Poland and Latvia are both signatories to a number of treaties that are supposed to protect the rights of their gay and lesbian citizens, but as this report documents, both countries have failed to uphold their treaty obligations on a number of occasions. The report begins with a discussion of the relevant provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, to which both Poland and Latvia have acceded.

This is a report of a study conducted between 2003 and 2005, which focused on police brutality and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Antonio. Amnesty International contends that the USA “has a long history of both criminalizing homosexuality and failing to protect LGBT people against violence and discrimination.” This report shows that although significant progress has been made in the last three decades, serious police abuses against the LGBT community persist. Chapters include: police brutality, abuses in police detention, policing crimes in the community, profiling and selective enforcement, and training and accountability. Appendix A outlines international and domestic (including states) law and standards with respect to police conduct. Appendix B provides the surveys and interviews with law enforcement officials that were used to compile the report. This publication is available online at the Amnesty International web site.