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Monday, 5 July 2010
LGBT asylum and immigration @ London Pride
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Video: The plight of refugees in Greece
Source: UNHCR
WARNING: this video contains images of deceased persons
Zimbabwe crackdown: Mugabe's party using LGBTI rights to push their new constitution
Ignatius Muhambi, left and Ellen Chademana employees of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe(GALZ), arrive at the magistrates courts in HarareIgnatius Muhambi, an activist working for Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) arrested 22 May and tortured by police, has pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing drugs and pornographic material.
He was arrested together with Ellen Chademana, an administrative assistant at GALZ, last month at their office in Harare and charged with being in possession of obscene, indecent or prohibited articles in contravention of Section 26 (1) (b) of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act.
The police also charged Chademana and Mhambi with contravening Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe although that charge was not initially raised in court.
The police allege that the GALZ employees displayed a plaque of former San Francisco Mayor Willie Lewis Brown Jr in their office in which the African-American politician denounces President Robert Mugabe’s homophobia against gays and lesbians.
Activists have questioned the timing of the arrests. Says African Activist:
With the constitutional outreach programs underway, the timing of the arrests of LGBTI activists in Zimbabwe is suspicious. Right now they are focused on their defense, not on advocating for LGBTI rights in the new constitution. In addition, the state can use these arrests to create a negative story about LGBTI people at the very time Zimbabwe considers the new constitution.GALZ said immediately after the arrests that:
We believe the pair are being victimised as a direct result of GALZ making a submission to the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC), despite the call for submissions for this process. We ask the question, is government asking for participation so as to clamp down on individuals and organisations that contribute to the process?South Africa's Mail & Guardian said:
Despite Mugabe’s rhetoric, arrests of gays have been rare and the raids appear to be an attempt by Zanu-PF to bait the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has no coherent position on gay rights. Zanu-PF could be looking to put Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on the spot - he cannot condemn the arrests without being seen as supporting gay rights, which are strongly opposed by his supporters. But he cannot support the arrests as this will anger his civil society allies and Western supporters, who want an end to years of restrictions on personal freedom under Mugabe.It now appears that these fears are being realised in the 'chaotic' constitution outreach programme.
Zimbabwe Independent reports that LGBTI rights are being used by Mugabe's party to push through his version of a new Zimbabwe constitution, known as the 'Kariba draft':
The issue of gay rights has taken centre stage in the constitution outreach programme with Zanu PF reportedly telling villagers in Mashonaland West that any constitutional provisions outside what is in the controversial Kariba draft will promote same sex marriages and homosexuality.Zimbabwean Prime Minister and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangiri called 30 June for a constitution that upholds non-judgemental tolerance:
Villagers in President Robert Mugabe’s rural home in Zvimba, 110km west of Harare, and neighbouring Chitomborwizi in Makonde district now strongly believe that those calling for a people-driven constitution, who are opposed to the Kariba draft, want to include the issue of gay rights in the new constitution. Zanu PF, the villagers allege, is using homosexuality, something which they know people – particularly those in rural areas – are strongly opposed to, to make sure that they parrot what is in the Kariba draft.
Villagers claimed that Zanu PF campaigned for the Kariba draft, written by the three political parties in the inclusive government, during meetings prior to the constitution outreach programme. Villagers in Chief Chirau’s area, also known as Kawondera village in Zvimba, say that they were addressed by soldiers three weeks ago, who told them that they should demand a constitution with an executive president who has far-reaching powers to appoint without any consultation.
The villagers refused to be named for fear of being victimised for adopting what might be perceived as “anti-Zanu PF” positions on the constitution.
The importance of non-judgmental tolerance cannot be over-emphasised. While the dark decade that we have recently endured can be analysed and attributed to a number of causes, the ultimate cause of the suffering, persecution and poverty that marred the past ten years was intolerance. Our new Constitution must ensure that in Zimbabwe there is no longer room for such negative attitudes towards the right of others to live, worship and support according to their own dreams and desires.He also wrote 31 March:
There can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of our population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation or political affiliation.However in April remarks reported in the government-run media by Tsvangiri at a rally alongside President Robert Mugabe (Afrik.com reported Tsvangirai's remarks as: “I don't agree with the idea of a man breathing hard on the neck of another man while humping him") seemed to suggest his opposition to the country's new constitution offering any protections for LGBTI. An official in Tsvangirai’s office later told reporters that the Prime Minister had only been expressing his personal views and not those of his party.
