DOSSIER: Situation of LGBT people in South Caucasus

Wars, state failure, social and economic problems – for more than one decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, the three states of the South Caucasus, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan were faced with existential challenges. With the consolidation of state structures, the at least transitional freezing of territorial conflicts, and the strengthening of ties with Western Europe, attention to the rights of sexual minorities also increased. At the beginning of the 2000s, in the course of becoming part of the Council of Europe, all three countries began the process of decriminalizing homosexuality. But all three former Soviet republics remain far from having eliminated discrimination. Only in Georgia do two paragraphs in a law exist that forbid discrimination. At this point, in the countries of the region, it is impossible to conceive of recognition of LGBTI partnerships or even their equal treatment with heterosexual couples.