Genocide and persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation: definitions and questions concerning international protection

The memorial plaque at Sachsenhausen to homosexual victims of the Nazis

By Bruce Leimsidor

In the past two decades considerable progress, at least on paper, has been made in granting international protection to people persecuted because of their sexual orientation.  Starting in the early 1990s, individual western countries, such as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several European countries began granting asylum to applicants basing their claims on persecution because of sexual orientation.  In 1993 the UNHCR stated that persecuted sexual minorities could qualify for international protection under the Geneva Convention as members of a social group.

In 2004, following the UNHCR recommendation, the European Commission of the EU, in its Qualifications Directive, mandated that people suffering persecution because of sexual orientation were to be protected under the criteria of the 1951 Geneva Convention as members in a social group, and in 2006, a group of highly regarded experts on international human rights law underscored the principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity in great detail in the Yogakarta Principles.

In 2008 the UNHCR issued the ‘UNHCR Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity,’ which incorporated the Yogakarta Principles and advised signatories to the 1951 Convention to grant asylum to persecuted LGBT as persecuted members of a social group. The UNHCR Guidance Note specifically addressed and designated as invalid many of the reasons for which EU countries had rejected LGBT asylum cases, even after the issuance of the Qualifications Directive and its incorporation into local asylum law (1).   Even though there are still serious problems in the handling of LGBT asylum cases in many Western countries (2), the understanding of the protection needs of sexual minorities fleeing persecution in many areas of the world, and the willingness of Western countries to grant international protection to such cases, has increased, and continues to increase substantially.

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Morocco's queer uprising

Source: Eureka Street

By James M. Dorsey

A cacophony of outrage and condemnation greeted Mithly, the Arab world's partly European Union-funded only gay magazine, when it hit the internet and underground 'newsstands' in Morocco for the first time.

Targeting the gay community in Morocco and Europe as well as Arab gays, Mithly, a play on the Arabic words for homosexual and 'like me', can only be sold under the counter in Morocco and the Arab world. The overwhelming majority of its readers access it online. For safety and political reasons, the groundbreaking magazine's editorial staff is based in Spain as are its servers.

While Mithly hopes to steer debate in Morocco and the Arab world about homosexuality into calmer, more rational waters, it does not want to rock the boat in a country where authorities are among the more relaxed in the Arab world because of tourism that has attracted a high-end gay community. Gay activists fear that a more open Mithly presence in Morocco could further fuel Islamist and populist protests and force the government to crack down in a bid to prevent the Islamists from gaining the high ground.

Like everywhere in the Arab world, homosexuality in Morocco is illegal. Homosexuals can be jailed for up to three years for what Moroccan law describes as 'lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex'. Islamist agitation has already increased homophobia in Morocco in recent months. 'The constant attacks on homosexuals by the Islamist parties and newspapers worry us,' says Mourad, a Mithly journalist.

Yemeni cultural magazine, Al-Thaqafiya, was forced to cease after publishing a film review that described homosexuality as 'part and parcel of our society'. The magazine sparked protests in parliament; the Paris based reviewer, Hamid Aqabi, says he has received death threats.

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Yemen Mag Shut For Pro-Gay Article

Image via Wikipedia

By Doug Ireland


In the Arabian Peninsula nation of Yemen, the country’s only serious cultural magazine has been shut down by authorities because of an article that characterizes homosexuality as “part and parcel of our society” and advocates gay rights.

The magazine, Al Thaqafiya, which is government-funded, became the subject of a wave of verbal fireworks and violent threats and exhortations this month from members of the nation’s parliament, religious leaders, and others after it published a film review by Yemeni filmmaker Hamid Aqbi, who now lives in Paris.

Aqbi’s review discussed a new Egyptian film, “Heena Maysara” (“Till things get better”), which contains a lesbian love scene.

In his review of the film, Aqbi not only described homosexuality as “part and parcel of our society” but “called on the parliament to extend more rights to gay people and went as far as to suggest that the Yemeni government should consider allowing gay marriages,” according to the website MidEast News Source.

As a result, on April 7, after an uproar among lawmakers about Aqbi’s article, Yemen’s parliament sent a memo to the Ministry of Communications demanding that the government shut down the magazine and investigate those responsible. Al Thaqafiya subsequently ceased publication at the insistence of authorities, and its editorial team became the target of an official investigation.

Aqbi has been the subject of death threats as a result of his article, and he has promised to take legal action against one member of the Yemeni parliament, Muhammad Al-Hizmi, whom Aqbi accuses of inciting people to murder him. Yemeni websites, which are rigorously monitored and controlled by the government, have been filled with denunciations of Aqbi and calls for his execution for “promoting pornography.” One forum even urged “our terrorist brothers” to “prepare one of their suicide operatives to wipe this malignant man off the face of the earth.”

Yemeni journalist Mohammed Al-Qadhi, who is based in Sana’a, the nation’s capital, said, “In Yemen, there is no gay community, because according to Islamic Sharia it’s prohibited. It’s a very conservative society and no one will admit that they’re gay.”

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Yemen: Pro-gay article sparks smear campaign, death threats

Source: The Media Line

Written by Rachelle Kliger

A Yemeni filmmaker is facing a smear campaign from conservative and religious groups in his home country after publishing an article in a local magazine promoting gay rights.

The Paris-based author, Hamid Aqabi, wrote that homosexuality was “part and parcel of our society.” He called on the parliament to extend more rights to gay people and went as far as to suggest that the Yemeni government should consider allowing gay marriages, just like in the West.

The article tackled several thorny issues and appeared in A-Thaqafiyya, a cultural magazine funded by the government and issued by the Al-Jumhouriyya institution.

Like in most of the Arab world, in Yemen homosexuality is controversial and rarely discussed topic.

"Yemen is the same as other Arabic societies – homosexuality is practiced in private,” Ali Hilli, the pen-name of a London-based gay rights activist and director of Iraqi LGBT told The Media Line.

“Freedom of speech is very important and should not be subject to prison sentences. Threats or intimidation are a very dangerous weapon against human rights activists and journalists in the Middle East and governments should tackle this issue,” he said.

As to Aqabi’s suggestion to introduce gay marriages, Hilli said it was “not very rational” to bring this up for discussion in a society like Yemen.

“In Yemen there is no gay community, because according to Islamic Sharia it’s prohibited,” Mohammed Al-Qadhi, a Sanaa-based journalist and analyst told The Media Line. “Yemen isn’t the United States. It’s a very conservative society and no one will admit that they’re gay.”

Al-Qadhi called Aqabi’s article “very rare.”

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