Pakistan trans leader standing for election

By Paul Canning

Shahana Abbas Shani, President of Pakistan's She-male Association, has announced that she will contest elections as an independent candidate for Muzaffargarh for the Punjab provincial assembly.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Shani said that she has made the decision because she wants to discuss problems faced by her community, which she says have been ignored by Pakistani society, in the assembly.

“There is no other way for us to be heard and now when the Supreme Court of Pakistan has allowed us to have an identity card, we will fight for our rights,” Shani said.

The landmark 2009 court decision recognizing a 'third gender' has not been followed through by authorities, which caused severe problems for trans people during the recent devastating flooding, particularly in Sindh province, through a lack of ID cards. In November this year the court ordered that they be registered as voters.

During the disaster, transgender people were left out of the aid efforts and denied access to IDP camps because of general prejudice, their non-conforming appearance, and their lack of proper identification documents.

Bindiya Rana, of Gender Interactive Alliance, explains that no third-gender ID cards have been given out. As a result, many transgender citizens lack any identification documents at all. According to Rana, this occurs because "a lot of transgenders get separated from their parents from a very young age and are unable to get their parents' ID cards and other supporting documents which are required to get an ID."

Similar instances of aid denial occurred in post-earthquake Haiti.

Shani said that the Punjab assembly should pass rights legislation and that there should be reserved seats for transgender people - known as 'Hijra' in South Asia - in the National Assembly. Women and minorities already have reserved seats.

Her association has participated in protests against the November 26 Nato attack and the killing of Pakistani army personnel - where Barack Obama’s effigy was burnt.

“We will fight at our country’s borders if the forces need us,” Shani said.

Related articles

• How a lack of ID impacts transgender people in the worst situations (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Pakistan's floods, transgender people 'languishing silently in pain' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

2011 round up: Part four: Transgender and intersex rights

Anna Grodzka image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

I'm rounding up the year in a series of posts - in which no doubt I've missed something, so please let me know what I've missed in the comments!


Transgender and intersex rights

One of the world's most progressive transgender equality laws was passed in Argentina's parliament and in the UK a plan for comprehensive changes to ensure equality for trans people was announced. Chile also passed an anti-discrimination based on gender identity law as did California and Massachusetts. But in Puerto Rico a roll-back of legal protection was proposed.

The Pole Anna Grodzka became the first transsexual MP in Europe and only the second trans parliamentarian in the world.

Germany removed the surgery requirement for legal gender change, as did Kyrgyzstan.

Pakistan's Supreme Court created a 'third gender' category, but authorities have been slow to implement it. This caused real problems for trans people during the flooding which hit the country this year as did a similar failure to follow through on legal change in Nepal.

The first trans rights rally took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and new trans and intersex groups appeared in Russia and in Africa and the African groups came together to meet in Uganda.

Turkey jailed trans activists for 'insulting police' but an activist won a case against police at the European Court of Human Rights. Attacks on trans people by police in Albania drew protests.

The death of trans activist Aleesha Farhana in Malaysia after courts refused to change her gender on official documents sparked mass protests and a government concession and also increased, sometimes bizarre, coverage in local media.

The first intersex mayor in the world was elected in Australia. In September, the world's first International Intersex Organising Forum took place in Brussels.

Figures released in October showed that one transgender person is murdered somewhere in the world at least every other day.

Related articles

• A Day in the Life of the Rainbow Identity Offices in Botswana (mask.org.za)
• UK Government Launches Plan for Trans Equality (care2.com)

"How does a lesbian come out at 13?" UK treatment of lesbian asylum seekers

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Women's Asylum News

By: S. Chelvan*

In September 2011, an Immigration Judge addressed this question to the representative of a lesbian appellant from Pakistan, highlighting her disbelief of the appellant, despite the appeal being ready to proceed.1 It is astounding that there are still those who need educating in the simple facts that the differences between straight, as compared to lesbian, gay and bisexual appellants, are in fact found in the experiences of all human beings. This is particularly shocking after the training provided to Immigration Judges by STONEWALL earlier this year following HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon),2 which repeated the mantra to the judges, “It is not what we do, but who we are”. Would anyone ever ask “How does a teenager come out as straight at 13?”. In the hetero-normative society we live in, there are still those who assume that every child is programmed as straight as this is ‘normal’, ignoring the core development of a sexual and gender identity, straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans or intersex, based on identity (including desire and love), and not merely conduct, in all human beings.

