World Premiere screening
6.30pm Monday 3 November - Birkbeck Cinema, 41 Gordon Square, London WCIH 0PD
David Grey's new documentary short about gays and lesbians being murdered by militias linked to the Iraqi government.
This is the updated sequel to 2007's Queer Fear: Gay Life, Gay Death in Iraq, which first told this shocking story.
The programme also includes several other films, including Iraq for Sale - the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.
WHEN - 6.30pm to 9.00 pm, Monday 3rd November
WHERE - Birkbeck Cinema, 41 Gordon Square, London WCIH 0PD
5 minutes walk from Euston, Euston Square or Russell Square tube stations
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=
FREE admission.
Voluntary collection for good causes at the end. 50% to LGBT Iraq (UK), an organisation funding safe houses in Iraq for gays and lesbians fleeing the death squads.
BOOKING - Seats can be reserved by emailing: villagefilm@live.com
Full programme – 3 November:
FIRST HALF Village Film 2008 Retrospective
Last 12 months' work and launch of future plans.
Documentary shorts and doc-style corporate videos for charities and campaign groups, featuring human rights, mental health, education.
Sanctuary: promo for a user-run mental health crisis house
Today's Students, Tomorrow's Workforce: work experience corporate video
Queer Fear 2 - The Sexual Cleansing of Iraq: 2008 update of last year's doc about gay murders
SECOND HALF Iraq for Sale (US, 75 mins)
The story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war.
Trailer at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=
Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed and Uncovered) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so.
BOOKING - Seats can be reserved by emailing: villagefilm@live.com
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Queer Fear 2 - The Sexual Cleansing of Iraq
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Seeking a home away from homophobia
Gays' asylum cases fuel law field's growth
Boston Globe
Maria Sacchetti
In her sister's spacious home in Chelsea, Delmy Berganza sat at the kitchen table one recent day and talked openly about life as a lesbian. In her native El Salvador, she was too terrified to utter the word.
In a small flat in Brazil, Genesio Oliveira covered his face with his hands in despair. He lives blocks from a man he said raped him years ago, and he lives in fear in a country where dozens of gay men were killed last year.
"Really I am afraid to even go out," he said, speaking into a Web camera. "It's just terrifying. I'd rather stay in my room."
Both had asked the US government for asylum, saying they feared persecution in their homelands because of their sexual orientation. Berganza's approval letter arrived in August. That same month, Oliveira's American husband held a candlelight vigil in Haverhill to mark the year anniversary since Oliveira returned to Brazil. His asylum bid was rejected.
Offering a haven for gays and lesbians is an emerging field of law in the United States and around the world, lawyers and advocates say, awakening foreigners to the option to live in the United States that was previously unknown. But the practice is raising concerns, as critics cite the potential for fraud and advocates worry that possible homophobia or lack of international experience might lead some judges and government officials to send foreigners back to dangerous lands.
In a 2003 case, an immigration judge in California denied asylum to a Mexican national, saying it wasn't obvious the man was gay. The man appealed and won asylum last year.
"Asylum is a discretionary measure," said Dusty Araujo, asylum-documentation coordinator for the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center. "I usually tell clients it will depend on what side of the bed the judge got up that morning."
US Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Bill Wright said government officials and others are trained to follow immigration law. The US government doesn't track how many gays and lesbians receive asylum, he said. Homophobia "shouldn't factor in at all," he said. "An asylum case is adjudicated based on its own merits individually."
The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, had no comment, said spokeswoman Susan Eastwood.
Federal human-rights reports outline threats worldwide, including to gays and lesbians. Brazilian law bans discrimination against gays, but 116 gays, lesbians, and transvestites were killed last year, up from 88 in 2006, the US State Department said in a report. Homosexuality is illegal in India, Uganda, and Jamaica - where it is punishable by 10 years in prison.
Critics of increased efforts to extend asylum to gays and lesbians are expressing concerns that applicants could pretend to be gay when they are really fleeing poverty back home. Unlike heterosexuals, gays and lesbians cannot sponsor their spouses for legal US residency.
