Asia-Plus: А геев попрошу остаться зачем ставят на учёт

The article reports that local journalists learned from the departmental journal of the General Prosecutor’s Office Qonuniyat (Конуният, “Legality”, No. 1, 2017) that Tajik police register members of the LGBT community on a special operational list. The article reports that the information came from an article by Minister of Internal Affairs Ramazon Rahimzoda (Рамазон Рахимзода), which stated that in 2016 working groups were created to identify young people belonging to vulnerable groups — homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals — and that through cooperation between the MVD and General Prosecutor’s Office 367 citizens of Tajikistan were identified (319 homosexuals and 48 lesbians) and placed on special operational registration. The article reports that on 18 October 2017 Human Rights First issued an official statement to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling for a US response. The article reports that a General Prosecutor’s Office representative told Asia-Plus the registration does not infringe rights and that names will not be disclosed, with registration framed as a venereal-disease risk measure; the article reports that the MVD did not comment. The article reports data cited at an MVD press conference for the first half of 2014, including 259 persons registered under “homosexuality and lesbianism”. The article reports on a 65-page report by International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR / Международное партнёрство по правам человека) titled “LGBT in Tajikistan: beatings, violence and extortion by police officers”, published July 2017, which the article says documents dozens of cases of intimidation, physical and sexual violence and arbitrary detention, with police allegedly threatening to disclose sexual orientation to families and employers and extorting money. The article reports statements by an LGBT rights defender Islom Alizoda (Ислом Ализода), who left Tajikistan, on pressures to lead a double life, lack of open LGBT organisations, and reluctance to seek help. Sources cited: Qonuniyat journal; the MVD minister’s article; Human Rights First; IPHR report; anonymous gay respondents; and Islom Alizoda.