The rejection of a straight life

Following guidance and training since the UK Supreme Court’s July 2010 landmark ruling in HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon)3 there are decision-makers who engage with detailed analysis of such claims, and who would reject as highly unacceptable and legally flawed decisions which are based on personal ignorance, or in some instances blatant homophobic bigotry. For example, in July 2011, the Upper Tribunal reversed the dismissed appeal of a gay man from Uzbekistan, finding the adverse credibility findings as perverse. The deeply flawed approach of the Immigration Judge in the initial appeal included the question “When did you first engage in buggery with your boyfriend?” clarifying that the reference to ‘buggery’ was perfectly acceptable.4 The invisibility of lesbians, bisexual women, trans and intersex women, has until recently reflected the blatant ignorance of asylum decision-makers. The recent Upper Tribunal country guidance case on Jamaican lesbians,5 shows a much welcomed engagement with the core issues of difference, stigma, shame and harm (‘DSSH’)6 which are at the core of the narrative of the majority of LGBTI claims. SW importantly identifies risk categories to those who are, or those who are perceived as lesbian in Jamaica, where an individual does not live a ‘heterosexual narrative’ (i.e. have men ‘calling’ or have a boyfriend/husband and/or have children). Six years since the Tribunal concluded that the finding “there is some force that perception is key” was non-binding,7 the Tribunal has finally applied this to the core trigger of “difference”.

Correcting a historical wrong

This article explores how the development of case law in the past twelve years shows a significant attempt by the UK to identify what is at the core of asylum claims made by lesbians.8 There is a need to recognise that it is the failure to abide by the “heterosexual narrative” which creates the “difference” with heterosexual individuals. This difference is linked to stigma and results in asylum seekers’ shame and a continuing fear of harm in their home country. This understanding is at the heart of identifying the protection needs of women in sexual and gender identity asylum claims. It was the case of two women who feared domestic violence at the hands of their husbands in Pakistan9 in 1999, which established that “homosexuals” could be considered a particular social group in addition to women. Lord Steyn recognised an international consensus based on prosecution, or the potential prosecution, of predominantly male same-sex conduct. This landmark judgment reflects that the Refugee Convention is a living instrument and should be interpreted as such. Ironically and shamefully, this corrected the historical wrong which hid the fact that ‘homosexuals’ were also part of the persecuted in Nazi Germany: in ignoring such facts, the framers of the Convention created a protection gap in the UK of nearly fifty years.10

Read more »

Video: Major Pakistan newspaper focuses on homosexuality

Source: Express Tribune

Tribune magazine and blog editors talk about their coverage of homosexuality and the role the internet plays with the nascent LGBT community in Pakistan.

By Hani Taha

At first glance, the PQM’s flag looks like that of any political party. It proudly displays the star and crescent against a rainbow-hued spectrum of reds, purples and blues, depicting a Pakistan that is not simply green and white, but capable of embracing all shades of being and behaviour. But this isn’t the flag of a political party and the acronym PQM stands for the Pakistan Queer Movement, not — as some may imagine — the Pakistan Qaumi Mahaz.

The brainchild of 18-year-old Nuwas Manto, the PQM, in its own words, seeks “respect, equality and freedoms for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in Pakistan.”

“It depends on what you think a movement is,” says Manto, when asked to explain what the PQM aspires to achieve. “You won’t see us marching in pink underwear, for instance. What we are working towards is something like the Progressive Writers’ Movement who aspire to bring about a mental state of change through writing.”

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In Pakistan's floods, transgender people 'languishing silently in pain'

Source: The Express Tribune

Saniya lost her house in the floods and has no place to go for refuge. The 30-year-old transgender is not welcome at any relief camp because other people are not ready to live with her.  

