Where can you find country-specific information about LGBTI+ people?

This page is here to help you collect information about LGBTI+ people by country. Are you stuck with questions for a specific case? You can also contact the helpdesk of the Integratie and Inburgering (Integration) agency.

Responsible use of information

Handle country-specific information carefully, including the sources we mention below.
 

Several international LGBTI+ organizations are active in defending human rights in the field of sexual orientation, intersex and gender identity. These international LGBTI+ organisations regularly produce reports:

• OutRight Action international. They submit, among other things, shadow reports to the UN Human Rights Committee to monitor compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as to the UN Human Rights Council in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
   
• ILGA. As a global umbrella network of LGBTI+ organizations, they collect information through their members about relevant legislation, among other things. They have an interactive world map and a ‘Trans Legal Mapping Report’.. They regularly issue a new report on institutionalised homophobia and a related world map.


• Oram International, based in the United States, wrote several reports on LGBTI+ refugees in countries such as Uganda, Mexico and South Africa.
   
• Human Dignity Trust. This is an organization that is committed to defending the human rights of LGBT+ people worldwide via strategic court cases. On their website you can find an overview of countries where sexual activity between adults of the same sex is punishable, which acts can be punished exactly and what the punishments are.
   
• Equaldex. On their website you can see the current status and timelines of LGBT+ rights in each country, state, province and region. They show information about same-sex marriage, adoption, openly serving in the military, protection against discrimination, age of consent differences, restrictions on blood donations, restrictions on gender reassignment and prohibition of LGBT+ conversion therapy. Attention! This website is sometimes not completely up to date.

A number of human rights organisations consider LGBTI+ rights as a specific theme and thus provide useful information about them:
 

• Human Rights Watch. You can easily search their website for reports about LGBTI+ rights in various countries.
   
• Amnesty International. They provide annual country reports in which the rights of LGBTI+ people are discussed.

Embassies and consulates can also provide important information:

The US Department of State publishes annual country reports. Each report contains a standard chapter on sexual orientation, intersex and gender identity.

Country information is also available via websites that inform LGBT+ tourists about LGBT+ rights at their holiday destinations:
 

• Globalgayz.com contains information from news sites and LGBT+ tourists. You can find tourist information as well as news and information about the legal situation. You can find information from just about every country in the world, even if it is sometimes outdated or not very relevant for asylum cases.
   
• IGLTA.org is the website of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association. The website offers free travel information. The organisation behind the website works to promote equality and security within LGBTQ+ tourism worldwide.

There are a number of regular channels that can potentially (but not exclusively) provide information on sexual orientation and gender identity in various countries:
 

• Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen’s Refugee Information Hotline answers all questions related to asylum seekers and refugees.
   
• Would you like to know more about the asylum procedure in Belgium? Or would you like to accompany asylum seekers in a language they understand? Then take a look at Fedasil info – the official information platform for asylum seekers in Belgium. Among other things, you will find information about the asylum procedure. You will find information in fourteen languages.


• The European Country of Origin Network has an extensive search engine. Use search terms such as homosexuality, LGBTI rights, etc.
   
• The English-language Wikipedia contains extensive articles on LGBT rights worldwide.
   
• The website refworld.org contains a specific section with country information about LGBTI people.

ILGA has an extensive directory of LGBTI+ organizations, alliances and supporters