"The problem with broadening asylum [is] how do you control for fraud?" said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "How do you handle that?"
In all asylum cases, applicants must show they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their homelands. Applicants can seek asylum in different ways: They can apply to Citizenship and Immigration Services, and they can appeal the decisions in court; or, if they are facing deportation, they can appeal to a judge directly in court.
Asylum does not guarantee citizenship, and asylum status can be revoked if conditions improve in their homelands or if they commit certain crimes.
For Berganza, a 40-year-old floor installer, the fear came early in El Salvador.
In her hometown, crowds frequently taunted and threw garbage at a boy they thought was gay. One girl had no friends because people believed she was a lesbian. One of Berganza's aunts received death threats because people thought she was a lesbian.
Berganza had always known she was different. Around age 8 she developed a crush on a girl. She never had a boyfriend.
"I never told anyone," she said. "I was afraid of what could happen."
After her father was killed during the country's civil war, her mother decided to leave Berganza and her two sisters in order to work in the United States. Berganza, then a teenager, volunteered to go instead. She couldn't wait to leave.
She was smuggled illegally into the United States and found work in California. But she struggled emotionally.
With the support of a friend, she came out as a lesbian - and then realized that she couldn't go home.
"It would never be the same," Berganza said.
She eventually moved to Massachusetts, where she fell in love and even attended a same-sex wedding.
She had tried different routes to gain legal status before she realized that asylum was an option. One day, she mentioned to her Boston-based lawyer, Jeff Ross, that she was a lesbian. Her story came pouring out and the asylum bid took shape.
She has no plans to return to her homeland. Instead, her elderly mother comes to visit, to avoid any harm to Berganza or her family.
"You can escape from that here," Berganza said.
The fear came early for Oliveira, too.
He heard slurs when he was only 6 years old, according to court documents. Around age 16, he said, he was raped by a doctor in the town he lives in now.
He left Brazil as soon as he could, going to medical school in Bolivia. When Oliveira's father died and he could no longer afford school, he moved to England and entered a sham marriage to gain residency.
And then, during a 2002 vacation in Boston, he met Tim Coco, an advertising agency owner, at a bar one Friday night after New Year's. By April 2002, they were in love. That October, Oliveira applied for asylum, was rejected, and appealed in court.
As the case continued, they built a life, buying a house, adopting a dog named Q-tip, and finally, marrying in 2005.
In 2006, the judge rejected Oliveira's asylum plea, though he found the testimony credible. He pointed out that Brazil has antidiscrimination laws and that Oliveira has gone to Brazil at least twice without incident, including for his father's funeral.
Now, Coco, who is 47, and Oliveira, 29, are planning another appeal because a recent federal report found that some government appointees, including immigration judges, had been screened for their views on gay marriage before they were appointed.
Coco tries to comfort Oliveira through nightly Internet chats, but it doesn't work.
"I just don't want to go out," said Oliveira, with a shrug.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Why I acted on LGBT asylum
In March, spurred by the case of Mehdi Kazemi, a Durham Methodist minister, Walter Attwood, decided to start a petition to Gordon Brown to 'stop deporting gays and lesbians to countries where they may be imprisoned, tortured or executed because of their sexuality'. At present it has 3,394 signatures.
By Rev. Walter Attwood
I have for a good number of years been interested in a wide social justice issues including asylum seekers in this country and those who are persecuted for their faith, political beliefs, race or tribal group in countries around the world. In the process I have signed many petitions and written many letters. In the last few years emails and e-petitions have increased in number as a means of communicating with various governments, international agencies about these issues.
In the middle of last year there were a number of high profile cases of people being threatened with deportation. These included the Nigerian student Damilola Ajagbonna and the young gay Iranian Mehdi Kazemi. Both of these young people had active campaigners behind them organising petitions and encouraging people to write into the Home Office, Members of Parliament and the like. This was on an individual basis.