It’s not only about being unable to find shelter. Saniya does not have access to relief aid because she does not have a national identity card, she told The Express Tribune by telephone, adding that, “Besides, normal people are considered more genuine.”

She finally found refuge in a rented room in Madeji, Sindh shared by two other people. Before the monsoon rains that led to floods in Sindh, she had a three-room house in Wazirabad, Shikarpur. She says she is one of many people from the community that have been affected by the disaster.

“There are several others languishing silently in pain. Business has also gone down because most people I used to entertain have been displaced," Saniya adds.

Roshni Helpline Trust President Mohammad Ali says the transgender community is more socially and economically vulnerable. They are not welcomed in relief camps and do not have easy access to services, which may be available to other internally displaced persons (IDPs). National identity cards (which many people from the transgender community still do not have) are required for accessing relief services such as Watan Cards, shelter and non-food items, Ali says.

There are about 16,000 to 17,000 transgender people settled in Sindh. However, neither the government nor any NGO is maintaining figures on the affected and displaced people from this community.

The Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA), a Karachi-based organisation that fights for the rights of this marginalised community, reported it has received several appeals for aid so far.

Bindya Rana, president of GIA, said that about 25 people have reported complete loss of property and homes in the floods this year. These numbers of course are limited to those who know about the NGO and can afford to reach out, Rana says, adding “We have a ‘dera’ in almost every city and there are a lot of other cases that are unreported.”

• GIA are collecting funds for shelter and food, email bindiyarana2009@gmail.com

The Guardian tells stories of LGBT from Africa, Middle East

Image via Wikipedia

Source: The Guardian

Bisi Alimi, from Nigeria

In 2002, I was at university in Nigeria and standing for election. A magazine wrote about me and exposed me as being gay. This led the university to set up a disciplinary committee. I was very nearly dismissed. When I did graduate, people wanted to refuse me my certificate on the grounds that I did not have good enough morals to be an alumnus of the university. While this was going on, the then-president, Olusegun Obasanjo, declared that there were no homosexuals in Nigeria, and that such a thing would not be allowed in the country.

I talked with a friend of mine, who is a famous Nigerian talkshow host, about challenging this opinion. Nobody had come out publicly before. So, in October 2004, I appeared on her breakfast show, New Dawn with Funmi Iyanda". I talked about my sexuality, the burden of the HIV epidemic in the gay community.

The reaction was immediate and violent. I was subjected to brutality from the police and the community. I was disowned by my family and lost many friends, including in the gay community. They were afraid to know me. I was isolated, with no support and no job. The TV show was taken off the air by the government. It led to the introduction of the Same Sex Prohibition bill of 2006. All I had done was say who I was. Three years later I appeared on the BBC World Service. I repeated what I had said on television in Nigeria and suggested my government was using attacks on homosexuality to help cover up its own corruption.

On my arrival back to Nigeria, I was arrested, detained and beaten by the police. For a month, until I fled back to the UK in April 2007, my life was in constant danger.

Nassr, from Iraq

I was working for the Americans as a translator. When I got back to Iraq, I found that my house had been confiscated by the Mahdi militia. They are Shia, I am Christian. When I knocked on the door, I said: "This is my house." They said: "This is not your house. Either you go or we kill you." They beat me. They hit me on my head with their guns. I ran away, so they went after my sons instead. I heard they had asked my neighbours about me, and the neighbours had told them I am gay. I was now in real danger.

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Audio: In New Zealand, gay Pakistani couple's marriage dream shattered by threats

Source: GayNZ.com

A gay Auckland couple has given up on its dream of being married in New York, after threats were apparently made against family members in Pakistan.

Emad Khan and Haseeb Meta were about to be announced as winners of radio station ZM's Same Sex in the City competition when Khan called in to reveal he and his partner could no longer take part.

"Haseeb and I and our loved ones have been put in a very awkward and bizarre situation and I think we're just going to stay put and just get married in New York another time probably."

A shocked breakfast host Polly Gillespie questioned him further and he explained his family was unsafe and did not want to elaborate further for their sake.

"We have felt amazing, like, throughout this journey and it has been really awesome and we've really loved people who have voted for us and everything, it's been really amazing. But we've had a difficult night."

