ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - As many in the world celebrate pride month, Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid ratified controversial amendments to the country’s anti-prostitution law criminalizing any practice of homosexuality and transsexuality.
The Iraqi presidency announced that Rashid has approved several bills which recently passed parliament, including several amendments made to the country’s anti-prostitution law that criminalize any practice of homosexuality and sex reassignment surgeries, making them punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“The laws were sent for publication in the Iraqi Gazette after being ratified by His Excellency the President of the Republic, to come into effect,” read the statement.
The controversial law was submitted to the Iraqi parliament last August by independent lawmaker Raad al-Maliki to amend the Law on Combating Prostitution, which dates back to 1988. He sought to attach the terms “homosexuality” or “effeminacy” to articles within the law and impose penalties of life imprisonment or death for same-sex relations. The parliament passed the law in April with reduced sentences.
Under the new law, anyone who engages in consensual homosexual relations shall be imprisoned for no less than 10 years and no longer than 15 years.
Any individual, who undergoes a sex-reassignment surgery, as well as the doctor or surgeon conducting the operation, will face one to three years in jail. The bill excludes cases of medical intervention to "treat birth defects to affirm the sex of the individual," referring to genital surgeries on intersex children, which can inflict permanent harm on the individual and compromise sexual function and sensation.
Promoting homosexuality “in any way” will also be punishable by no less than seven years in jail and a fine of 10 to 15 million dinars ($7,500 to $11,500). The activities of any organization promoting prostitution or homosexuality in Iraq are also prohibited.
The controversial bill has been criticized by foreign governments and human rights organizations.
“The United States is deeply concerned by the Iraqi Council of Representatives’ passage of an amendment to existing legislation, officially called the Anti-Prostitution and Homosexuality Law, which threatens constitutionally protected human rights and fundamental freedoms,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, stressing that the bill also weakens Iraq’s economy and makes it less attractive to foreign investment.
In August 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Iraqi government to withdraw the proposed text, saying the bill would violate “fundamental human rights.”
“The Iraqi government has failed to tackle discriminatory practices that underpin violence against LGBT people… Instead it has promoted anti-LGBT ‘morality’-based legislation that fuels violence and discrimination against already marginalized sexual and gender minorities,” Rasha Younes, senior LGBT rights researcher at HRW, said at the time.
Despite Latif’s ratification, the newly approved law does not apply to the Kurdistan Region.
“To implement the law [in the Kurdistan Region], the amendments need to be activated by the Kurdistan parliament,” Dana Dara, the Kurdish parliament’s legal advisor told Rudaw last month.
The Kurdistan Region has been without a parliament for nearly a year after Iraq’s top court in May of last year ruled that the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament’s term by an additional year was “unconstitutional,” effectively dissolving the fifth term of the legislature. New parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 20.
In conservative Iraq, gay and transgender people were already at risk of discrimination and persecution, both by society and security forces. Community members face the threat of arrest, verbal abuse, sexual assault and even murder.
The community is often perceived as homogenous in Iraq with all non-cisgender individuals viewed as “homosexuals.” Any law criminalizing homosexuality threatens all members of the queer community in addition to those who are seen as non-conforming to societal gender norms and roles.
A crackdown on LGBTQI+ people in Iraq in 2009 saw deaths that probably number "in the hundreds," according to a 2022 HRW report.
The queer community faces persecution in the Kurdistan Region as well. In April 2021, security forces in Sulaimani arrested a group of suspected LGBTQI+ individuals in Sarchinar, under the pretext of cracking down on prostitution. The arrests caused uproar from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s queer community and civil society activists.
Most laws passed in the Iraqi parliament do not automatically come into force in the Kurdistan Region and need to be approved in the regional parliament first.
The Iraqi presidency announced that Rashid has approved several bills which recently passed parliament, including several amendments made to the country’s anti-prostitution law that criminalize any practice of homosexuality and sex reassignment surgeries, making them punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
“The laws were sent for publication in the Iraqi Gazette after being ratified by His Excellency the President of the Republic, to come into effect,” read the statement.
The controversial law was submitted to the Iraqi parliament last August by independent lawmaker Raad al-Maliki to amend the Law on Combating Prostitution, which dates back to 1988. He sought to attach the terms “homosexuality” or “effeminacy” to articles within the law and impose penalties of life imprisonment or death for same-sex relations. The parliament passed the law in April with reduced sentences.
Under the new law, anyone who engages in consensual homosexual relations shall be imprisoned for no less than 10 years and no longer than 15 years.
Any individual, who undergoes a sex-reassignment surgery, as well as the doctor or surgeon conducting the operation, will face one to three years in jail. The bill excludes cases of medical intervention to "treat birth defects to affirm the sex of the individual," referring to genital surgeries on intersex children, which can inflict permanent harm on the individual and compromise sexual function and sensation.
Promoting homosexuality “in any way” will also be punishable by no less than seven years in jail and a fine of 10 to 15 million dinars ($7,500 to $11,500). The activities of any organization promoting prostitution or homosexuality in Iraq are also prohibited.
The controversial bill has been criticized by foreign governments and human rights organizations.
“The United States is deeply concerned by the Iraqi Council of Representatives’ passage of an amendment to existing legislation, officially called the Anti-Prostitution and Homosexuality Law, which threatens constitutionally protected human rights and fundamental freedoms,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, stressing that the bill also weakens Iraq’s economy and makes it less attractive to foreign investment.
In August 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Iraqi government to withdraw the proposed text, saying the bill would violate “fundamental human rights.”
“The Iraqi government has failed to tackle discriminatory practices that underpin violence against LGBT people… Instead it has promoted anti-LGBT ‘morality’-based legislation that fuels violence and discrimination against already marginalized sexual and gender minorities,” Rasha Younes, senior LGBT rights researcher at HRW, said at the time.
Despite Latif’s ratification, the newly approved law does not apply to the Kurdistan Region.
“To implement the law [in the Kurdistan Region], the amendments need to be activated by the Kurdistan parliament,” Dana Dara, the Kurdish parliament’s legal advisor told Rudaw last month.
The Kurdistan Region has been without a parliament for nearly a year after Iraq’s top court in May of last year ruled that the self-extension of the Kurdistan parliament’s term by an additional year was “unconstitutional,” effectively dissolving the fifth term of the legislature. New parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 20.
In conservative Iraq, gay and transgender people were already at risk of discrimination and persecution, both by society and security forces. Community members face the threat of arrest, verbal abuse, sexual assault and even murder.
The community is often perceived as homogenous in Iraq with all non-cisgender individuals viewed as “homosexuals.” Any law criminalizing homosexuality threatens all members of the queer community in addition to those who are seen as non-conforming to societal gender norms and roles.
A crackdown on LGBTQI+ people in Iraq in 2009 saw deaths that probably number "in the hundreds," according to a 2022 HRW report.
The queer community faces persecution in the Kurdistan Region as well. In April 2021, security forces in Sulaimani arrested a group of suspected LGBTQI+ individuals in Sarchinar, under the pretext of cracking down on prostitution. The arrests caused uproar from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s queer community and civil society activists.
Most laws passed in the Iraqi parliament do not automatically come into force in the Kurdistan Region and need to be approved in the regional parliament first.
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