It occurred to me that campaigns for individuals were all very good and necessary but there needed to be a change in policy. I was at that time looking into possibilities of using the 10, Downing Street petition website as a means of campaigning and asking myself whether an individual, not backed by any group, could effectively start a petition which would be successful. Success being measured by the number of signatures attracted to a petition. 200 signatures are needed to prompt a reply. Less than 15% of the petitions started obtain the 200 signatures and very many only ever get a handful of signatures. 50% of the petitions get less than 20 signatures.
I decided to try and promote two petitions on the website. The first was about the policy of deporting young people and their families to places where they would not have the necessary family, social, medical and/or emotional support to keep them safe. The second was about the changing of the policy of deporting gays and lesbians to countries where they would be in danger.
Having set up the petitions I realised I would have to strongly promote them if they were to get sufficient signatures to promote a government response. I started off by contacting friends and colleagues and then approaching groups who might wish to get behind one or other of them.
The gay and lesbian campaigning groups I approached to support the petition, calling for a policy change on deporting gays and lesbians, ( http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/stopdeportinggay), quickly got behind it and promoted it on their websites. Other groups took it up. The 3,300 plus signatures attracted so far puts this petition within the top 2% of petitions launched on the Downing Street website. Thank you all very much.
However in these times of financial crisis when most people, rightly, have great concerns for their personal futures it would be all too easy for the needs of minority groups, and especially the less popular minority groups, asylum seekers and the like, to disappear below the political horizon and be forgotten, or worse still become scapegoats. Either course leaves them far more vulnerable to exploitation. More signatures on this petition will go someway to protecting this vulnerable group in these turbulent times.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Iranian Queer Railroad
by Doug Ireland
Arsham Parsi, the well-known Iranian gay activist, has announced the launch of the Iranian Queer Railroad (IRQR), a new organization designed specifically to help the growing number of LGBT Iranians forced to leave their country by the violently homophobic policies of the ayatollahs' theocracy. Homosexuality is a capital crime in Iran.
Parsi, 28, founded the first Iranian gay group, the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization (PGLO), in 2004 while still living in Iran. With the police on his tail for his gay activism, Parsi fled to Turkey in 2005, where he continued his work to publicize the plight of LGBT Iranians, and eventually was granted asylum as a sexual refugee by Canada, where he moved two years ago and changed the name of the PGLO to the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO).
Earlier this year, Parsi and the IRQO were honored by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission with its Felipa Award for pioneering gay activism.
Parsi traveled to Turkey in August to meet with Iranian LGBT refugees and plead their case with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that is located there.
The UNHCR must grant these queer exiles official refugee status before they can be accepted for asylum in gay-friendly countries. As the result of that trip, Parsi concluded that a new organization dedicated exclusively to helping sexual dissidents flee persecution in Iran was necessary.
"I decided to call our new group the Iranian Queer Railroad after the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, which was an informal network of routes and safe houses helping black slaves in America to escape to freedom in Canada," Parsi told Gay City News by telephone from Toronto, where he now lives. He said a board of directors and an advisory committee for the new organization would be announced soon.
Parsi said he and his organization are now in contact with 145 LGBT Iranian refugees currently in limbo and seeking permanent asylum - 85 of them are in Turkey, which shares a lengthy border with Iran and where cultural and political homophobia is rampant, while the rest are scattered throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. Some 22 are in the United Kingdom, which has been extremely reluctant to grant permanent asylum to gay Iranian refugees, and where in the last several years two Iranians have committed suicide after receiving deportation orders back to certain torture and possible death in Iran.
But, said Parsi, "there are many, many more queer refugees from Iran who haven't yet been in contact with us and who also desperately need help.
"One of our goals with the Iranian Queer Organization was to increase the level of awareness about the Iranian queer situation and the horrible persecution that goes on daily in Iran, and to provide a steady stream of information about homosexuality and the transgendered via Internet into Iran, and I think we've had great success in doing that.
"But after several years of working with PGLO and IRQO, I have a lot more experience now, and it was clear to me we needed a new organization with fresh blood and a structure dedicated solely to helping queer refugees, to help them flee Iran, to support them while they are still in transit countries like Turkey, to assist them in finding their way through the harrowing bureaucratic maze that faces them in order to gain asylum, and to help them get settled and cope with setting up a new life in gay-friendly countries."