Grant Kereama expressed absolute disbelief, but both hosts expressed understanding at the situation.

The couple has already overcome meeting and falling in love in a country where homosexuality is illegal, living apart as Meta cared for his terminally ill mother and moving to New Zealand together.

The runners-up Hayles Sherry and Tashie Mills from Wainuiomata will now be married in New York instead.

Friends of Khan and Meta are shocked and devastated at the situation after rallying to help them get enough public votes to live their dream. There has also been an outpouring of concern from ZM listeners.

In Pakistan, police act to protect trans women

Source: Express Tribune

By Manzoor Ali

In Peshawar, the City police took seven persons into custody after transvestites complained of being sexually harassed and physically tortured by them, police said.

SHO Khazana Police Station Raz Mohammad Khan told The Express Tribune that they took seven persons into custody after transvestites approached the police with a written complaint detailing their ordeal, saying that they shaved the heads of five transvestites and subjected them to physical abuse.

Raz Mohammad said that the issue was settled as another application of reconciliation was submitted to the police station after the initial application.

However, he added that the accused were still in police custody.

Transvestites have traditionally been paid to help celebrate the birth of a son or to dance at weddings, but today, many end up living on the streets, begging or prostituting themselves. Additionally, in a country where sexual relations outside marriage are taboo and homosexuality is illegal, transvestites are also treated as sex objects and often become the victims of violent assault.

Earlier in the day, transvestites from around the city protested outside Peshawar Press Club (PPC) to call attention to the abuse.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Shemale Association President Farzana told the Express Tribune that such incidents have been taking place over the last few months and the same group of people is responsible for shaving the heads of transvestites and subjecting them to other forms of physical and mental abuse.

Earlier, five transvestites approached with a complaint that they were taken to a party in the Bakhshi Pul area on Charsadda Road, where a group of men shaved their heads and then began torturing them.

She identified the transvestites as Marghay, Lambay, Nazoo, Guria and Saeeda, adding that the same kind of treatment has been meted out to at least 20 transvestites during the past few months, with some of them leaving the city in fear.

Farzana claimed that the same group had previously sexually abused some transvestites and filmed the incident, which was later uploaded to the internet. She claimed that she was also being threatened for speaking out.

Another transvestite who was subjected to physical abuse some 20 days back corroborated Farzana’s story, telling The Express Tribune that a group of 15-20 men subjected them to physical abuse and that the attackers filmed part of the incident. She felt sure that the attackers were from the same group that shaved the heads of transvestites last night.

Related articles

• Pakistani Transgender Women Hired As Tax Collectors (gayrights.change.org) 
• Video: 'third sex' accepted as ID category in Pakistan (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Pakistan's transsexuals fight back against police (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Pakistan’s Undesirables: ‘Dealing with’ the Hijra Problem (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Dutch launch massive, world-first HIV/Aids program aimed at world's marginalised

Image via Wikipedia

Source: GNP+

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands has reserved € 35 million so that gay men, people who use drugs and sex workers in 16 countries can get easier access to information, condoms, antiretroviral treatment and care.

Never before has a country launched such a large HIV program aimed at these vulnerable groups. It could mean a huge turnaround in reducing the number of HIV infections in the 16 countries.

The program will start in September 2011 and be implemented by seven Netherlands based organizations  including GNP+. As well as the grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the program has been made possible by € 11.7 million from other sources.

The 4.5-year program has been judged the best by the ministry.

Earlier this year there was a call for proposals for development cooperation projects aimed at vulnerable groups. The Dutch government’s decision to reserve funds for this project is highly important. It means a continuation of the ‘Dutch approach’ within international AIDS relief where access to prevention and care in combination with the decriminalization of drug use, homosexuality and sex work is central. This is the only way gay men, people who use drugs and prostitutes can get the care they need.

A good example of this care is the integrated needle exchange program for injecting drug users. Many HIV infections are prevented as a result. The great success of the Dutch approach is recognized internationally.

Vulnerable groups are 10 to 20 times more likely to become infected with HIV than the general population. Only 8% has access to prevention, care, HIV treatment and support.

