Transport for London (TfL) has banned adverts from 11 countries with poor human rights records in relation to LGBT people, including six which impose the death penalty for gay sex.
The ban includes Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somali, Sudan and Mauritania.
The eleven nations join Brunei, whose advertising was banned from TfL last month following an international backlash to new strict anti-LGBT+ laws.
Green Party London Assembly member, Caroline Russell, prompted the move after writing to London mayor Sadiq Khan to express her concerns about countries with poor human rights records advertising on TfL.
A TfL spokesperson told The Independent: “Pending the review, we have asked our advertising partners not to accept any new adverts originating from the countries identified by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) as having the death penalty for same sex acts.
“This includes advertisements from the states and from state-owned companies.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told The Independent: “The Mayor is immensely proud that London is a city where you are free to be whoever you want to be, and love whoever you want to love.
“TfL adverts are seen by millions of people every year, and given the global role London plays championing LGBT+ rights, the Mayor has asked that TfL review how it treats advertising and sponsorship from countries with abhorrent anti-LGBT+ laws.”
In its March 2019 report entitled “State Sponsored Homophobia”, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) listed six UN Member States which impose the death penalty on consensual acts between people of the same sex (Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen), while the remaining five maintain the death penalty as a “possible” punishment (United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mauritania).
According to a report in the Evening Standard, Russell has also asked TfL to reject any bids from these countries when sponsorship for the Emirates Air Line cable car comes up for renewal.
“Regimes that use the death penalty and so nakedly breach human rights shouldn’t be allowed to advertise on TfL. It’s a matter of principle,” she said.
