Banning homosexuality fosters hate crime and homophobia, says UN report
Source: The Guardian
Banning homosexuality fosters hate crime and homophobia, says UN report
Men suspected of same-sex relationships in countries that outlaw them are
subjected to examinations which amount to torture
Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent
Thursday 18 February 2016 19.29 GMT
Criminalising homosexuality amounts to torture in many of the 76 countries where same-sex relationships are outlawed, a United Nations report has declared.
Prof Juan Mendez, the organisations special rapporteur on torture, has called for decriminalisation in his latest submission to the UNs human rights council on the grounds that the bans which sometimes carry the death penalty legitimise homophobia and hate crimes.
In one of the strongest denunciations of laws that are enforced in many African, Asian and Middle Eastern states, Mendez, a former Argentinian political prisoner, urges governments to reconsider their statute books.
A clear link exists between the criminalisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons and homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, police abuse, community and family violence and stigmatisation, his report says.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/18/banning-homosexuality-fosters-hate-and-homophobia-says-un-report