IraQueer, Iraq’s first national LGBT+ organization founded by alumni Amir Ashour, has launched a new report in collaboration with Human Rights Watch. The report is titled "Iraq: Impunity for Violence Against LGBT People." Click here to access the full report.
Amir, a Master in Human Rights graduate from Columbia University, is the founder and former Executive Director of IraQueer. Founded in 2015, IraQueer has reached one million people offline and online through working on advocacy, education, and providing direct services like safe housing and medical services. Some of the projects IraQueer has worked on include producing LGBT+ focused resources in Arabic and Kurdish that didn’t exist in Iraq before; producing reliable country reports about the state of human rights of LGBT+ people in Iraq which have been quoted by governments and UN agencies and having Iraq recognize LGBT+ people’s right to life, which they’ve done in front of the international community in February 2020. IraQueer delivered several high-level statements including at the General Assembly, the UN’s Human Rights Council, and One Young World.
Amir is a human rights defender with 10 years of experience working with Iraqi and international organizations. He is currently pursuing a JD at Harvard Law School, and sits on the board of IraQueer. He has been awarded multiple awards including MTV EMA’s Generation Change Award 2021, QX Gay Gala, and several others.
