A million people march against fascism and homophobia in Argentina

THAILAND — Thousands of gay and transgender couples have celebrated their weddings in Thailand since the country legalised same-sex marriage on January 23. Thailand is the third and largest country in Asia and the first country in Southeast Asia to allow same-sex couples to wed. The Equal Marriage Bill passed parliament last June with 130 votes in favour and only four against and became law following the king’s signature and publication in the royal gazette. In addition to marking a milestone for human rights, the new law is expected to strengthen wedding tourism for LGBTQIA+ couples in the country.

ARGENTINA — A million people took to the streets in Argentina to demonstrate against the government of far-right president Javier Milei. The call was made by feminist and LGBTQIA+ rights organisations after the president said that “gender ideology” made women’s lives “worth more” than men’s, and suggested that queer people were “paedophiles”. The Anti-Fascist and Anti-Racist Pride March was held across the country under the slogans “Que los fachxs vuelvan a sentir vergüenza” (“Make fascists ashamed again”) and “Sean eternos los derechos que supimos conseguir » (“May the rights we achieved be eternal”). Participants also protested the government’s intention to cancel the criminal definition of femicide, legislation that Argentina was one of the first countries in the region to pass in 2012. Argentinian immigrants around the world also joined the demonstration.

MEXICO — The congress of the Mexican state of Nayarit passed a law decriminalising abortion up to 12 weeks. This brings the number of Mexican states that have legalised abortion to 20 out of 32. The initiative was promoted by the organisation GIRE, based on the supreme court ruling that decriminalised abortion throughout Mexico in September 2023, ordering states to legislate on this issue. On August 1, 2024, the local court ruled against Nayarit’s penal code, declaring that articles prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional, and ordering the local Congress to repeal the abortion-related offences.

GHANA — A draconian law imposing prison sentences of up to three years for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in Ghana has been dropped. The anti-LGBTQIA+ bill was passed unanimously by parliament in February last year, but then president Nana Akufo-Addo refused to sign the bill and asked the Supreme Court to rule on its constitutionality. In December, the court declined to make that decision. With the end of the parliamentary year, the bill has failed to pass. The president-elect, John Mahama, has said he has no plans to implement a similar law if “schools do a good job teaching family values”, although he hasn’t dismissed the possibility either.

US  — In his first days in office, US president Donald Trump signed an executive order reinstating the federal order known as the “Mexico City Policy”, which restricts US foreign assistance to organisations providing abortion-related services around the world. The “Mexico City Policy”—also known as Global Gag Rule— may have caused 108,000 maternal and child deaths and 360,000 new HIV infections when it was in force between 2017 and 2021, according to one analysis. The State Department also renewed its membership of the Geneva Consensus Declaration, an anti-reproductive rights and anti-LGBT political statement promoted by the previous Trump Administration. The US president has cut aid to international organisations, severely affecting those serving vulnerable women, children, veterans, LGBTQIA+ people and others around the world. He also tried to expel transgender soldiers from the military.

AFGHANISTAN — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has demanded the arrest of Haibatullah Akhundzada, supreme leader of the Taliban, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, president of the Taliban supreme court. Both are accused of committing “the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute”. Khan’s office has concluded that both Taliban authorities are “criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women”. Since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, it has issued more than 100 edicts, directives and decrees denying women and girls their basic rights. The request for arrest warrants must be approved by the Netherlands-based court with the cooperation of ICC member states in order to issue an international verdict.

PALESTINE — Human Rights Watch has raised the alarm about the critical situation for pregnant women in Gaza in a report released on Tuesday, a few days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. As of January 2025, emergency obstetric and neonatal care aws available in only seven of Gaza’s 18 partially operational hospitals, four of 11 field hospitals and one community health centre. All medical facilities operating in Gaza face unsanitary and overcrowded conditions and serious shortages of essential healthcare supplies including medicine and vaccines. The displacement of the population—1.9 million Palestinians— makes it “nearly impossible” to allow healthcare workers and volunteers to track pregnancies, the report says. Consequently, women and newborns rarely have access to follow-up and postnatal health care. Pregnant women in Gaza also face difficulties in accessing adequate nutrition, sanitation and clean water, affecting their health during pregnancy and after childbirth: more than 48,000 pregnant women are believed to be suffering from emergency and catastrophic food insecurity, while many have reported dehydration and some have said they can only access salty water. Pregnant women also face serious health risks such as anaemia, eclampsia, haemorrhage and sepsis, all of which can be fatal without proper medical treatment

IRAQ — On January 21, the Iraqi parliament approved an amendment to the 1959 Personal Status Law, which would legalise the marriage of girls as young as nine years old. The bill was proposed last year by MP Ra’ad al-Maliki with the support of the ruling conservative Shia parties. The new law provides that “adult Muslims” who wish to marry will be able to choose between Shia Sharia, Sunni Sharia or state family law rules on issues such as inheritance, divorce, child custody and marriage. The minimum age for marriage for Shia Muslims in Iraq would be nine years, while the minimum for Sunnis would be 15 years old. The law is currently suspended by the Iraqi top court. According to the NGO Girls not brides, 28% of girls were forced into marriage before they turned 18 in Iraq, while 7% married before 15.

UK — Creating sexually explicit deepfake images will become a criminal offence in the UK, with penalties of up to two years in prison. While publishing intimate photos or videos without consent has been a crime in the UK since 2015, the law does not currently extend to cases of creating and distributing deepfakes. Under the new offences, those who take or install equipment to allow them to take intimate images without consent will also face two years’ imprisonment.

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