Fridae

The Human Rights Watch has called on the governor of Tokyo to retract his comments made on two occasions when he criticised the representation of homosexuals in the media, and categorising lesbians and gay men as “deficient” and genetically lacking.

Calling for the Iraqi government to do more to protect gay men, the Human Rights Watch has released a 67-page report documenting the accounts of gay men  – and men who are not 'manly' enough - who were kidnapped, tortured and/or raped by militia groups. "Hundreds" are believed to have been killed for being gay or suspected of being gay.

More than half of the world's remaining "sodomy" laws - criminalising consensual homosexual conduct - are relics of British colonial rule. In 1860, British colonisers introduced a new criminal code including Section 377 to occupied India and other colonies.

The reading of the statement will be the first time the General Assembly has formally addressed rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Australia's government must amend laws that discriminate against same-sex couples, which the government's human rights commission documented last week in a landmark report, Human Rights Watch said today.

On International Day Against Homophobia, the Human Rights Watch named to a "hall of shame" five public officials who have actively promoted prejudice against LGBT people in their countries.

The US-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Ugandan government of falling under the influence of US Christian conservatives and placing millions of young Ugandans at risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.