UN Human Rights commissioner: LGBT people are victims of violent abuse all over the world

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In the United States, the report said recent government figures show that bias-motivated crimes based on sexual orientation rank second only to racist incidents among hate crimes.

According to the report, at least 76 countries retain laws used to criminalize and harass people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, including laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relationships among adults.

In Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and parts of Nigeria and Somalia, consensual homosexual conduct may be punished by death, “a grave violation of human rights,” the report said.

The rights chief expressed concern about laws enacted or proposed in the past two years to restrict public discussion of sexual orientation under the guise of “protecting minors” from information on not-traditional sexual relations. He pointed to Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Moldova, Russia, Uganda and Ukraine.

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The report makes over 20 recommendations including urging all countries to ban so-called “conversion therapies” intended to “cure” homosexual attraction as well as involuntary treatment, forced sterilization, and forced genital and anal examinations.

The high commissioner also calls for changing laws to remove offenses relating to consensual same-sex conduct, investigating and prosecuting alleged hate-crimes and prohibiting incitement of hatred and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.