Many countries have legislation that makes access to care difficult or impossible. Examples include laws that make homosexuality a criminal offence or ones that are used to prosecute sex workers.

Offering HIV/AIDS care developed for and by these vulnerable groups must therefore go hand in hand with political pressure to change such legislation. This is precisely the aim of this program. It is also aimed at partners of gay men, drug users and sex workers. Because of the taboo related to homosexuality, in many countries men also have a relationship with a woman or are married.

The program will be run in 16 countries: Georgia, Kirghizstan, Tadzhikistan, Ukraine, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

The program builds on work carried out in recent years. This work can now be continued and expanded. This new program will involve a lot more collaboration in order to be as effective and efficient as possible.

Gaps in existing projects will also be tackled. For example, most prevention programs along ‘truck routes’ in Africa are aimed at drivers. Until now, they have not benefited sex workers. This has meant that a great many infections still take place along these routes.

The Dutch program will be carried out by seven organizations: Aids Fonds/STI AIDS Netherlands, Aids Foundation East-West, COC, Global Network of People living with HIV, Health Connections International, Mainline and Schorer.

Together with 102 partner organizations in the 16 countries listed, they will ensure that in the coming years 400,000 gay and bisexual men, transsexuals, people who use drugs and sex workers get access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and other support.

New Report Shows Major AIDS Funders Fail to Track Investments for Gay Men and Transgender People

Source: MSMGF

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In Nepal, LGBT group wants to help refugees from South Asia

Source: Times of India

After organising beauty pageants for gays and transgenders, followed by extravagant same sex weddings, Nepal will now move to more sombre issues, becoming the first country in South Asia to offer shelter to battered gays.

While several Nepali NGOs have been running shelters for women, who are the victims of domestic violence, and survivors of trafficking, Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's pioneering gay rights organisation, is set to become the only NGO in South Asia to offer a shelter to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) who face violence in their own countries due to their different sexual orientations.

The LGBT Centre for South Asia, the first of its kind, is coming up in Kathmandu's Dhumbarahi area. The five-storey building will have conferencing facilities, a theatre, a clinic and a shelter for members of the community who face violence and death threats in their own countries.

"In countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan non-conformity is taboo and members of the community face violence and even the possibility of death," says Sunil Babu Pant, the founder of Blue Diamond Society and Nepal's only openly gay MP. 

"We had a pair of teenaged girls from Kolkata run away from home and come to us for help. One was from the Hindu community and one Muslim and there was additional parental anger. The shelter is meant for persecuted people like them."

In a gesture that has endeared it to Nepal's gay community, the republic's first Maoist government in 2008, headed by Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, made budgetary allocations for them and the land for the centre was bought with the money - NRS 25-30 lakh a year. Further assistance came from the Danish and Norwegian governments. Norway donated $150,000 for the construction of two buildings after Blue Diamond Society, then working from rented offices in Kathmandu, faced regular trouble with landlords, who threw them out under pressure from neighbours.

The last eviction caused deep distress especially as Blue Diamond Society was then also running a hospice for gays with HIV/AIDS. Pant described how the sick patients had to be moved on stretcher. Currently, there are 20-30 people at any given time in the hospice, with some of them being at the terminal stage and disowned by their families.

Pant says the centre should be up and running in the next 15 months - provided they manage to raise the rest of the money needed. Currently, Blue Diamond Society is seeking to raise $150-170,000 to complete the project.

Read more »

Severe barriers for refugees in Thailand

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Bangkok Post

Police will continue to arrest illegal immigrants who enter the country under the guise of refugees and claim human rights protection.

The migrants, mainly from North Korea and Pakistan, are using Bangkok as a transit point to resettle in a third country.

The city is a good channel for them as it houses the Asia-Pacific office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) where they can ask for refugee status, according to immigration police.

They are also given help by human rights advocates and even foreign diplomats.

"If we don't arrest them, more illegal migrants will come to Thailand. This will lead to more crimes and human trafficking," said Phongnakhon Nakhonsantiphap, deputy chief of investigation at the Immigration Bureau.

