NEW YORK, April 17, 2009  –  The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has sent a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Salim, requesting that she takes specific measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis and prevent hate crimes against those perceived to be gay.

IGLHRC’s letter, written to coincide with Ms. Salim’s visit to Washington D.C., responds to a recent wave of violent crimes against Iraqi citizens perceived to be gay.

Just hours before IGLHRC sent its letter, an Iraqi group identified as “Fazilat” (Virtue) posted flyers threatening homosexuals with death on walls in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.

The flyers, distributed on April 17, list the names of some of the would-be targets and states that “we will soon punish all you perverts.”  Residents of Sadr City say the people who were outed in these fliers have gone into hiding.

Previous acts of anti-LGBT violence in Iraq include the April 2, 2009 murder of two men in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.

An unidentified local official described these men as “sexual perverts (Monharef Jensiyan) who were killed by members of their tribe to restore their family honour.”

Prior to death, the men’s relatives had disowned them and they were also thrown out of their tribes. So far no one has claimed their bodies and the government has not launched an investigation into the case.

These murders took place one week after Iraqi authorities unearthed the bodies of 4 men killed by gunshots in Sadr City on March 25.

The words “pervert” and “son of a bitch” (jaravah: a derogatory term to describe homosexuals) were written on the chests of the victims.  As part of this new wave of violence, a coffee house in Sadr City that was frequented by gay men has also been burnt down.

Apart from these cases, IGLHRC has also received reports of the arrest, torture, and murder of several members of the group Iraqi-LGBT amid a nationwide government crackdown on gay-friendly businesses across Iraq.

Several other reports indicate dozens of extra-judicial murders of LGBT people across Iraq during the past few months.

In response to these violent murders, on April 8, 2009, IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Procedures of the United Nations to ask for an investigation.

IGLHRC is also working closely with the D.C.-based Council on Global Equality to bring the plight of gay and lesbian Iraqis to the attention of U.S. government officials, who will be meeting with the Iraqi minister next week.

SEE ALSO

Shadowy Group Threatens to Kill Gays in Iraq.  A shadowy group has posted signs around the Iraqi capital’s main Shiite working-class district of Sadr City naming alleged homosexuals on a list and threatening to kill them.  (France 24 News, April 17, 2009)

Member of Iraqi Gay Group Pleads for Help “Before It’s Too Late”.  Is there anyone to help me before it’s too late?  That is the question asked by a member of Iraqi-LGBT in Baghdad, who says he is to be executed, in a letter released at the weekend by Iraqi-LGBT in London. (UK Gay News, April 6, 2009)

Iraqi Gays Sentenced to Death for Their Sexuality Face Execution.  More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and some of them are believed to have been convicted of the ‘crime’ of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group revealed this afternoon.  According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week.  (UK Gay News, March 30, 2009)

srael has joined a group of United Nations member states calling for the institution’s first gay rights declaration, an initiative which has met with resistance by an Arab-backed opposition.

The declaration that was presented Thursday at the UN General Assembly calls for decriminalization of homosexuality. Israel joins states calling for support of UN gay rights declaration
Ha’aretz, Israel -

An unprecedented declaration seeking to decriminalize homosexuality won the support of 66 countries in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, but opponents criticized it as an attempt to legitimize pedophilia and other “deplorable acts.”

The United States refused to support the nonbinding measure, as did Russia, China, the Roman Catholic Church and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Holy See’s observer mission issued a statement saying that the declaration “challenges existing human rights norms.”

The declaration, sponsored by France with broad support in Europe and Latin America, condemned human rights violations based on homophobia, saying such measures run counter to the universal declaration of human rights.

“How can we tolerate the fact that people are stoned, hanged, decapitated and tortured only because of their sexual orientation?” said Rama Yade, the French state secretary for human rights, noting that homosexuality is banned in nearly 80 countries and subject to the death penalty in at least six.

France decided to use the format of a declaration because it did not have the support for an official resolution. Read out by Ambassador Jorge Argüello of Argentina, the declaration was the first on gay rights read in the 192-member General Assembly itself.

Although laws against homosexuality are concentrated in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, more than one speaker addressing a separate conference on the declaration noted that the laws stemmed as much from the British colonial past as from religion or tradition.

 See In a First, Gay Rights Are Pressed at the UN
New York Times, United States - .
UN (But Not the US) Comes Out Big for Gay Rights Village Voice
UN split over gay law reform call Queensland Pride
Coalition asks UN to decriminalize homosexuality AFP

US balks at backing condemnation of anti-gay laws The Associated Press
UN Splits On Gay Rights Issue On Top Magazine
UN’s first look at gay rights gets mixed results SmartBrief

International gay rights groups expressed concern that the U.S. had not yet signed a proposed statement this week calling on the United Nations and countries throughout the world to condemn discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The statement, proposed by France on behalf of the European Union, was scheduled to be presented to the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week. More than 50 countries have signed the statement. Photo: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN Photo/Mark Garten. See US stalls signing UN gay rights statement Washington Blade