Fake Dates, Rape, and Extortion: How LGBT Rights Were Violated in EECA Countries in 2024

“In Kazakhstan, a man reported a rape to the police, but the law enforcement officers mocked him and refused to investigate. They also didn't return his ID they had confiscated to file the complaint,” this is just one story about one person from the report by Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity (ECOM) on LGBT rights violations in 2024.

Despite the efforts of human rights organizations, LGBT people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) face systemic discrimination, physical and psychological violence, and restrictions on their rights and freedoms. These violations pertain to fundamental human rights, such as the right to personal integrity, protection from discrimination, freedom of movement, and access to healthcare.

ECOM conducted an analysis of LGBT rights violations documented from January to September 2024 in seven countries of the EECA region: Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. And today, on Human Rights Day, the organization shares its findings.

The study is based on data collected through the REAct monitoring system. Case descriptions were provided by local coordinators from partner organizations in each country.

All data was carefully checked for compliance with ethical standards before being included in the report. The study focused specifically on cases related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) or HIV status of the victims. Therefore, incidents driven by other factors were excluded from the analysis to maintain its accuracy.

A total of 366 cases were documented, each reflecting the scope of challenges faced daily by LGBT people.

In the countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, 128 cases of violations of the right to privacy were documented. These include threats to disclose sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), extortion, illegal searches, pressure from law enforcement officers, and threats to disclose HIV status. The highest number of such violations targeted gay and bisexual men, particularly in Uzbekistan. In this country, same-sex relations have been prohibited since 1994, and Article 120 of the Criminal Code on “sodomy” is used to persecute LGBT people.

Disclosure of information about sexual orientation or gender identity (outing) is a very painful form of violation of LGBT people's rights. In the first nine months of 2024, 69 cases of outing were documented in the countries of the region. Police officers, health workers, relatives, neighbors, and even strangers use threats to reveal the “secret” to manipulate, extort money, or simply humiliate a person.

For example, in Uzbekistan, police officers staged fake dates to meet men, then detained them and threatened to expose their orientation to family and colleagues unless they paid a large sum of money. In one case, these threats were accompanied by physical violence.

In Armenia, three incidents were documented in military enlistment offices, where the sexual orientation of gay and bisexual men was disclosed to their parents as well.

In addition to information about orientation and gender identity, the HIV status of people in the community also becomes a subject for blackmail and threats. For example, in Ukraine, a man’s neighbor disclosed his HIV status to his landlord, after which the man was forced to leave the apartment. And in Tajikistan, after a breakup, the ex-partner of a bisexual woman threatened to disclose her diagnosis and file a police report under a law criminalizing HIV transmission.

Outing continues to be documented across the region. The means of disclosure vary: from “I'll tell your parents” to publishing intimate videos and personal information on social networks. Not only does this destroy privacy, it also eradicates any possibility for a person to feel safe.

ECOM's report mentions at least 67 cases of physical violence against LGBT people in the region. Most of them took place in public places or on the street.

Incidents of group violence, including kicks and blows to the head, were documented against gay, bisexual men and transgender women in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. The reasons for the attacks varied: in Armenia, it was national hostility (for example, statements like “foreigners don’t belong here — they’re gay and destroying the country”), in Kyrgyzstan — religious beliefs (“Muslim land”). In Ukraine, attacks were based on appearance (for example, blue hair) or connections to the LGBT community, such as wearing a military chevron with LGBT symbols. Even overheard phone conversations could provoke aggression.

Violence comes from strangers. Violence comes from family members. Colleagues, classmates, neighbors — there are no safe people if your SOGI differs from conventional. In Uzbekistan, parents discovered their son’s orientation, assaulted his partner, and then reported him to the police. In Tajikistan, a nightclub security guard attacked a lesbian saying "so that she doesn't disgrace Tajik girls." In Armenia, a man providing massage services, including intimate ones, was beaten by a client. In Kyrgyzstan, a trans man suffered violence from a client after providing sex services. In Ukraine, a group of ten people beat up a teenager in a school restroom, mocking him: they imitated oral sex and spat in the child's face.