Since being granted asylum in Canada, Parsi has been able to make a number of trips to Turkey to help gay refugees and has built a relationship with the UNHCR office there.
"I'm so happy I've been able to build a strong relationship with the UNHCR, who are now aware of the Iranian queer situation, and of our organization, and on each of my trips I've been able to secure international refugee protection status for more and more Iranian LGBT refugees in Turkey, which is the necessary first step to being granted asylum," Parsi said. "After my last trip there in August, we now have 20 more refugees who've been newly granted this status and are now awaiting flights to gay-friendly countries like Canada and Australia."
Parsi told this reporter of a 29-year-old Iranian lesbian refugee he was able to help get an early legal interview with the UNHCR
"She had a terrible life in an abusive situation," he explained. "Her family forced her to marry with one of their relatives, and her legal husband raped her every night, and she could do nothing about it because one of the first duties of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran is sexual delivery to their husbands.
"This poor girl went to a doctor after all the rapes, and the doctor told her, 'You appear to have been raped by an animal, and you need urgent health care now.' But her family ordered her to be patient and stay at her husband's home. She was severely beaten repeatedly by her husband and eventually escaped and went to a friend's house.
"But while she was there, her brothers came while she was out and told her friend they were going to kill her to save the family's honor because she left her husband and has suspicious connections with other women. That's when she fled Iran to Turkey, where she was put in touch with us by one of our members in Iran. When she told me her story, she cried, and I lost control, too. I told her, 'Don't go back to Iran, we don't want to lose any more members of our queer family.'"
Parsi's dedication to these refugees is fueled by his own experience as an exile in Turkey.
"It was the hardest experience in my life," he said. "To suddenly find myself in an unexpected situation in a hostile country without money, with no personal safety or security for 13 months wasn't easy."
Parsi added, "I cannot forget the day in Turkey when I was walking with Amir, another gay refugee who had been tortured and flogged in Iran. We were chased in the street by a homophobic crowd, who beat us hard and tried to kill us. Nobody helped. There were no police who came to our assistance and people were just standing around watching as we were beaten, simply for being gay refugees in their country. I'll never forget my refugee life in Turkey, and that's why I've decided to dedicate myself exclusively to making queer refugees' stay in Turkey as short as possible and to help them get to freedom in gay-friendly countries."
Parsi told this reporter, "I just received a phone call from Turkey. Two of our refugees - one who is 28 and one who is 29 - who had rented a room together, were visited by the mother of the landlord who told them, 'We just found out you are gay, and you have to leave because you are gay.'
"Our two refugees, who didn't speak much Turkish, called the police, who instead of admonishing the landlord arrested our refugees. While in custody, one of them, who is diabetic, went into diabetic shock, but was not allowed by the police to take his insulin. The police insulted them and told them, 'If you're not happy here, go back to Iran.' Turkish police are very hostile to gay people in general and to gay Iranian refugees in particular. Beatings are very common. That's just another illustration of why it is so urgent to get these refugees out of Turkey to a safe country."
Parsi provided Gay City News with translations from Persian of several short statements left on the IRQO and IRQR websites from Iranian queers giving their personal histories. The stories were posted as part of their applications for assistance in finding asylum.
Ali, who is 30, escaped from Iran to Turkey in December 2007, where he is now awaiting resettlement.
"I was caught when I was having sex with a guy by his father, who was a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard," Ali wrote. "As a result, I lost my job and I and my family were threatened with death. I was arrested several times in Iran, the last time was in the summer of 2007 while I was on vacation in the north of Iran, and the Islamic Guard arrested me simply because I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans and had spiky hair. I don't feel safe even here in Turkey because the father of the guy I had sex with is in the Revolutionary Guard and has the ability to find me here and have me killed so he can cover up the scandal of his queer son.
"I didn't do anything, I'm just a gay man who was born in a country in which my existence was forbidden, just for being gay, just for having a special feeling which is not that of a majority of society. I love guys. It is my right to be free, but I have to live in exile for it. I need help."
