Country Reports

Human Rights Watch report (2009).

Accoring to Human Rights Watch, the situation for LGBT people in Iraq is very worrying. The report describes how sexual minorities have been further marginalized during the war, especially by the Mahdi army who have killed and tortured LGBT persons. Through interviews with marginalized sexual minoritites HRW documents the problems and stress that the political leaders of Iraq must react to those.

HRW points to the Arab Charter on Human Rights, adopted in 1994 by the Council of the League of Arab States, of which Iraq is a member, which states in article 5 that “Every individual has the right to life, liberty and security of person. These rights shall be protected by law.”

Therefore the Iraqi authorities are obliged not to ignore known threats to the life of people within their jurisdiction, and to take reasonable and appropriate measures to protect LGBT persons. HRW ends the report by listing recommendations to the political leaders and the military.

Human Rights Watch Report (2010) documenting discrimination and violence against LGBT persons in Iran.

Human Rights Watch analyzed these abuses within the context of systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the Iranian government against its citizens generally, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, invasions of privacy, mistreatment, torture of detainees, and the lack of due process and fair trial standards. HRW calls on the Iranian government to abolish the laws and other legislation under the Islamic Penal Code that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct, especially those that impose the death penalty, and to cease the harassment, arrest, detention, prosecution, and conviction of LGBT persons or persons who engage in consensual same-sex conduct.

At least the report calls on other states and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to implement policies and recommendations to safeguard the rights of Iran’s vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers.

2016, 7 pages

This report explores online opportunities and challenges for LGBT people in Jordan, and how digital and traditional media coverage affects the LGBT Arab identity. Same sex relationships are legal in Jordan, but the LGBT community remains subject to discrimination and prejudice. Sexuality in general remains a taboo topic, and sexual expression outside the context of traditional marriage is condemned. Most Jordanians do not know any openly LGBT people and many dismiss homosexuality as part of a dangerous foreign agenda, aligned with Western thought and cultural imperialism. LGBT Jordanians are therefore often torn between their sexuality and their Muslim Arab identity.

2015, 84 pages

This report from Amnesty International examines the state of violence against women and looks at people who experience violence because of their gender identity or sexual orientation in Tunisia, often considered the Arab world’s most progressive state for women’s rights and gender equality.

The report features interviews with survivors of sexual assault, rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment providing a comprehensive picture of the ongoing violence that continues to pervade Tunisian society.

The report also assesses existing laws which are failing to protect survivors of such violence, despite some positive steps taken by the authorities to promote gender equality and combat sexual and gender-based violence.

2017, 47 pages

This report by Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration consists of the interviews conducted in 2016 and it reflects on the legislative framework relating to sexuality, LGBT-related violence, and examples of trials involving homosexuality in Morocco.