For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death
NOTE: This is the second of two parts, the first, on the election revolt, was on EDGE in June.
The international media clamor surrounding last month’s Iranian election, which saw the contentious re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad result in weeks of protests, demonstrations and violence, may have died down, but the unstable atmosphere lives on for residents of the Islamic republic.
They continue to face major restrictions on free speech and threats to their safety if they choose to speak out. And they will not soon forget the street violence that resulted in the death, imprisonment and harassment of many protesters, activists and journalists–all part of the worst unrest the country has seen in thirty years.
This is particularly true for gay and lesbian Iranians, both those who remain inside the country and those who have escaped. They are familiar with oppressive treatment from their government, one which continues to outlaw homosexuality and crack down against any outward display of queerness. The first story (published here June 30, 2009,) examined the environment facing the Iranian queer community, particularly in light of the government’s attempts to silence any post-election voices of dissent.
Building from that story, we now take a look at the climate facing queer Iranians who have fled the country with the hopes of seeking asylum in the West. Forced, in many cases, to leave behind their families, friends and the culture of their blood, their dreams of living in freedom still face a number of challenges.
When gay Iranian refugees and asylum seekers leave, they are sent to live temporarily to a number of a different places, though most end up in small Turkish towns known as “satellite cities,” far from the larger cities like Ankara or Istanbul. They file a request to be granted official refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in order to legally move West, and then they wait. In many cases, that waiting period can last up to three years, a time during which employment is difficult to find and harassment is not unusual.
See For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death
EDGE Boston
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/for-gay-irani…
Urgent Petition: Save Roodabeh and Ali, Iranian Homosexual Refugees
Roodabeh is a 30-year-old lesbian woman who left Iran in February 2008 to flee from the persecution that the regime of President Ahmadinejad reserves for homosexuals; persecution that foresees in many cases – according to a ruthless interpretation of Islamic law – prison sentences, torture and even death. Ali is a 29-year-old gay. He too was forced to leave Iran to escape the repression in January 2008. Once in Turkey, Roodabeh and Ali applied for asylum to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Ankara section) on the grounds of their sexual orientation.
EveryOne Group, Human Rights international organization, would point out that the right of asylum, as laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 14) and finalized by the Geneva Convention, is one of the fundamental rights of human beings, and is recognised by civil countries to those fleeing from violence and persecution. Turkey signed the Geneva Convention and has saved many human lives by acknowledging their status as refugees and offering them humanitarian protection. However, Turkey’s present policies where the rights of refugees and asylum seekers are concerned, have recently become more restrictive. So much so that Amnesty International has recently brought to international attention the repeated violations of the Geneva Convention in the Republic of Turkey, as well as the episodes of abuse carried out by the police against refugees. Roodabeh and Ali live in fear of being repatriated as the Iranian authorities are aware of their flight and the reason they were forced to seek asylum. If they were to be deported, they would have little chance of being spared this persecution.
They live in a state of anguish (as well as discrimination, seeing they are both foreigners and homosexuals) knowing their lives are in danger. They survive only thanks to the commitment of individuals and human rights organizations, but their condition will deteriorate rapidly if their right to international protection is not urgently recognised.
This is why EveryOne Group, working alongside Iranian Queer Railroad (IRQR) and a network of human rights organizations, is promoting a campaign and appealing to the UN High Commission for Refugees to recognise their legitimate right to international protection and asylum.
EveryOne Group activists must point out that Roodabeh and Ali have been awaiting the decision of the High Commission for many months, without financial support, social assistance or programmes of insertion into the work force.
A petition has been submitted to ask international and Turkish authorities and institutions to grant immediate asylum status to the two Iranian homosexuals. You can sign it at http://www.gopetition.com/online/28514/sign.html
For further information:
EveryOne Group
http://www.everyonegroup.com :: info [at] everyonegroup.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/urgent-petiti…
LGBT asylum seekers ‘facing high levels of homelessness and discrimination’
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans asylum seekers are suffering from high levels of discrimination, homelessness and exploitation, a report has claimed.
The Over Not Out report, from Refugee Support, the refugee services arm of Metropolitan Support Trust (MST), suggests that support services for LGBT asylum seekers are frequently poor, resulting in individuals facing harassment or discrimination in their accommodation.
It was found that mental ill-health and prostitution were particular problems, and that many LGBT asylum seekers do not report instances of hate crime.
A gay Iranian man in his thirties told researchers: “I’m gay and these kinds of problems happen to me all the time in any shared accommodation where I go. If I want to avoid trouble I just have to go to my room, just lock myself in. And it’s not a life… Yesterday I saw a guy who has been on Section 4 support for nine years. I don’t know, it might happen to me. I cannot lock myself into my room for nine years…”
The report, launched yesterday in Westminster, recommended further training and funding for LGBT voluntary and community organisations in regards to asylum seekers, along with new requirements for landlords to protect them harassment. See
LGBT asylum seekers ‘facing high levels of homelessness and discrimination’
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/lgbt-asylum-s…
Gay Iraqi could face death penalty if deportation goes ahead
A gay Iraqi man due for deportation tomorrow has been told by the UK Border Agency to conduct his relationships “in private” on his return to Iraq, where homosexuality is punishable by death.
Campaign group Iraqi LGBT says the asylum seeker will become the seventh gay Iraqi to be returned to the country by the UK, despite the country being one of only nine in the world where homosexual people are executed.
Though a ruling was made in September 2007 allowing two gay Iraqis to remain in the UK, campaigners working on behalf of the man facing deportation tomorrow say his case was held too long ago to benefit from the change in case law achieved in 2007.
Keith Best, the director of the Immigration Advisory Service, told the Guardian that the government ought to give the asylum seeker a fresh hearing.
The United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) has said that the man’s homosexuality did not form the basis of his original asylum application in 2001 and that his subsequent conviction for seeking to stay in the country illegally makes him an untrustworthy defendant, undermining his claim to be gay. See Gay Iraqi could face death penalty if deportation goes ahead
American Chronicle, CA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/gay-iraqi-cou…