North Koreans who illegally enter northern Thailand from Laos are reportedly helped by human trafficking gangs to initially travel to China, from where they travel in cargo boats to Laos, according to investigations by the bureau and the Internal Security Operations Command.

Once in Thailand, officials from the South Korean embassy will contact them and facilitate the last leg of travel to South Korea, which is their final destination.

However, because their entry and stay in Thailand are both illegal, the North Korean immigrants must be prosecuted in court, according to the Immigration Bureau.

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Resource: Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators. Event: PGLL at London Pride 2011

PGLL @ Pride 2010

Source: Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators

Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators is proud to announce that we will again be at this year's Gay and Lesbian pride in London on Saturday 2 July, raising awareness for LGBTs for those whom are living in such homophobic disasters as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Pakistan.

• time to meet :12 noon
• place: Piccadilly circuses

• For more information please contact pgll2010@aol.com.(Maani)

We assist LGBT Asylum seekers and Refugees who are native Persian speakers such as Afghans, Tajiks and Iranians in the UK.

Help we have given includes:

• Receiving Legal requirement, e.g finding convenient lawyer or Solicitors.
• Assisting with Education e.g finding suitable or local College or school for studying English and learn the English language.
• Assisting with communication such as contact with their designated organisation e.g Home Office, National Asylum Support service (NASS), Asylum Registration card (ARC).
• Assisting with filling necessary forms such as Housing, Hospital, Home office, Job centre, Educational etc.
• Health: register the Client (LGBT Asylum) with their local General Practitioner (GP)

The Persian Gay and Lesbian Liberators (PGLL) is an asylum and refugee support group organization in the UK that advocates for civil and human rights for Persian speaker such as Afghan, Tajikistan, and Iranian LGBT asylum seekers.

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Video: 'third sex' accepted as ID category in Pakistan

Source: BBC



There has been little opposition to the decision by Pakistan's Supreme Court to allow a third gender category, apart from male or female, on the national identity card. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool meets transgendered people in Karachi buoyed by the ruling, but sceptical about whether it can really end the isolation they face.

In the back streets, in a squalid neighbourhood of Pakistan's largest city, is a tiny, shabby apartment. It is where we find "Shehzadi" getting ready for work.

Wearing a bright yellow dress, and scrabbling around her make-up box, she is doing her best to cover up her decidedly masculine features.

Shehzadi is transgendered: physically male, but psychologically female.

"When I was about six or seven, I realised I wasn't either a boy or a girl," Shehzadi says.

"I was miserable because I didn't understand why I was different. It was only when I met another 'she-male' that I felt peace in my heart and my mind."

Like so many other of the estimated 50,000 transgenders in Pakistan, Shehzadi left home as a teenager, to live with others from the same community.

Read more »

Video: Record support for LGBT rights at United Nations

Source: International Service for Human Rights 

On 22 March 2011 the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Council) held a general debate on follow-up and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA). The VDPA reaffirms core principles of the international human rights framework, including the universality of human rights and non-discrimination. The highlight of the meeting was a joint statement delivered by Colombia on behalf of 85 States on ending acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

85 is the highest number of States ever signing on to a statement of this kind. A joint NGO statement, with 119 signatories, including ISHR, commended States for the initiative and noted in particular the broad cross-regional support for the statement.

The debate also saw vital participation of networks of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) from all regions, including a cross-regional joint statement of NHRIs in support of the statement by the group of States. It emphasised that NHRIs all over the world are advocating the rights of LGBTI people regardless of the different cultural backgrounds they are working in. The statement further called on the Council to hold a panel discussion on the protection of human rights of LGBTI people.

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In US, gay asylum seekers gaining ground?

Image by Matt Algren via Flickr

Source: WGLB

By Kilian Melloy

An American organization that assists GLBT asylum seekers reports that it helped a record number of gays from hostile home countries secure safe haven in 2010.

Immigration Equality, working together with legal volunteers, successfully assisted 101 GLBT asylum seekers last year, according to a press release issued by the organization on Feb. 7. The largest number from a single country was 28; those refugees came from Jamaica, one of the most violently homophobic nations in the world.

