Armenia - at the bottom of Europe re human rights protection of its LGBT citizens

Ahead of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), leading European gay rights group ILGA-Europe launched its Rainbow Europe package reviewing the human rights situation and assessing what life is like for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people in Europe in 2013.

According to the Rainbow map and accompanied score sheet, countries have been assigned scores based on the level of legal human rights protection for LGBT people.

The Rainbow Map covers the legal and policy situation with regards to 6 thematic categories (Equality and non-discrimination; Family; Bias motivated speech / violence; Legal gender recognition; Freedom of assembly, association, and expression; and Asylum). The main rule is that sexual orientation and gender identity (or equivalent) need to be clearly referred to in the respective law or policy; or that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people are treated equally in law or by the state. For the purposes of this map, a law or policy is taken to exist once it is adopted by the respective parliament. 

Published also a comprehensive qualitative annual review report containing separate chapters on each country that gives more detailed background about the situation.

Only 3 countries among 49 European countries have a one-digit score: Russia (the lowest 49th place with 7%), Armenia (48th place with 8%) and Azerbaijan (47th place with 8%). 

Shameful.

And with such credentials, Armenia assumed today chairmanship of the Council of Europe for six months.

[below is Armenia Score Sheet in English and Armenian]

UK Lesbian Map revealed

Leading British lesbian magazine Diva published for the first time ever the UK’s Lesbian Map:

The figures come from the most comprehensive study ever undertaken into the geographical locations of the UK’s 2.4 million lesbians and are published in the November issue of Diva – the monthly’s 150th issue – which went on sale today.

Research reveals Britain’s top 20 lesbian hotspots, by postcode. These are London, Glasgow, Redhill, Manchester, Birmingham, Northern Ireland, Gloucester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Chelmsford, Brighton, Edinburgh, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham, Reading, Coventry, Liverpool, Leicester and Peterborough.

The near-even spread of lesbians across the UK was not what Diva predicted.

Lesbians appear to be almost everywhere and a lot more thinly spread than we might think: most UK postcodes house between 0.2% and 1% of the lesbians in this survey, and it’s only in cities that upwards of 2% of the survey’s lesbians are found.

“The academic literature suggests that the lesbian population is not as concentrated [in major centres] as the gay male population,” said Darren Smith, an expert in the geography of population, at Brighton University.

*photo of the map – via UKGayNews

LGBT Rights in the World (Map)

International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) launched the 2008 version of its map on LGBTI rights in the world on occasion of the federation’s 30th anniversary (previous version of the map - here).

According to the map, in South Caucasus (as well as in a broader region, including Russia, Turkey and Iran), only Georgia has introduced legislation which specifically outlaws discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Armenia, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan do not provide similar provisions. However, this map does not specify the level and comprehensiveness of that protection, which varies. Particularly, in Georgia antidiscriminatory provisions cover only employment: since May 2006, as part of the new Labour Code, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal in employment. This by no means implies that the situation with LGBT people and gay rights is particularly better in Georgia than say in Turkey. However, it is a step forward in a right direction.

Among our neighbours, the most appalling situation is certainly in Iran which is one of only 7 countries worldwide where death penalty for same-sex acts is still in place and acted upon.

Below I provide a brief summary statistics on LGBT rights in the world, as of January 2008, taken from the map:

Persecution

• death penalty: 7 countries
• imprisonment: 76 countries and 6 entities

Protection

• antidiscrimination laws: 49 countries and 33 entities

Recognition

• recognition and registration for same-sex unions: 19 countries and 14 entities

According to PinkNews, ILGA is now preparing the 2008 version of State-sponsored Homophobia Report which will be ready for 17 May, International Day Against Homophobia.

State Homophobia (Map)

World Legal Map on legislations affecting LGBT people around the world
(by French newspaper Le Monde and ILGA)

*click here to enlarge


*Note that this Map reflects situation before 2004. According to State-sponsored Homophobia 2007 report, "consensual sexual acts between persons of the same sex in private were decriminalised in Cape Verde in 2004, Marshall Islands in 2004, Fiji in 2005 and Puerto Rico in 2005."

In Armenia, gay male sex was decriminalised in December 2002. Lesbian sex was never legally banned. An age of consent of 16 was set regardless of the gender of those involved.

The Armenian National Assembly has repealed article 116 of its criminal code which punished sex between men with up to 5 years in prison (Armenian legislation followed the corresponding article from the former Soviet Union). According to various reports, 7 men were sentenced in Armenia for gay sex in 1996, 4 in 1997 (Amnesty International 1999 Report on Armenia) and 4 in 1999 (Opinion of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe on the accession of Armenia - Doc. 8756 - 6 June 2000). After 1999, article 116 has no longer been put in practice.

On 28th June 2000 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe made repeal of article 116 a condition of Armenia's membership to the Council of Europe. With this repeal, the last remaining law in Europe criminalising same-sex relationships was repealed.