Editor’s Note: This article is the first in an ongoing WPR series on LGBT rights and discrimination in various countries around the world. In late May, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage in the country’s civil code was unconstitutional. As Buzzfeed reports, the ruling says that permitting same-sex marriage would contribute to a “stable society.” It ordered the government to change the law within two years, making it likely that Taiwan will become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. In an email interview, Jens Damm, associate professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Studies [...]
Indonesia has witnessed a wide-ranging crackdown on LGBT people in recent months. In March, vigilantes in Aceh province raided the apartment of two men in their 20s who were later put on trial and sentenced to a public caning—a sentence that was administered on May 23. In Jakarta, the capital, more than 100 men were detained during a police raid on a sauna on May 21 and accused of hosting a sex party. And police in West Java province have announced plans for an anti-gay task force. In an email interview, Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, discusses [...]
On April 1, the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta broke the news that security officials in Chechnya had rounded up at least 100 men suspected of being gay or bisexual, and that several had been killed either in custody or in so-called “honor killings” carried out by their families. Last week, United Nations experts reported that men were being subjected to verbal abuse, beatings and electric shocks. In an email interview, Kyle Knight, a researcher with the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, discusses possible reasons for the crackdown and options for an effective international response. WPR: What do [...]