The very essence of violence lies in the desire to control another person's life. And if an abuser controls someone’s life, they can also take it away. In the period from January to September 2024, 11 cases of violations of the right to life were documented, including murders and attempted murders, some involving weapons (knives, axes, or firearms). Almost half of the cases (6 out of 11) occurred in Armenia; the main perpetrators were either strangers or members of the victim's close circle (relatives and neighbors).

In Uzbekistan, a man stabbed his son several times. The boy had died before the ambulance arrived. The criminal case didn't classify the murder as a hate crime.

Home is meant to be a place of comfort and safety. However, for many LGBT people, this concept of home doesn’t exist, as they are forced to carefully hide their identities.

According to ECOM's report, 33 cases of domestic violence were documented across the region, despite the laws prohibiting it. Mostly, the aggressors were the victim's parents or close relatives (fathers, stepfathers, or brothers), with only two cases involving intimate partners.

In some instances, abuse extended beyond physical assault and verbal harassment. In Kyrgyzstan, victims were locked in a shed without food or water for 24 hours, and in Armenia they were held in custody for up to ten days. In Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine, harsh control tactics were used: communication with certain people was forbidden, social media accounts deleted, phones and documents taken away; people were forced to visit religious institutions (mosques and churches), and they were threatened with confinement in a psychiatric ward.

In Armenia, an older brother beat up a man and then began to blackmail him, demanding money in exchange for not telling their parents. In Uzbekistan, in two cases, relatives not only subjected people to physical and psychological violence, but also reported their homosexuality to the police (keep in mind that the country has Article 120, which criminalizes same-sex relations).

Sexual violence and harassment were documented in 27 cases, involving perpetrators such as close acquaintances, colleagues, employers, and complete strangers.

In Uzbekistan, a urologist raped a client, threatening to expose his sexual orientation. In Kazakhstan, a taxi driver harassed an underage transgender girl.

The report also highlights two cases of sexual violence in a highly masculinized sphere — the military. In Armenia, an employee of a military enlistment office offered a trans woman intimate relations in exchange for safety within the institution, where she had previously faced discrimination. In Uzbekistan, a serviceman was repeatedly raped by his fellow soldiers, and the administration of the military unit ignored his complaint.

Gays, bisexuals, MSM, and trans women who provide sexual services are at increased risk of sexual violence. In Uzbekistan, a trans woman was raped by law enforcement officers who set up a fake date to get information about other sex workers and clients. In Armenia, there were two cases of trans women being raped by clients (including gang rape), as well as one rape by a pimp. Despite legal provisions for punishment in such cases, the victims often can't protect their rights, as then they will be held accountable for providing sexual services.

Homosexual and transgender people who meet partners through social networks are often subjected to sexual violence and blackmail during in-person meetings. For example, in Kazakhstan and Ukraine, offenders threatened to out them, demanding intimate relations. In Armenia, there were cases of lesbians being raped by male acquaintances who knew about their orientation. In one case, the attacker was a family friend who, under the parents’ insistence, sought to take on the role of the woman’s husband. In Tajikistan, the head of a human rights organization coerced an employee into sexual relations by abusing her position of authority.

Violations of the right to the highest attainable standard of health were documented in 34 cases, a third of them in Ukraine. Victims faced humiliation, denial of medical care, and disclosure of personal data. The range of violators' specialties is quite wide — surgeons, including plastic surgeons, proctologists, psychiatrists, family doctors, dermatologists.

Humiliating treatment was reported in 24 cases, mainly from hospital and emergency medical staff. For example, in Kyrgyzstan, an epidemiologist was rude to a patient after HIV detection and made discriminatory remarks. In 17 cases, denial of care was documented: in Uzbekistan, a proctologist refused to treat an MSM patient, stating that he "considers this category of people mistakes of nature.” In Ukraine and Moldova, family doctors refused to treat gay, bisexual, MSM and lesbian patients because of their orientation.

In Ukraine, a surgeon refused to operate on a man with HIV, and in Kazakhstan, a doctor at an AIDS center refused to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis because she believed the client was at low risk.

In Armenia, there were cases of rights violations in crisis situations. A man who had recently undergone surgery was at a military registration and enlistment office when he started bleeding, but instead of helping, the staff only threw him a napkin. Another man was hospitalized with a knife wound. After an initial examination, he was denied surgery until he paid for the operation. The man asked for a painkiller injection while he looked for money, but his request was ignored.

