Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity References U.S. Department of State Human Rights Reports for 2011 (Released May 24, 2012)
Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity References U.S. Department of State Human Rights Reports for 2011 (Released May 24, 2012) The Department of State’s 2011 Human Rights Report catalogues an ongoing range of abuses and discriminatory treatment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide – starkly underscoring what Secretary Hillary Clinton has called “…one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.” Speaking in Geneva on December 6, 2011, Secretary Clinton noted that, too often, LGBT people remain an “invisible minority,” members of which “…are arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed…” while “…authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse.” The newly released report bears witness to such abuse. Most disturbingly, it documents that police, other government security forces, and prison personnel have been implicated directly in the harassment or abuse of LGBT citizens in a range of countries, including (but not limited to) Afghanistan, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, and Panama. Harassment and abuse often were directed in particular at transgender individuals. In Turkey, a range of LGBT organizations complained of harassment by police and government authorities. In Cote d’Ivoire, the report notes that “gay men were reportedly subjected to beatings, imprisonment, verbal abuse, humiliation, and extortion by police, gendarmes, and members of the armed forces.” The report also describes broader patterns of discrimination against LGBT individuals in many areas of the world. In Sierra Leone and India, LGBT people have been denied basic social services, from health services to housing.
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