International human rights organizations have published the report “Like on another planet: gay, bisexual men and trans* people face violence, imprisonment and discrimination in Uzbekistan”.
Information provided to IPHR by the National Center for Human Rights of Uzbekistan (NCHR) and the Commissioner for Human Rights of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan (Legislative Chamber of Parliament) in January and February 2022, respectively, indicates that in 2021, 36 people were convicted under Article 120 of the Criminal Code; 25 of them were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.
However, these statistics are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, many more people live under the looming threat of Article 120 prosecution in their daily lives. The joint report documented the use by police of the criminalization of homosexuality and associated public stigma to threaten and intimidate gay and bisexual men with imprisonment and extort money from them in exchange for not prosecuting or not informing his relatives, neighbors or employers about his sexual orientation.
Also it was documented the practice of police torture and cruel treatment of gays and bisexuals in order to punish and humiliate them, as well as persuade them to pay a large bribe in order to regain their freedom. By order of law enforcement officers, doctors allegedly often do anal examinations to identify evidence of homosexual intercourse, despite the fact that this is tantamount to maltreatment, useless and unscientific according to the World Medical Association.
Ravshan, a young bisexual, recalled how he was treated by the police after his arrest. “They hung me from the ceiling with handcuffs, beat me severely and tried to rape me with a baton.” After that, the police officers laid Ravshan on the floor, and one of the officers jumped on his stomach. Ravshan said, “I have never been beaten and intimidated like that in my life. I wanted to die so that I could be free from this torture.” When the police threatened to put him in jail under Article 120 if he didn’t give them $2,000, he paid and was released.
Earlier, ACCA wrote about the violation of the rights of a transgender woman in colony No.42. Nigina, who was bullied by the prisoners, turned to the human rights activists of the initiative group “Open line” for help. In the men’s barracks, for obvious reasons, she wasn’t favored, and the head of the colony, Normukhamed Isakhanov, forbade female prisoners from communicating with the transgender. After the publication of ACCA, the persecution of Nigina was stopped. She was saved from torment by the publication in which, with her permission, the name and surname were revealed. The vast majority of those persecuted are not ready to legally defend their rights because of the fear of losing their lives in a traditional society.
The police often have access to the personal information of gay and bisexual men registered with HIV treatment centers.
“Gay and bisexual men, seeking treatment at HIV treatment centers, cannot be sure that their personal information will remain confidential. We documented cases where employees of the HIV center reported a man’s sexual orientation to the police, exposing him to the risk of persecution. This is a violation of the right to privacy and represents a serious barrier to access to much-needed medical care,” explains Yuri Yorsky from ECOM.
Moreover, aggressive homophobes often search social networks for gay, bisexual, transgender people and those who promote tolerance towards the LGBT community, threaten them with violence and distribute their names, contact details and photos on the Internet with calls to punish and kill them. In case of danger, these people cannot count on the protection of the police. Some violent homophobes have close relationships with homophobic police officers and share information about gay, bisexual and transgender people in order to harm them.
The president of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, Nadejda Atayeva, additionally pointed out that there are cases when the police used the fear of being branded gay by extending the threat of imprisonment under Article 120 not only to gay and bisexual people, but also to heterosexual men and devout Muslims. This is another reason why this article, which opens the door to police abuse, should be repealed.
In addition, the authorities of Uzbekistan severely restrict the right to freedom of speech when it comes to expressing support for LGBT people and disseminating information about human rights violations that affect them. For example, blogger Miraziz Bazarov was sentenced in January 2022 to 3 years of restricted freedom as punishment for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, including expressing solidarity with LGBT people.
In recent years, representatives of the government of Uzbekistan, the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR), and the Commissioner for Human Rights of Oliy Majlis (Legislative Chamber of Parliament) have justified the criminalization of same-sex relationships with references to religion, culture, traditions and public opinion, arguing that decriminalization will have negative consequences for society and for the country’s reputation in the Muslim world. However, they didn’t recognize or consider the fact that depriving people of their liberty because of their sexual orientation is contrary to the country’s obligations under international human rights law.
The head of the Administration of Samarkand, Boburmirzo Oblakulov, delivered a speech in August 2021 in which he stated that there was no place for LGBT representatives in Uzbekistan, calling for the country to be cleansed of Western values and destructive forces that seek to demoralize the nation, destroying the moral values of youth.
In August 2020, the state television of Uzbekistan broadcasted a 90-minute program criticizing feminism and same-sex relationships as foreign elements requiring resistance. During the broadcast, some experts spoke and described the LGBT movement as a cultural and spiritual virus, more dangerous than the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing, in particular, the danger of same-sex marriage and sex change operations. The program also warned young people to avoid being influenced by homosexuals and copying gay fashion. As part of this grotesque narrative, Mansur Musaev (head of the Department at the Republican Center for Spirituality and Enlightenment) stated that European gays recognize each other by short socks (or lack of them) and shaved temples.
The authors of the report prepared recommendations to the authorities of the country, which in October 2020 was elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the period from 2021 to 2023. According to the resolution creating this Council, a member country must ‘maintain the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights’.
The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA), the Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity (ECOM), as well as the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) worked on the report.
