An international organization calls on Iraq to withdraw a draft law against “homosexuality”
An international organization calls on Iraq to withdraw a draft law against “homosexuality”
2023-08-22 22:33
Shafaq News/ Human Rights Watch said today, Wednesday, that the Iraqi government should immediately withdraw the draft law currently before Parliament, which proposes imposing the death penalty for same-sex sexual behavior and imprisonment for expressing gender transition.
In a report published today, the organization stated that, if adopted, the bill would violate basic human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, association, privacy, equality, and non-discrimination against homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender people ( LGBT community) in Iraq.
On August 15, 2023, an independent member of the Iraqi parliament, Raed Maliki, submitted a draft law aimed at amending the Anti-Prostitution Law No. 8 of 1988, to criminalize same-sex relations and expression of gender. If the bill is passed, same-sex relations would be punished with death or life imprisonment, “promoting homosexuality” with no less than seven years in prison and a fine, and “imitating women” with no less than three years in prison.
Al-Maliki said when he presented the draft law that it aims to preserve Iraqi society from deviation and calls for “abnormalities” that invaded the world.
The report quoted Rasha Younis, senior researcher on LGBTQ rights at Human Rights Watch, as saying: “The proposed anti-LGBTQ law in Iraq will threaten the lives of Iraqis who already face a hostile environment for LGBT people. Iraqi lawmakers are sending a terrible message to the LGBT community. Their expression is criminal and their lives are of no importance.”
Although Iraq does not explicitly criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct, authorities use vague “decency” laws to prosecute LGBT people. The introduction of the anti-homosexuality bill comes after months of hostile rhetoric by Iraqi officials against sexual and gender minorities, as well as government crackdowns on human rights organizations, the organization says.
The bill equates same-sex relations with “homosexuality”, which it defines as “any [intercourse] between a person and another person of the same sex [if] it is practiced more than three times.” The law also provides for seven years in prison and a fine of between 10 million Iraqi dinars (US$7,700) and 15 million Iraqi dinars (US$11,500) for “promoting homosexuality,” an unspecified charge, according to the report.
The draft law specifically targets transgender women with imprisonment between one and three years or a fine of between 5 million dinars (US$3,800) and 10 million dinars (US$7,700) for anyone who “practises any act of transvestism,” which the law also defines. It is defined as “imitating women,” and includes “putting on women’s cosmetics, wearing the clothes that belong to them in public places, or appearing to resemble women’s appearance.”
The bill bans hormone replacement therapy and what it calls “sex change” based on personal desire, as well as any attempt to change one’s gender identity, punishable by one to three years in prison. The same penalty applies to any surgeon or other doctor who performs gender affirming surgery. The law excludes cases of intersex persons that require surgical intervention to confirm the biological sex to be either male or female only.
In its report, Human Rights Watch stated, “Violence and discrimination against homosexuals is already rampant in Iraq. The targeting of LGBTQ people on the Internet and the lethal violence against them by armed groups in Iraq is matched by the usual impunity.”
On August 8, Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission issued a directive ordering all media outlets to replace the term “homosexuality” with “homosexuality” in their published and broadcast materials, and to ban the use of the terms “gender” and “gender.”
On May 31, a court in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ordered the closure of Rasan, a human rights organization in the region, due to its “activities in the field of homosexuality”.
In September 2022, members of the Kurdistan Parliament introduced a “prohibition of homosexuality bill,” which would penalize any individual or group that defends the rights of LGBT people.
The organization also indicated in its report that the Iraqi government is responsible for protecting the rights of all Iraqis. The proposed law contravenes the Iraqi constitution, which protects the rights to non-discrimination (Article 14) and privacy (Article 17), as well as Iraq’s obligations under international human rights law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iraq ratified in 1971, affirms the right to life, liberty, personal security, privacy, and freedom of expression. Likewise, the Arab Charter on Human Rights, to which Iraq has acceded, affirms these rights.
International law prohibits unequal protection from violence and unequal access to justice. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in Articles 2 and 26, guarantees basic human rights and equal protection before the law without discrimination. The UN Human Rights Committee, the international body of experts that provides official interpretations of the covenant, has made clear that sexual orientation is a protected status against discrimination under these provisions.
“The Iraqi government has not addressed discriminatory practices that support violence against the LGBT community, but rather has promoted ‘morality’-based anti-LGBT legislation that fuels violence and discrimination against already marginalized sexual and gender minorities,” Yunis said. “The government of Iraq should immediately reject the draft anti-LGBT law.” meme and ends the cycle of violence and impunity against them.”
shafaq.com
