. David’s body was found by a cyclist in the early hours of Sunday at a park just outside the northern port of Antwerp, East Flanders. Local police are still in the early stages of their investigation. Three people have been arrested on suspicion of murder, all of them considered minors […]

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Queer kids are being offered conversion therapy, right now, in the UK

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Dr Igi Moon is a chartered psychologist whose work focuses on psychotherapy, gender, sexuality and emotion. They are also chair of the Coalition for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Against Conversion Therapy, which includes 17 major therapy organisations, such as BPS and UKCP, GPs, NHS England and NHS Scotland, and is pushing for a ban on conversion therapy in the UK.  Moon told PinkNews why a ban on conversion therapy in the UK is vital, and why all healthcare providers “must come together again and fight to stop any of our community being told they need to be ‘cured’”. Are you a white […]

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