Human Rights Watch have releases a new report saying persistent Malaysian government-sponsored discrimination threatens the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the country. The 71-page report, “‘I Don’t Want to Change Myself’: Anti-LGBT Conversion Practices, Discrimination, and Violence in Malaysia,” claims that government officials have fostered a hostile climate in which LGBT and gender diverse […]
Human Rights Watch has described a series of recent arrests for consensual gay sex in The Maldives as being politically motivated and called on the country to decriminalise consensual sex between same-sex partners. Authorities should drop cases against four men and cease investigations to identify others who may have engaged in consensual same-sex relations in steps […]
Concern has been raised over the imprisonment of two men in Egypt. Human Rights Watch has drawn attention to the case of the men who have reportedly been abused and subjected to anal examinations. When Seif Bedour, 21, returned to Egypt this year to visit his family after years studying abroad, he did not expect […]
Human Rights Watch have warned that rising discrimination against the LGBTI community in Indonesia is having a negative effect on the countries efforts to tackle HIV. “The Indonesian government should recognize that its role in abuses against LGBT people is seriously compromising the country’s response to HIV,” said Kyle Knight, LGBT rights researcher at Human […]
A new campaign from Human Rights Watch is telling the stories of LGBTI+ people living in North Africa and the Middle East. The #NoLongerAlone series was created in partnership with the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality and released alongside Audacity in Adversity: LGBT Activism in the Middle East and North Africa – a report from the […]
An Indonesian court has handed down two-year prison sentences to ten men who were charged with breaking the country’s anti-pornography laws. The men were accused of taking part in a ‘gay sex party’ at a Jakarta Sauna. Over 140 men were arrested at the venue earlier this year, most were let off, but ten have […]
Prosecutors in the Indonesian province of Aceh have called for two men, who were caught having sex by their neighbours, be punished with 80 strokes of the rattan. The two men, aged 20 and 23, were arrested after their neighbours secretly filmed them having sex in the privacy of their own home. They neighbours […]
Human Rights Watch has raised concern that eight men who were arrested for taking part in a ‘gay party’ in Indonesia were forced to undergo tests for HIV. Police in the Indonesia city Surabaya announced they arrested fourteen men who were taking part in a ‘gay party’ last week. Officers busted in on a party […]
Chechen men who are in hiding after being allegedly detained by authorities have spoken out about their ordeal. A Chechen man named Ruslan* has spoken to the BBC about his recent experiences in the Chechen Republic, an autonomous region of Russia. The man said he had been questioned by authorities in his home, and then […]
Human Rights Watch has raised concern about the increased level of police complicity in the harassment of LGBT people in Indonesia. An Islamic group with a reputation with a reputation for harrassing minorities has claimed that it worked with police to break up a so-called sex party in Jakarta. The group, the Islamic Defenders Front […]
