Multilateral development banks pressured to urge Uzbekistan to stop anti-LGBTQ crackdown
A gay man from Uzbekistan has called for the World Bank Group and other multilateral development banks to pressure his homeland’s government to stop its persecution of LGBTQ and intersex people.
Anvar Latipov in a letter he sent to World Bank Group President David Malpass this month notes the bank has $4.76 billion “in 27 active projects in Uzbekistan.” The letter also highlights that more than 33,000 people have signed an AllOut petition “condemning the criminalization, torture and blackmail of LGBTQ+ people in Uzbekistan and demanding that respect for human rights be a prerequisite for the international community’s support for this government.” “Human rights are the foundation for social and economic inclusion, which we know to be central to the development goals at the heart of the World Bank’s work,” wrote Latipov. “Considering the bank’s commitments to consultation, vulnerable groups and nondiscrimination, how will the World Bank ensure the meaningful participation and protection of LGBTQ+ people in its operations in Uzbekistan?
What will the World Bank do to address the widespread violation of human rights in Uzbekistan?” Latipov has also sent similar letters to Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Asakawa, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Odile Renaud-Basso and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. • The ADB has $4.64 billion in 35 active projects in Uzbekistan • The EBRD has $2.4 billion in 69 active projects in Uzbekistan • Uzbekistan has more than $370 million “in outstanding purchases and loans” to the IMF Latipov last week met with World Bank Group Executive Koen Davidse in D.C.