As well, COPAC, whose principals are Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the divided opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, has said in advance of the consultations that no protections for LGBT would be included in the new constitution and that their 'outreach teams' will not elicit any views on the issue.
COPAC chairperson Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana claimed that "during the outreach training programme, the issue was never raised" and that "the issue of gays and lesbians has been shunned by all the three principals to the Global Political Agreement".
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Canadian gay groups urged to sponsor resettlement of sexual refugees
Gay and lesbian organizations should “step up to the plate” and privately sponsor the resettlement in Canada of refugees persecuted in their homeland because of their sexual orientation, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says.
Mr. Kenney said on Tuesday he will make a point of appealing to the gay and lesbian community as he travels the country this summer to try to get more groups involved in private sponsorship of refugees who are stuck in UN camps or urban slums.
“Today, I’m putting out a call to people of good faith, people of good conscience, compassionate Canadians to step up to the plate and help us to provide a new and secure beginning for thousands of Iraqi victims of persecution and violence, as well as [for] others around the world,” he told a news conference.
“It would be a great thing for the gay community to get behind. It’s one thing to issue a press release about the deplorable treatment of gays in Iran. But it would be so much meaningful to actually help some of those people who have had to flee.”
Starting next year, the government has set a target of resettling 2,000 more refugees a year under the private sponsorship program than it has in the past. The government will sponsor an additional 500, raising the 2011 resettlement target to 14,000.
Churches and faith-based groups account for the bulk of private sponsorships. Under the program, the sponsorship groups are responsible for raising the money needed to house, feed and clothe the refugees and also for helping them navigate the health, education and employment systems.
Gay activists said later they are already very involved in trying to save and improve the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender (LGBT) individuals who are trapped in Turkey, Iran and other countries where they are being persecuted. They also say they help to acclimatize them to Canada once they are here.
“We’re not organized in the way that churches would be,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of EGALE, a national gay rights group.
“But we do this kind of work already. We are well-connected to LGBT organizations around the world. We know when people are in crisis and need to escape countries.”
Asked specifically if she could envision LGBT groups sponsoring refugees the way that churches do, she said, “In theory, absolutely.”
But LGBT groups are not as “flush” with cash as the churches, and Mr. Kenney needs to provide more government resettlement assistance.
“Anything Mr. Kenney can do to help, I am totally willing to sit down with him and chat about it.”
In the meantime, she said, many LGBT individuals are members of groups that have sponsored refugees.
The Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, which was founded by gays and lesbians, has sponsored refugees in the past and will likely do so again, said Robert Dykeman, the church administrator.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Africa's gay activists use internet to advance homosexual rights
Image via WikipediaBy Nico Colombant
African gay activists in Africa and in the diaspora are increasingly using the Internet to have their voices heard, while still trying to figure out how to advance homosexual rights on the continent.
One of the most popular blogs advocating gay rights in Africa is called GayUganda. Its author chooses to remain anonymous.
"I am somebody in the heart of Africa who has been lonely without the rest of the Internet, without the rest of the global sphere, talking about what I would like to talk about, with that kind of freedom," he said from Kampala."I cannot do it elsewhere."
While harsher laws are being proposed against homosexuality across the continent, including in Uganda, the author of Gay Uganda says what he is doing helps Africa's homosexual community.
"It started off as a way of venting, but then later I realized that it was a way of putting across to the rest of the world what our lives were more or less," he said. "The things that have been happening around Kampala, in Uganda, and all over the continent – it is strengthening to me personally, that is why I do it."
He says that in Kampala, very few people know he is gay. But online, he has a community of followers who support him. He adds that the types of articles he writes would never be allowed in traditional media.
London free newspaper targeted by anti-racist spoof
Source:
London commuters were this morning surprised to find that their usual Metro paper was a bit thinner, yet more interesting and engaging, than usual, says a press release from a group calling itself Press Action:
Tens of thousands of copies of a spoof newspaper that looked very similar to the free daily were distributed at 20 busy tube stations around the capital during rush hour. Thousands more were distributed in other cities around the country.