In addition, the report recorded four cases of disclosure of medical data regarding SOGI: three in Uzbekistan and one in Armenia. In Uzbekistan, a doctor treating a victim of domestic violence reported him to the police (which criminalizes homosexuality). In another case, staff at an AIDS center shared a patient's SOGI data with law enforcement for a criminal investigation into HIV transmission. In Armenia, a man was sent to a mental health center during conscription, where he reported that he'd had his first partner at age 15. The staff reported this to the police, based on the fact that sexual relations with a person under 16 are a crime under the Criminal Code.

The police are one of the main violators of LGBT rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Blackmail, extortion, unlawful arrests, physical violence, and refusal of protection: according to the report, law enforcement officers are involved in 28.1% of all violations. The situation is the worst in Tajikistan (85.2%) and Uzbekistan (70.3%). In some countries, such as Moldova and Ukraine, police violations remain relatively rare (2.3% and 4.6%, respectively).

The report mentions 61 cases of unlawful arrest or detention, 27 of which occurred in Uzbekistan and another 19 in Tajikistan. Often, such detentions were made without explanation, including in the form of fake dates. Less frequently, the pretexts uncluded allegedly written complaints, a person’s appearance, and existing national laws, such as:

Often, the victims were kept in custody for several days, subjected to physical and psychological abuse. People were more often released after they paid money, and less often when no evidence of their affiliation with the LGBT community could be found.

There were 15 documented cases where individuals were forced to make confessions: 13 in Uzbekistan, and one each in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Also, there were 88 documented cases of violation of the right not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (in all countries except Moldova): 25 of these involved violence by law enforcement officers.

In Kyrgyzstan, law enforcement officers kicked people, beat them with rifle butts, and twisted their arms during a search. In Uzbekistan, during a staged date, police officers beat a man and broke his rib in one case, and beat a man with truncheons in another.

Other abuses of power by law enforcement officers were documented in 81 cases, 34 of which occurred in Uzbekistan. These often involved mockery, verbal humiliation, psychological torture, video recordings. People also had their phones and other personal belongings taken away without explanation.

These examples highlight that the police in the region use their power over LGBT people not to protect rights, but for violence and personal gain.

As shown in the report, LGBT people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia regularly suffer from violence and rights violations in various spheres: when seeking medical or humanitarian assistance, pursuing education, crossing state borders, participating in peaceful protests, or simply interacting with neighbors.

The LGBT community continues to advocate for their rights, but often faces strong resistance. Violations of the right to freedom of thought and expression were documented in 25 cases (including 17 in Moldova). Most frequently, these took the form of hate speech in the media and public statements made by public figures.

In Kazakhstan and Moldova, peaceful assemblies were obstructed. In Kazakhstan, a bisexual woman was attacked during a picket. In Moldova, an aggressive protest took place simultaneously with Moldova Pride, accompanied by anti-LGBT slogans and accusations of spreading HIV. In addition, during the election campaign in Moldova, some candidates and parties built their rhetoric around homophobic narratives.

Obstacles to the activities of human rights defenders were also documented in Uzbekistan. Article 120 of the Criminal Code on “sodomy” makes it impossible to register NGOs working with the LGBT community: in 2024, human rights defenders were detained, humiliated, forced to abandon their activities, and threatened with criminal prosecution.

It's important to understand that public statements made by public figures and politicians gradually normalize hate speech and discrimination within society. Which, naturally, affects the level of violence in society.

ECOM analyzed documented cases of LGBT rights violations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, identified trends, and developed recommendations for advocacy in 2025. Several key points can be highlighted:

Based on the analysis of documented cases of rights violations in 2024 and trends from previous years, ECOM calls for continuing systemic efforts: documenting and identifying LGBT rights violations, scaling up existing projects, expanding the geography of data collection. For instance, data collection should not be limited to major cities but also involve partner organizations and activists who can access specific subgroups of the LGBT community (for example, trans people).

“In this context, it's also essential to raise the community’s awareness and legal literacy,” emphasizes ECOM, “to help draft complaints and relevant statements while supporting the desire not to remain silent about violations.”

If you want to join us in advocating for the rights and health of LGBT people to create better living conditions for everyone, become a member of ECOM by filling out a simple application.