Gays in Jamaica are reportedly subject to mob violence, sometimes beaten and even murdered in their own homes. Homophobia is deeply rooted in Jamaican culture, with anti-gay songs played at dance halls. Homophobia is further inculcated into the society by anti-gay religious leaders.

A further 10 gay asylum seekers came from other Caribbean nations, the press release noted.

Other sexual minorities who won the right to stay in the United States and not be shipped back to face anti-gay persecution--which can often be life-threatening--came from Russia (seven of the 101 individuals), Uzbekistan (four asylum seekers), and Ghana (three individuals), among other nations.

Read more »

In UK, Pakistani gay man wins asylum

Image via Wikipedia

A Pakistani gay man has won UK asylum.

Mohammed Asif had to hide his real identity in his country and had been verbally and physically abused by people around him. A cleric in his city found out about his identity which led Mohammed to run away from Pakistan.

Although some tolerance exists in certain big cities, homosexuality in Pakistan is considered a sin and a taboo/ vice and gay rights are close to non-existent. Homosexuality has been illegal in Pakistan since 1860, law punishes 'acts of sodomy' with a possible prison sentence.

Pakistani law is a combination of the colonial and Islamic view. When the Islamic laws were introduced to the system amendments included primitive forms of punishments like whipping of up to 100 lashes and death by stoning. According to the Islamic law, repetition of the offence of homosexuality is punished by death. Although laws themselves are rarely enforced directly, they can be used by the police and private citizens as a form of blackmail.


State protection is not possible and the government has always shown resistance against the issue of gay rights and never hid its intolerance. The Government denies that homosexuality exists in Pakistan and maintains that LGBT expressions or human rights are alien concepts from the decadent west.

Related articles

• Audio: In Pakistan, lesbians live in silence, love in secret (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Pakistan's deadly blasphemy-seeking vigilantes | Mustafa Qadri (guardian.co.uk)

Will Ban Ki-Moon back up his positive words on LGBTI rights?

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

Inner City Press, which covers the United Nations beat, reports that the application for observer status by the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) has been tossed out again - they've been trying for it for ten years or more.

At the UN's Economic and Social Council the vote called by Pakistan to throw out ILGA's application went:

Peru No, Russia Yes, Senegal Yes, Sudan Yes, Turkey No, USA No, Venezuela Yes, Belgium No, Bulgaria No, Burundi Yes, China Yes, Cuba __, India No, Israel No, Kyrgyzstan Abstain, Morocco Yes, Mozambique Not present, Nicaragua Yes, Pakistan Yes

In the UN's committee on non-governmental organization last week an application for accreditation of the Autonomous Women's Center from Serbia, which mentioned discrimination against lesbians, was questioned and opposed by Pakistan, Morocco, Russia and Sudan.

Pakistan's representative asked sarcastically if the discrimination of lesbians was “against men.” He mocked the application's reference to disability, asking if “lesbianism is a disability.”

An application by the Australian Lesbian Medical Association was similarly mocked:

Pakistan's delegate asked if homosexuals are more prone to sexually transmitted diseases, in terms of having and transmitting those diseases. He asked the NGO support its response with medical documents...

Egypt's representative said:

He did not recognize there was any legally bounding definitions for terms as sexual preferences or orientation or that such terms had been defined by any internationally recognized instrument in the human rights arena.

This is the same argument brought up in the December vote in which lesbians and gays were added to a UN resolution against extrajudicial executions.

Pakistan is pushing the point. Last week they argued at the UN that whatever UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon may have said, it was on his own behalf, not on behalf of member states. Discrimination against gays and lesbians is “not recognized by the UN,” says Pakistan.

Ban Ki-Moon has spoken about LGBTI rights numerous times. In December, and notably in relation to the debate on extrajudical killings, he said:

“Where there is tension between cultural attitudes and universal human rights, universal human rights must carry the day. Personal disapproval, even society's disapproval, is no excuse to arrest, detain, imprison, harass or torture anyone - ever.”