Under the headline “Gordon Brown to be deported to Scotland.” the front frontpage story claimed the former prime minister was facing imminent removal back to his “home country,” as the new coalition government introduced new immigration rules that imposed further restrictions on “non-English nationals.” Alongside the story, a manipulated picture showed Gordon Brown being arrested by two policemen at beer festival in Cambridge.
Wearing a white T-shirt bearing the Metro logo and a blue baseball cap, one of the 50 or so distributors, who preferred to keep anonymous, said: “By replacing the word ‘British’ with ‘English’ when talking about ‘British jobs’ and the ‘floods of illegal immigrants into Britain,’ we hope people will realise how racist and absurd this rhetoric of immigration controls is.”
In a witty attempt to highlight the racist and sexual violence experienced by immigration detainees at the hands of private ‘detainee escorts’, a fake advert claimed that G4S, the private security giant that runs a number of immigration detention centres in the UK and provides detainee escort services on behalf of the UK Border Agency, was looking for “strong men” to “escort women abroad.”
The rest of the spoof paper featured a 60-Second interview with a real-life ex-detainee, a ‘myth-buster’ about asylum and immigration, an ‘immigration newspeak’ glossary, racist quotes from mainstream press and a couple of more in-depth articles on immigration controls and protests against them.
Many of those who picked up the paper initially seemed confused as to why the Metro had “shrunk.” Realising it was a spoof, however, many commented that it was “very funny”, “clever”, “naughty” and “brilliant”. Some even returned back and asked for more copies. Others, however, threw it away and wanted the thicker “real thing.”
The Metro website has also been spoofed, with a layout similar to that of the paper’s official website but with the spoof paper’s content.
The ‘spoofing operation’ was part of ‘two days of action against racist press’, called by a coalition of anti-racist and migrant rights groups under the name Press Action.
A spokesperson for the anonymous group of spoofers said, “We are sick of being lied to; we are sick of being lied about. These lies, repeated everyday by free papers, tabloids and other corporate mainstream media outlets, have almost become a reality, where the most vulnerable victims of this screwed-up political-economic system are blamed for it.”
Explaining why the group chose the Metro and not a ‘more obvious target’ when it comes to racist press, such as the Daily Mail or the Evening Standard, the anonymous spokesperson commented: “We wanted to highlight the fact that racism and anti-immigration bias is sometimes more subtle than the Daily Hate rants. Besides, the Metro seemed to provide a better vehicle due to its exploitation of the ‘public’ transport system, so we thought we’d reclaim that right for a day.”
- A pdf of the spoof paper can be found at http://www.metr0.co.uk/images/metr0-e-edition.pdf or http://pressaction.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/metro_spoof.pdf
- The spoof Metr0 website is at http://www.metr0.co.uk
- The callout for the Two Days of Action Against Racist Press can be found at http://pressaction.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/two-days-of-action/ or http://www.metr0.co.uk/article/days-of-action.html
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Trauma and credibility in the asylum process: evidence to help women asylum seekers
Image by Mac(3) via FlickrBy Clare Cochrane, Women's Research Dissemination Worker at the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law (CSEL)
The Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law was founded in 2007 in order to bring the findings of empirical, psychological research into legal decision making. Our research to date has focused on the asylum system, and last year Comic Relief awarded us funding to take our research findings to the voluntary sector, to ensure that more organisations can access our research in their work to help get a fairer asylum process for traumatised women seeking protection in the UK.
In order to be able to use research findings in a legal context (i.e. as part of someone’s asylum application or appeal), it is important that that research is credible. Empirical research conducted by an independent body and published in high quality academic journals is more likely to be understood within the legal system to be reliable. So although some of the findings of CSEL’s research will not come as news to many who have applied for asylum or supported refugees, as empirical research findings, published in peer-reviewed journals, they are more likely to be taken seriously by the authorities and judiciary.
People who apply for asylum in the UK face a number of serious challenges. One is the question of their personal credibility. Refugees often have little or no documentation to corroborate their stories, so it is inevitable that decision makers will sometimes base their decisions on how believable they find someone’s story to be. Imagine you’re the decision maker. In front of you is a person who says they come from one country, but is carrying false travel documents from another country; they say they’ve experienced torture, but have no physical scars; they say it was bad, but they won’t tell you all the details, and they seem to clam up or drift off part way through telling their story. How would you make a judgement in this situation?
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