International human rights groups urge Uzbekistan to stop punishing homosexuality

AKIPRESS.COM - Several international human rights groups urged Uzbekistani authorities to live up to their international human rights obligations by decriminalizing homosexuality.
Article 120 of the current Criminal Code punishes consensual sexual relations between adult men by up to three years' imprisonment.
"Uzbekistan is currently drafting a new Criminal Code and should take this opportunity to improve its human rights record and remove legislation that punishes individuals for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental human rights. We call on the Uzbekistani government to repeal legislation that punishes consensual sexual relations between adult men and that is used to repress individuals‘ freedom, personal security and privacy and persecute them for peaceful exercise of human rights including the right to life. The authorities should also combat existing stigma and discrimination of LGBTI persons by actively increasing public awareness about human rights," the statement said.
As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Uzbekistan has committed itself to ensure that everybody can exercise their rights without distinction of any kind, "such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." In their concluding observations issued in January and May 2020, both the United Nations (UN) Committee against Torture and the UN Human Rights Committee called on Uzbekistan to repeal Article 120.
Police do not press charges against all the gay and bisexual men whom they track down, but often threaten to imprison them or disclose their sexual orientation to their families for blackmail and financial extortion purposes. Police also coerce LGBTI people to collaborate with them to identify wealthier gay and bisexual men. In this way many LGBTI persons in Uzbekistan feel they have no option but to lead double lives - they stand to pay a steep price if their wives, husbands, parents, other relatives or neighbours learn about their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The NGOs jointly issuing this statement are aware of several cases in recent years when police forced individuals to hand over large sums of money or property or to "confess" to serious crimes including "terrorism" or "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order", to avoid being charged with Article 120.