Last week he said:

"We must reject persecution of people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity -- who may be arrested, detained or executed for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. They may not have popular or political support, but they deserve our support in safeguarding their fundamental human rights."

"Cultural practice cannot justify any violation of human rights. Women's treatment as second-class citizens has been justified, at times, as a 'cultural practice.' So has institutional racism and other forms of inhuman punishment. But that is merely an excuse. When our fellow humans are persecuted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, we must speak out. That is what I am doing here, that is my consistent position. Human rights are human rights everywhere, for everyone."

Pakistan's statement has led Inner City Press has asked for "the Secretariat's - ideally, the S-G's -- response to this characterization of the S-G's statements and whether discrimination against LGBT is “recognized by the UN.”" And also whether Ki-Moon will defend those NGOs asking to be recognised by the UN.

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Wikileaks, the US Embassy Cables and Migration Issues

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Source: Franck Duvell: Diary on Human Migration Research

When ‘Cable gate’ – Wikileak’s publication of the US embassies’ reports to the US State Department Washington - hit the headlines in November and December 2010 I was wondering whether there is anything in it for migration and migration policy researchers. So far, I am not aware whether anybody else has already gone through the documents, so I had a quick look. Unfortunately, only a fraction of all cables – 2000 out of 251,000 - are already published on Wikileaks’ website (http://213.251.145.96/cablegate.html).

In short, migration and refugee issues only play a very minor role in the set of documents I have sifted through. And where these are mentioned this is mostly in the context of terrorism, general threats to regional stability and security or with respect to Muslim minority communities. The first impression from these cables is that from the US American consular perspective migration as such is not considered a major issue and is not causing great anxiety whilst Muslim migration and minorities and to some extent border security are issues of concern.

Worldwide: Some reference to migration can be found in the already notorious ‘reporting and collecting needs’ issued by the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. For instance, the request for West Africa lines out to collect information on ‘population and Refugee Issues’, including ‘population movements in the region, and governments' involvement and response, indications of actual or potential refugee movements within or into the region, locations and conditions of refugee camps and informal refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) gathering sites and transit routes’ government capability and willingness to assist refugees and IDPs, health and demographic statistics of refugees and IDPs, dynamics and impact of migration and demographic shifts’ (2009, http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/04/09STATE37566.html). And also in Hungary information is requested on ‘demography, including ...migration’ and ‘plans and efforts to respond to declining birth rates, including through promotion of immigration’ (2009, http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/06/09STATE62393.html). Similar requests were sent to many other countries.

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Audio: In Pakistan, lesbians live in silence, love in secret

Source: NPR

By Habiba Nosheen

The names in this story have been changed to protect the women's identities out of concern for their safety.

Five years ago, Fatima was 23 and studying law in Lahore, Pakistan. She wore blue jeans and a loose shirt and sported short boyish hair. That was the first sign she wasn't a typical Pakistani woman.

She leaned in to share a secret she had revealed to only a few other people before: "I'm lesbian," she said hesitantly.

"I think I knew since a very early age," she said. "It felt quite isolating, I feel. Like, I didn't see people or kids around me feel the same way."

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In Abu Dhabi, a Pakistani gay murderer asks to pay 'blood money'

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Source: The National

By Hassan Hassan, Courts and Justice Reporter

A murdered man's family who asked for his killer to be executed quickly may have to repeat their request after the murderer asked for time to negotiate blood money.

The killer, FS, from Pakistan, is hoping for an agreement that would allow him to avoid execution. If he fails to agree to a deal, the family would have to repeat their request. They had earlier asked for a swift execution to avoid revenge attacks in Pakistan .

FS had his first hearing at the Abu Dhabi Appellate Court yesterday. He pleaded guilty to stabbing to death a 26-year-old Pakistani man who lived in the same labour camp in Abu Dhabi.

Prosecutors said he lured the victim to a deserted area and attempted to have sex with him.

The Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance sentenced FS last month to three years in prison for habitually engaging in homosexual acts with the victim. He was sentenced to death for the murder which took place on October 8 last year.

He pleaded not guilty to having sex with the man and asked the appeal court judge if he could negotiate with the family to pay blood money.

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