PACE calls on authorities of South-Caucasian countries to defend rights of LGBT people

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed its concern about the legal insecurity and harassment of people of non-traditional sexual orientation in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 25, the PACE adopted a resolution on the protection of the rights of LGBT people in Europe, pointing to sexual orientation based persecution in Chechnya, and demanded from Russian authorities to protect the victims and punish the perpetrators.

The PACE has also pointed to violations of the rights of LGBT people in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, the press service of the Council of Europe has reported.

In particular, PACE delegates are concerned about the violation of the freedom of expression of LGBT people in Georgia.

On July 5, 2021, during clashes at protests against the gay pride parade in Tbilisi, journalists estimated that dozens of their colleagues were beaten up.

There are frequent reports of hate speech by Armenian political leaders about LGBT people, and the negative attitudes towards gay people in Armenian media.

Violence cases against LGBT people are reported from Azerbaijan. Particular attention is paid to the suicide of a 14-year-old schoolgirl as a result of bullying and beating of a transgender.

On July 30, 2020, a transgender woman, Aisu, was wounded in Baku in an apartment she rented with her girlfriends. The incident was at least the third attack on a transgender person in Azerbaijan since the beginning of 2020.

In Azerbaijan, the problems of LGBT problems come from both the state and the society, Samad Ragimov, a lawyer, believes. It is difficult for gays and transgender people to adapt in the society: "they are expelled by the family, rejected by society and the labour market."