Audio: LGBT asylum seekers in South Africa

Source: Outspoken Radio

The South African refugee support group People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) announced a new programme 6 May "in light of the increasing number of 'sexual refugees'." It will provide support and advocacy in partnership with LGBTI rights organisations.

"The asylum application process is fraught with problems and many LGBTI people are turned away unjustly," they say.

"Moreover, those who are granted status still often face discrimination and harassment in their new communities in South Africa. When xenophobia is compounded with homophobia, it leaves many gay and transgender people in conditions not unlike those in the countries they fled in the first place."

This interview is with a Ugandan gay refugee, Arafat, who is involved with the new programme. He says that the programme is already looking after asylum seekers from Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Congo, Zambia and Bangladesh.

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