Gays Are Victims Of ‘Violent Abuse’ Across The World, UN Report Says

Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people across the world continue to face discrimination and violence, despite efforts to safeguard human rights, a U.N. report circulated Monday showed. Hundreds of LGBT people have been killed in violent attacks since 2011, according to the new report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said that actions by some countries to reduce violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity have been eclipsed by constant human rights violations against LGBT people, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

“While some progress has been made since the first study in 2011, the overall picture remains one of continuing, pervasive, violent abuse, harassment and discrimination affecting LGBT and intersex persons in all regions,” the report said, according to Washington Blade. “These constitute serious human rights violations, often perpetrated with impunity, indicating that current arrangements to protect the human rights of LGBT and intersex persons are inadequate.”

The U.N. report cited several hate-related crimes, including the murder of transsexual women in Uruguay and black lesbian women in South Africa. It also cited photographs from February, showing several men, allegedly accused of being homosexuals, being pushed off a building to their deaths in Syria by members of the Islamic State group. ISIS released more such photos in April, showing a man stoned to death in western Syria for being gay.

According to the report, 310 murders were documented in Brazil in 2012 “in which homophobia or transphobia was a motive.” The report also highlighted numbers provided by the Trans Murder Monitoring project, which lists 1,612 murders of transgender people in 62 countries between 2008 and 2014.

In addition, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported 594 hate-related killings of LGBT people in the 25 state members of the Organization of American States between January 2013 and March 2014, the report added.

“Other documented violations include torture, arbitrary detention, denial of rights to assembly and expression and discrimination in health care, education, employment and housing,” according to the 22-page report. “These and related abuses warrant a concerted response from governments, legislatures, regional organizations, national human rights institutions and civil society, as well as from United Nations bodies -- the Human Rights Council included.”

In Iran, Mauritania, Sudan, Yemen and parts of Nigeria and Somalia, people convicted of consensual homosexual activities face death penalty, the report said, adding that homosexuality remains criminalized in at least 76 countries.

The U.N. report, which makes more than 20 recommendations, has called for the implementation of anti-LGBT hate crimes laws and better legal protections to same-sex couples and their children. It also urged countries to ban “conversion therapies” and forced sterilization practices intended to “cure” transgender people.