Afghanistan | Taliban targeting LGBT people
mambaonline.comAnti-war protest in Canada by members of the Afghanistan diaspora (Pic: Meandering Images / Shutterstock) Human rights groups say that LGBT Afghans and people who do not conform to rigid gender norms in Afghanistan face an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safety and lives under the Taliban. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International released a disturbing 43-page report based on 60 interviews with LGBT Afghans.
Many of those interviewed reported that Taliban members attacked or threatened them because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Others reported abuse from family members, neighbours, and romantic partners who now support the Taliban or believed they had to act against LGBT people close to them to ensure their own safety.
Some fled their homes from attacks by Taliban members or supporters pursuing them. Others watched lives they had carefully built over the years disappear overnight and found themselves at risk of being targeted at any time because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
