LGBT rights in Syria
LGBT rights in Syria  |
|
|---|---|
|
|
| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Illegal |
|
Penalty:
|
Up to 3 years imprisonment to vigilante executions, death in ISIL controlled territories (see LBGT rights in ISIL-controlled territories) |
| Gender identity/expression | - |
| Family rights | |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) persons in Syria face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Syria.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, there have been reports of gay Syrians being blackmailed, tortured and killed in areas controlled by Islamist rebels.[1]
Contents
Laws against homosexuality
The Constitution stipulates that Islam is the official religion, and a source of the nation's laws.
Article 520 of the penal code of 1949, prohibits having homosexual relations, i.e. "carnal relations against the order of nature", and provides for up to 3 three-years imprisonment.[2]
Transsexuals
In 2004 a Syrian woman named Hiba came forward as a transsexual who had been given permission to have a sex change operation.[3] However this easily could have been a one time exception that the Syrian government made.
2003 UN vote
In 2003 Syria, in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, voted to postpone a United Nations draft resolution on human rights and sexual orientation. The vote was 24-17. The draft resolution would have the Commission express deep concern at the occurrence of violations of human rights in the world against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation; stress that human rights and fundamental freedoms were the birthright of all human beings, and that the universal nature of these rights and freedoms was beyond question; and call upon all States to promote and protect the human rights of all persons regardless of their sexual orientation.
HIV/AIDS issues
The first reported cases of HIV infection were in 1987.[4]
In 2005 the Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments publicly stated that HIV-AIDS were divine punishment for people that engaged in fornication and homosexuality. That same year, the Health Ministry stated that only 369 persons in Syria were infected with HIV and that the government offers such persons "up-to-date medicines to combat this disease freely".[5] Yet, Non-governmental organizations estimate that there are truly at least five times that many and the United Nations chastised the government for its ineffective prevention methods.[6][7]
Beyond tolerating the work of some NGOs, the government has established voluntary clinics that can test for AIDS-HIV and distribute some educational pamphlets, but comprehensive public education, especially for LGBT people, does not exist.[8]
Instead, the government launched a limited AIDS-HIV educational program for youth in secondary schooling.[9]
Summary table
| Same-sex sexual activity legal |  (Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment to vigilante executions, death in ISIL areas) |
| Equal age of consent | |
| Anti-discrimination laws in employment only | |
| Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services | |
| Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) | |
| Same-sex marriages | |
| Recognition of same-sex couples | |
| Step-child adoption by same-sex couples | |
| Joint adoption by same-sex couples | |
| Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly in the military | |
| Right to change legal gender | |
| Access to IVF for lesbians | |
| Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples | |
| MSMs allowed to donate blood | |
See also
References
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- ↑ http://data.unaids.org/publications/fact-sheets01/syria_en.pdf
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