Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] and other advocacy groups urged [press release] UN Secretary General on Thursday to investigate alleged abuse against LGBT people in Chechnya. According to the open letter about 100 gay and bisexual men have been detained, went missing, were tortured, or were murdered under the authority of Chechen officials. The advocacy groups asked the UN Secretary General to make contact with Russian officials to end violations against men who may or may not be apart of the LGBT community, take measures to have all detainees released from detention camps, provide support for those illegally detained, and investigate those accountability for these violations. According to the groups, those who are perceived to be apart of the LGBT community in Chechnya remain in great risk of being murdered, tortured, beaten, illegally detained, or otherwise stripped of their rights until the UN steps in.

News of the conditions faced by those perceived to apart of the LGBT community in Chechnya was first reported by Novaya Gazeta [report, translated]. Earlier in April, Chechen authorities have denied that gay people live in Chechnya, which is concerning to UN experts. In July, the UN Human Rights Council [official website] voted in favor of [JURIST report] appointing an independent expert to report on and investigate worldwide violence and discrimination against the LGBT community. Since then, UN human rights expert have provided reports of other countries dictating their discriminatory policies against the LGBT community, such as the report [JURIST report] conduct in Thailand in November. That same month, a group of UN human rights experts expressed concern [JURIST report] over countries attempting to retroactively block a mandate of an independent expert to investigate sexual orientation and gender identity-based rights abuses.