Hossein, 22, escaped from Iran to Turkey in September 2006, where he has been languishing while awaiting official refugee status and the granting of asylum in a gay-friendly country.
"I am a musician," Hossein wrote, "and I used to perform at various celebrations, including weddings and parties. These gatherings were often raided, but usually the host would pay the authorities a bribe and that would end the matter. I am homosexual. I had my first relationship at age 12 with the son of a neighbor, it lasted two years. In September 2006 I was playing along with other musicians at a private gay party in a home. The party was raided and the police attacked us viciously. One person was beaten so badly that later I learned he had died from it. I was beaten for ten minutes and lost consciousness for about ten hours. I was later arrested while I was in hospital.
"Eventually my mother and a friend of mine came to the hospital, my friend was dressed in the uniform of a sergeant in the disciplinary forces, and pretended to relieve the soldier who was guarding my room. I put on a hospital worker's uniform and was able to escape. After I was smuggled into Turkey, my family's home was raided and my mother and father arrested for three days on charges of helping me escape for being gay. My father was detained and tortured for a year and later died. I'm waiting to be granted refugee status by UNHCR and I need your help."
Parsi told Gay City News that he financed his August trip to Turkey out of his own pocket from money he'd saved while working in a Toronto restaurant. Now, Parsi said, he's planning another urgent trip to Turkey in November to try to get UNHCR refugee status for still more Iranian queer refugees, but has no personal resources left and is raising money for the trip.
"I know you gay Americans are preoccupied with your elections," Parsi said, "but I beg you to spare a thought for these poor queer refugees in Turkey, who are living in terribly squalid conditions, unable to work because they don't speak Turkish and because of queerophobia, and who are stateless and without hope until they can be granted legal, international recognition of their status as refugees by UNHCR.
"We also need money to begin English language and computer courses for them to prepare them for new lives in freedom and to help them pass the time and escape those feelings of hopelessness. Please, spare us a few dollars for your queer brothers and sisters who are victims of religious persecution."
Donations for Parsi's urgent November trip and to support LGBT Iranian refugees may be made in two ways - via credit card on the secure PayPal "donate" button on the Iranian Queer Railroad's web site at http://www.irqr.net/, or by check to Iranian Queer Railroad c/o Arsham Parsi, PH4-150 Graydon Hall Drive, Toronto, Ontario, M3A 3B3 Canada.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Prossy Can Stay!
News from Manchester that Ugandan lesbian Prossy Kakooza has won her battle for asylum in the UK as the judge ruled in her favour and the Home Office are not going to appeal against the judge's decision.
Prossy issued the following statement:
Dear friends: I get to stay!! Am still in shock, and am so sure it's going to take days to sink in. But I have not stopped smiling since 12:00pm today, and won't stop for a while.She had received a great deal of support including:
I went with my friend Gwen and am so glad I did because when we left I was in a sort of daze! When this woman handed me the paper and said, "You have been granted leave to remain" my jaw nearly hit the floor. Always the pessimist, I thought this was where she told me "but the Home Office is appealing". So Iasked if they were and she said no they were not. I had a bit of a hooray shout when we got out - couldn't contain it.
You have held me together, you have held me upright when all I wanted to do was roll up in a heap and give up. You gave me the motivation to go on and fight! Going with me to places to collect signatures, encouraging people to sign online, coming to meetings, writing statements, going to court with me, and most importantly - all the prayers. And I don't think you have any idea how the phone calls, texts and emails help. They kept me sane.
There are no appropriate words I can use to say thank you. All I can do is pray to my God to bless you all. You have changed my life and for that I will forever be grateful. THANK YOU!
Lots and lots of love, hugs and kisses,
Prossy
- 5200 people from countries, and church congregations, from all over the world who have signed her petition to the Home Office asking that she be allowed to stay;
- 100s of people who have written or emailed the Immigration Minister;
- the 80 members and friends of MCC Manchester who have supported her with their love, prayers, money and concern;
- the 19 friends who went to court with her and helped her collect signatures on her petition at Pride festivals all over the country;
- the ten friends who gave evidence in court on her behalf;
- Ruth Heatley from the Immigration Aid Unit and barristers Mark Schwenk and Mel Plimmer, the lawyers who drafted and prepared her case.
