IPHR: Rights for All LGBTIQ TJ systematically denied human rights

The report states that the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people continue to be routinely violated in Tajikistan, with police conducting a series of raids against community members in several cities during 2022 and 2023. It states that although Tajikistan decriminalised consensual same-sex relations between adult men in 1998, homophobia and transphobia remain widespread, and that “gender,” “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” were removed from the draft Law on Equality and Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination before its adoption in July 2022. The report states that in 2016 authorities introduced a police register of LGBTIQ people, reporting in 2017 that 319 men and 48 women had been entered. It states that in February 2023 the Minister of Internal Affairs denied the register had ever existed, though Radio Ozodi uncovered a departmental publication in which he himself had reported its creation. On 2022–2023 raids, the report states that police subjected numerous LGBTIQ persons to forced HIV testing, with those testing positive charged under Article 125 part 1 of the Criminal Code or released after paying bribes, including in cases where the accused was not infectious due to antiretroviral treatment. It states that police have continued to exploit the vulnerable situation of LGBTIQ people, with dozens of credible cases of intimidation, physical and sexual abuse, arbitrary detention and extortion documented, and mobile phones seized without court orders leading to subsequent “pornography” charges under Article 241. The report states that perpetrators of such violations typically escape punishment, that victims rarely complain for fear of exposure, and that organisations defending LGBTIQ rights remain at risk of prosecution.