Gang Rape, Extortion and Violence: LGBTQ Life Under the Taliban

LGBTQ Afghans are facing “desperate situations” of ongoing sexual abuse and violence, a report from Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International has said. 

Taliban attacks, as well as hostility and abuse from their own families and neighbours, are negatively impacting LGBTQ Afghans in a country where the ruling terrorist group has threatened to execute gay people. They have reported being victims of gang rapes, extortion and mob violence. 

The news comes months after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August last year in a shock takeover in which the Islamists rapidly seized power as US and other Western military forces withdrew from the country.

The 43-page report - which 60 LGBTQ Afghans were interviewed for - also details the lack of support for those trying to leave the country, despite countries such as the UK promising to resettle those at acute risk of being targeted by the Taliban. Many countries neighbouring Afghanistan also outlaw homosexuality. 

Following the Taliban takeover, the UK government pledged to accept LGBTQ refugees from the country, accepting 29 Afghans in October last year accepting another group a week later. However, the country has been criticised for its limited resettlement programme, and accused of prioritising animals over humans who were left for dead. 

The report makes numerous recommendations to “concerned governments,” asking them to use diplomatic leverage to pressure the Taliban into recognising the rights of LGBTQ people, recognising the unique danger they are placed in, and to “expedite their applications for evacuation and resettlement.”

“We spoke with LGBT Afghans who have survived gang rape, mob attacks or have been hunted by their own family members who joined the Taliban, and they have no hope that state institutions will protect them,” J. Lester Feder, senior fellow for emergency research at OutRight Action International, said.

“For those LGBT people who want to flee the country, there are few good options; most of Afghanistan's neighbours also criminalise same-sex relations. It is difficult to overstate how devastating – and terrifying – the return of Taliban rule has been for LGBT Afghans.”

Although the resurgence of the Taliban has increased the danger for LGBTQ people in the country, it was still illegal to be in a same-sex relationship prior to their rule. In 2018, the government of President Ashraf Ghani explicitly criminalised same-sex sexual relations, formalising a longstanding, if vague, legal precedent of homophobia.