Her family had discovered Prossy and her partner in bed together and had marched them, naked, to the police station where they were detained. Prossy was subjected to horrific sexual attacks and physical torture. She escaped to the UK after her family bribed the guards to release her - as they wanted to deal with their family shame by having Prossy killed.
The Home Office denied her asylum and the original judge believed Prossy's claim to have been raped and tortured but felt it would be safe to return her to a different part of Uganda.
Prossy won at a hearing on 3rd July. A senior Immigration Judge dismissed a previous Immigration Tribunal ruling which denied Prossy asylum, calling the judgement "a mess". This ruling allowed Prossy to present her claim afresh.
Monday, 13 October 2008
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Shut down BMI Airlines day
In 2007 the UK government deported 63,140 migrants. Airline companies are a key link in the deportation industry. Without them it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the state to implement this aspect of the migration regime and there can be no migration controls without deportations.
People who are being deported are often handcuffed on the flight and there have been a number reports of physical assaults on deportees by the security personnel who escort them.
On 20th September 2008, No Borders South Wales activist Babi Badalov was deported on a BMI flight to Azerbaijan, where has experienced physical abuse and state persecution. Despite hundreds of telephone calls, emails and faxes to BMI raising objections to the removal, BMI chose to ignore this and ensured the deportation took place.
BMI is the UK’s second largest full service airline with reported profits of £15.5 million in 2007. The airline is responsible for carrying migrants who are being deported from the UK against their will by the British Government.
BMI employees told those ringing on the day that BMI could not refuse to fly Babi and it was out of their control. However, other airlines have refused to fly deportees in the past including XL Airways who announced in 2007 that they would no longer carry failed asylum-seekers who were being forcibly removed from the UK.
BMI must be made aware of the impact of their actions on the lives of the people they deport and how their image and business will be affected if they continue this practice. We need to let them know that they can not take part in such activities without consequences.
No Borders South Wales are calling for a sustained campaign against BMI. We call on BMI to no longer take part in the forced deportation of migrants.
Contact BMI and register your disapproval at their role in deporting people back to places they do not wish to go back to, for whatever the reason this may be. Urge BMI to follow the other airlines who have taken an ethical stance and who refuse to carry out any more deportations.
On the 20th October let’s hit BMI with everything we’ve got! Then let’s do this on the 20th of every month until BMI see sense.
BMI Contact Details:
Head office: Donington Hall, Castle Donington, Derby. DE74 2SB
Switchboard
Telephone: 01334 854 000
Open Mon-Fro 8am-6pm
Customer Relations
Tel: 01332 854 321
Fax: 01332 854 875
Open: Mon-Fri 9:30am-4:30pm
Group Reservations
Tel: 01332 854500
Open: Mon-Fri 9am- 5:30pm
Baggage Claims
Tel: 0115 8517 005
Open: Mon-Sun 8am- 8pm
Highflyers
Tel: 01332 854454
Fax: 01332 854 238
Special Assistance
Tel: 0131 3445600
Textphone: 01332 854015
Open: Mon-Sun 7am-9pm
Diamond Club
Tel: 01332 854 274
Fax: 01623 724099
Open: Mon-Fri 8am-8pm
Refunds
Tel: 01332 854 534
Open: Mon-Fri 9am-3:30pm
Technical Support
Tel: 01509 686 628
Open: Mon-Sat 8am- 7pm
Charter Dept
Tel: 01332 854 656
Open Mon-Fri 9am-pm
BMI Baby Reservations
Tel: 01332 648 181
Mon-Sun 8am-8pm
BMI flights operate from the following UK Airports:
Aberdeen, Belfast (City), Birmingham, Bristol, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, London City, London Gatwick, London, Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle Intl, Norwich
Call-out leaflet (PDF)
Homosexuality ban 'no reason for asylum'
The head of the UK Border Agency has enraged human rights groups after stating that gay asylum seekers should not be allowed to stay in Britain simply because their sexual orientation is outlawed in the country they have fled.
