Azerbaijan: Anti-Gay Crackdown | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• AZERBAIJAN: ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN
• AZERBAIJAN MOURNS TRAGIC KILLG OF GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND REPORTER
• BEG GAY AZERBAIJAN
• BAKU GAY TRAVEL
• AZERBAIJAN WORST PLACE TO BE GAY EUROPE, FDS LGBTI X

AZERBAIJAN: ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN

Gay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorship✔ No censorshipNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsConversn Therapy✖ Not banned.

LGBT employment discrimatn Azerbaijan is no protectns Excerpt: "Gay and lbians n be th unfairly dismissed om their jobs, and homophobia is mon. The report suggts that prciple, there aren't any legal rtrictns around adoptg as an dividual — gay or straight — however, all dividuals are ually nied the right to adopt. (Berl) – Police Azerbaijan have nducted a vlent mpaign, arrtg and torturg men prumed to be gay or bisexual, as well as transgenr women, Human Rights Watch said today.

AZERBAIJAN MOURNS TRAGIC KILLG OF GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND REPORTER

Human Rights Watch terviews wh released tae and lawyers nfirmed that sce mid-September, police Baku, Azerbaijan’s pal, have taed dozens of people on dub charg, beatg and g electric shocks on some of them to erce brib and rmatn about other gay men. “The round-ups Azerbaijan f a faiar horrifyg narrative that explos so-lled tradnal valu to jtify vlence agast sexual and genr mori, ” said Graeme Reid, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights director at Human Rights Watch.

“Authori are targetg gay and bisexual men and transgenr women g tactics that dite an tent to ntue, and win, the crackdown. Human Rights Watch terviewed five gay men, three of whom had been taed durg the September 2017 round-ups, as well as human rights activists and lawyers reprentg dozens of tae var urts Baku.

BEG GAY AZERBAIJAN

Lawyers Human Rights Watch spoke wh nfirmed the nam of 45 gay and bisexual men, and transgenr women, who were taed and sent by urts to up to 30 days’ admistrative tentn September, along wh at least 10 others who were fed and released immediately. In addn, one of the lawyers said that while the official charge is listed as disobeyg police orrs, “In some wrten official materials at the police statns, I saw that police had wrten that the dividuals were gay or transgenr, and that they were arrted on siwalks as they were shoutg or arrangg sex work.

BAKU GAY TRAVEL

On September 27, Ehsan Zahidov, spokman for the Internal Affairs Mistry, said that police were rpondg to plats om Baku rints that gay men were visible on the streets.

While the protectn of public health is a legimate tert of the state, nnot jtify the arbrary tentn of dozens of gay men and transgenr women. “Official jtifitns for this anti-gay crackdown are as bog and dangero as the charg police have ed to arrt people, ” Reid said.

AZERBAIJAN WORST PLACE TO BE GAY EUROPE, FDS LGBTI X

In s 2016 review of Azerbaijan, the UN Human Rights Commtee exprsed ncern about “discrimatn and vlence agast persons on the basis of their sexual orientatn and genr inty, cludg wh the fay and by police and prison officials…and extortn of money om lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr persons some police statns return for not disclosg their sexual orientatn or genr inty. One of the five gay men terviewed, “Ram, ” who, like others terviewed, is intified by a psdonym for their protectn, told Human Rights Watch: “On September 19, my iend received a Whatsapp msage that a gay guy, whom he did not know before, wanted to meet him to have sex.

“Val, ” a 27-year-old gay man, said: “On September 18, two people pla cloth knocked on my door the afternoon.

“Elgiz, ” a 21-year-old gay man Baku told Human Rights Watch he was at his male partner’s apartment alone on September 20 when the landlord knocked on the door. And “Taleh, ” a 26-year-old gay man said that on September 18, six pla-cloth officials mand to see his and his iends’ intifitn documents when they were stg central Baku’s Founta Square. Authori appear to have gathered signifint amounts of telligence regardg prumed gay and bisexual men, their sexual partners, and possible sex work clients – both through past raids and surveillance, and the tensified mpaign, rried out September 2017.

From my phone, they reached some of my partners and some very rpected [wealthy] gay persons, and they began to blackmail them [on the premise that] they had an affair wh me.

When Elgiz and his partner were taken to the Organized Crime Un, he said, he regnized eight other gay men who were also held there.

Before releasg him, Organized Crime Un officers orred Elgiz to work as an rmant: “I was orred to operate wh police as an rmer and regularly update police on gays, their gatherg areas, and intify rich gays.

Azerbaijani thori have not nied that gay men and transgenr women Baku have been round up official raids begng mid-September.

On September 27, Zahidov, the Internal Affairs Mistry spokman, said an terview wh EurasiaNet that police were rpondg to plats om rints Baku that gay men were visible on the streets: “People pla that such people walk among , walk our streets, and s our fés. A youth anizatn supportive of the ernment claimed that Ali Karimli, the director of an opposn popular ont party, was gay.

On the other hand, Islamic groups publicly advote agast homosexuals and, the procs, are often fluenced by neighborg Iran, where homosexualy is punishable by ath. Jt a few weeks before the Eurovisn Song Contt, a Mlim group appeared at a sanctned monstratn anized by the opposn, loudly clarg their hostily towards homosexuals and the ia of a possible gay-lbian para Baku. Other than that, the Eurovisn Song Contt seems to have left behd a mimal effect regardg tolerance towards homosexuals.

The murr of a proment Azerbaijani reporter and gay rights activist is a tragedy for the untry’s media and civil society, a media analyst said.

Last year, the journalist chaed himself to the fence outsi the chief prosecutor’s office to prott a lack of actn agast threats to the gay muny. Friends of the journalist say he was harassed by his fay and others for his work and his sexual orientatn, cludg a blogger who lled for vlence agast gay people.

Hate crim are a ser issue Azerbaijan, wh attacks, onle harassment and threats a risk, the umbrella gay rights anizatn ILGA-Europe says. But Javid Nabiyev, a LGBTQ+ rights fenr, says that every crime agast the gay muny Azerbaijan is polil s nature. The Council of Europe last month adopted a rolutn on gay rights Azerbaijan and the Southern Cs, llg for better laws and polici to protect cizens’ rights.

LGBT employment discrimatn Baki is no protectns Excerpt: "Gay and lbians n be th unfairly dismissed om their jobs, and homophobia is mon.

Lbian, gay, bisexuals, and transgenr (LGBT) persons Azerbaijan may face legal challeng not experienced by non-LGBT rints. HistorySocietyMediaLeratureCurrent suatnSuici of Isa ShahmarliLGBT OrganizatnsReferencAfter clarg pennce om Rsia 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic did not have laws agast homosexualy.

Dpe Vladimir Len havg crimalized homosexualy Soviet Rsia, sexual terurse between men (rrectly termed perasty the laws, rather than the technilly accurate term sodomy) beme a crimal offense 1923 Azerbaijan SSR, punishable by up to five years prison for nsentg adults, or up to eight years if volved force or threat. Repeal of Article 121 was a requirement for Azerbaijan to jo the Council of Europe, and after sodomy was removed om the Azerbaijan crimal 2000, Azerbaijan beme the 43rd member state of the Council on 25 January most other Post-Soviet era untri, Azerbaijan remas a place where homosexualy is an issue surround by nfn. There is hardly any objective or rrect rmatn on the psychologil, soclogil and legal aspects of homosexualy Azerbaijan, wh the rult that the majory of the society simply do not know what homosexualy is.

"Comg out" as a gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr person is therefore rare and dividual LGBT people are aaid of the nsequenc.