Lin Homer, chief executive of the Home Office agency responsible for applying Britain's asylum policies and enforcing border controls, told The Scotsman that a ban on homosexuality in a home country is not in itself a reason not to deport asylum seekers who fear persecution because they are gay.
After speaking at a conference in Glasgow organised by Scottish Refugee Council, Ms Homer said judges consider the "practical consequences" for homosexuals if they are returned, not a country's societal or legal approach to homosexuality.
Last week, The Scotsman revealed how Jojo Yakob, a young Syrian man who claims he was tortured for being gay, fears for his life after a Scottish judge threw out his appeal against a deportation order.
His case raised concern from equality campaigners that Britain is sending people to countries where they face persecution because of their sexual orientation.
Yesterday, Ms Homer defended the approach taken by her agency and the court, insisting the information about countries of origin used to make these decisions is as comprehensive, and transparent, as possible.
"What the court takes into account is the practical consequences for the individuals concerned," she said.
"The simple presence of either a law or a culture that frowns upon homosexuality is not of itself a reason (to grant asylum]."
She added: "I think these decisions are made carefully and thoughtfully."
Ms Homer's admission that Britain will not offer protection to homosexuals because of legal prohibitions alone was branded "astonishing" by Nico Juetten, policy manager with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Youth Scotland.
Countries which outlaw homosexuality include many Middle Eastern and African states.
In Syria, homosexuality is regarded as a "disease" which needs to be treated. Reports from the country claim that dozens of homosexuals are imprisoned after being arrested on vague charges such as abusing social values.
It is claimed that within Syrian law, killing a homosexual can eliminate family shame – which means the perpetrator faces a much shorter jail sentence.
Mr Juetten said: "Lin Homer was talking about country of origin information. It's good to have transparent information, but sometimes that information is wanting. It may be that homosexuality, for example, is tolerated in one part of the country, but not in another.
"The problem also is judges often say something along the lines of 'you'll probably be fine as long as you keep a low profile'.
"But if someone has fled the country because of their homosexuality, they are going to be closely monitored when they are returned."
John Wilkes, chief executive of Scottish Refugee Council, said: "This is inconsistent and muddied thinking. If there was a law in a country that said you cannot be Jewish or a member of the Communist Party, would the UK government send them back to that country to be prosecuted?
"To say someone should not be able to express themselves free from persecution is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Refugee Convention."
Source: Scotsman
Friday, 10 October 2008
Ugandan asylum seeker wins Sappho prize
The editor of a website that documents the violence and intimidation suffered by the gay community in Uganda has won a prestigious prize.
The Sappho in Paradise Book Prize is conferred annually by the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network (ILGCN), a worldwide voluntary association of lesbian and gay cultural workers.
Kizza Musinguzi, editor of gayrightsuganda.org, and an asylum seeker in the UK, is the winner this year.
Gayrightsuganda.org “documents the organised campaign of violent religious and state-sponsored homophobia sweeping the strategic African nation,” saidILGCN.
The Book Prize handover ceremony will take place during a public demonstration tomorrow sponsored by the National Union of Students outside Uganda House in Trafalgar Square, London.
“It is deeply moving to see our 2008 book prize awarded to Kizza Musinguzi and gayrightsuganda.org,” said ILGCN Literature Secretary Ian Stewart.
“The worsening situation for lesbians and gay men in Uganda at the hands of the Anglican Church and BAe reveals the violent homophobia with which the UK Establishment is happy to be associated, in callously exploiting some of the world’s most vulnerable people.”
The International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network was founded in 1992.
Last month two human rights advocates in Uganda were held for a week without charges after police accused them of “recruiting homosexuals.”
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the illegal detention of George “Georgina” Oundo and “Brenda” Kiiza was part of “a pattern of police harassment of LGBT people in Uganda.”
They were held seven days without being brought before a judge or having charges laid against them.
President of Uganda Kaguta Yoweri Museveni and other officials have spoken out against homosexuals on numerous occasions.
In June this year, Ugandan Bishop Luzinda said:
“I have been hearing that gays are demanding that the government should legalise their activities.
“This is absurd because God created a man and woman so that they can produce and fill this world.
“The government should not be tempted to legalise this backward culture which is bound to destroy this country.
“Not all that comes from Europe is superior and must be taken up by us,” Bishop Luzinda said.
Mr Museveni spoke of his country’s “rejection” of homosexuality during a speech he gave at the wedding of a former MP’s daughter earlier this year.
He said the purpose of life was to create children and that homosexuality was a “negative foreign culture.”
During his time in office LGBT Ugandans have been repeatedly threatened, harassed or attacked. Many have fled the country.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Uganda LGBT emergency demonstration
In recent weeks, the Ugandan Government has once again launched a campaign to arrest those who 'Recruit Homosexuals'. The Ugandan police autorities currently hold lists of those it suspects of the 'crime' of homosexuality, and just two days ago, Pastor Isaac Kyoobe Kiweweesi has been investigated for alleged homosexuality.
In the UK, those who flee such persecution and seek asylum are subject to further discrimination by the home office. Kizza Musinguzi and Prossy Kakooza are just two of those seeking asylum in UK.
NUS LGBT, in conjunction with Gay Rights Uganda, will be holding a demonstration on Ugandan Independance Day outside the Ugandan Embassy in London, to protest against the persecution of LGBT people in Uganda, and the treatment of those who are lucky enough to escape to the UK.
Thursday, October 9, 2008 |
12:00pm - 1:00pm |
Trafalgar Square |
London, United Kingdom |
For more information, please email Lucy Brooks
NUS Press release
Students demonstrate against persecution in Uganda
Today, the National Union of Students’ LGBT campaign will be holding a demonstration outside the Ugandan Embassy in protest against a recent campaign of intimidation directed at LGBT people in Uganda.
Over recent weeks the ‘Red Pepper’ magazine (based in Uganda) has reportedly been running a campaign to “out” LGBT people, publishing articles claiming that a number of students as well as several prominent public figures are gay or lesbian. Amnesty International has received reports that a number of those named have since suffered harassment, and have been ostracized by their colleagues and family.
The organisation has also raised concerns that by naming these individuals, the magazine has put them at high risk of violence in a country where homosexuality is currently a criminal offence. This new development adds to an ongoing spate of abuse against the rights of LGBT people who have repeatedly been targeted by the Ugandan authorities.
NUS LGBT Officer, Scott Cuthbertson said:
“Sexuality is not a crime. People around the world should be free to express who they are without fear of intimidation, arrest, or even torture. I call on the Ugandan government to stop persecuting its LGBT citizens and repeal laws criminalising what should be a human right. I stand in solidarity with the LGBT community in Uganda - their struggle is our struggle, and that is why we are demonstrating today.”
NUS LGBT Officer (women’s place) Claire Anderson added:
“Today we are doing something which would be difficult if not impossible in Uganda. We are fortunate to live in a country where we are not classed as criminals because of our sexuality. LGBT people in Uganda are not so lucky, and are forced to hide their true identities for fear of recriminations. I call on the International LGBT community to stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT community of Uganda in the face of this cruel intolerance.”
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
“Discrimination against and persecution of people on the grounds of their sexuality is clearly forbidden in international human rights law. The campaign of intimidation of LGBT people in Uganda must stop. And the criminalization of homosexuality in Uganda’s penal code should be immediately repealed.”
Peter Tatchell, gay and human rights campaigner for OutRage! will also be joining the demonstration on Friday.
He added: “I urge the Ugandan government to accept the diversity of humanity, including the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. One of the hallmarks of an enlightened, democratic society is live-and-let-live. Majorities should respect minorities, even if they don't always agree with them. I call upon the people of Uganda to show understanding and acceptance of their fellow citizens who love people of the same sex.”
Source
RSS feed
Join our page
