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Showing posts with label Alvaro Orozco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alvaro Orozco. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Monday, 20 June 2011
In Canada, a campaign stops one gay man's removal but "prepare for more fights"
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| Alvaro Orozco |
By Jackie Esmonde and Nadia Saad
It is rare in these times that we can celebrate a victory such as Alvaro Orozco's return home to his Toronto community on June 1, after several weeks in immigration detention.
A vibrant community member, queer activist, and artist, Alvaro is no stranger to struggle. Fleeing his native Nicaragua at age 12 after receiving homophobic death threats, he eventually arrived in Canada in 2005. Any illusions he may have had that Canada was a place of safety were quickly dispelled by the denial of his refugee application. The grounds for the denial were unabashedly homophobic: Alvaro just did not look "gay" enough to justify his assertion that he feared for his life in Nicaragua.
Alvaro was not defeated. By 2011 he had won numerous awards for his artwork and had contributed much to Toronto's queer community. Nonetheless, he had been waiting three years for a response to his "Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds" (H&C) application. His case came to a head on May 13, when Toronto police officers approached him outside Ossington Station and demanded that he prove that he had status. Claims that this police stop was random (rather than motivated by racial and gender profiling) defy belief. Alvaro was subsequently detained and a deportation date set for June 2.
The response from the community was immediate. Two weeks of around-the-clock grassroots organizing, rallies, press conferences, petitions and outpourings of support succeeded in delaying his deportation date by one week - just enough time for the positive response to his H&C application.
Harper's anti-immigrant agenda
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Gay Nicaraguan wins asylum fight in Canada
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| Alvaro Orozco |
“Thank you. To all the people that signed petitions, that came out to rallies, all the organizations that have supported me, Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The detention centre is still full, with kids and families. It's not fair. It's not fair that police are working with immigration to arrest people. We need change now. I hope that people in the community will continue to fight for justice for immigrants and refugees.”
Alvaro Orozco, May 31, 2011Source: xtra.ca
After spending almost a month in a detention centre awaiting deportation, Alvaro Orozco will be able to stay in Canada, according to those close to him. The Nicaraguan-born gay artist was granted a stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds May 31.
That means that Orozco can begin the process of becoming a permanent resident. And after that, he will be free to apply to become a Canadian citizen if he so chooses.
Orozco told Suhail Abualsameed this afternoon that he would have a detention review June 1, in which he would be informed of the approval of his application to stay in Canada.
"He couldn't continue speaking," Abualsameed remembers. "It's overwhelming... it's like a miracle.”Abualsameed credits the application's success to the activist presence that supported Orozco. "The work we've done... created an urgency within immigration to actually look at this application," he says.
The news came after members of the queer and Latino communities held three demonstrations within the span of a single week.
Until news broke that his humanitarian application had been accepted, activists worried that he would be deported before his application was considered.
Orozco has not yet been released from the detention centre.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Video: In Canada, campaign steps up, dances to save gay Nicaraguan
Press conference of friends and supporters of Alvaro Orozco, a gay Nicaraguan refugee who was seized by Canadian authorities 13 May, detained and could be removed at any time.
Alvaro first rose to national prominence in 2007 when his asylum claim was denied on the basis that he did not look “gay enough” for the adjudicator hearing his case via a television screen in Calgary.
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| Alvaro Orozco |
Alvaro, now 25 and established as an artist in Toronto, is still waiting for a decision on his Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) application.
Friends and supporters of Alvaro are having to move quickly to stay his deportation - they are holding a demonstration in Toronto today - however there are concerns that the government is also moving quickly to remove him.
On Saturday 21 May a 'dancemob' shut down an intersection in Toronto in support of Alvaro.
Let Alvaro Stay Campaign
- facebook.com/letalvarostay
- letalvarostay@gmail.com
- YouTube - Includes video of 16 friends of Alvaro testifying for him.
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
In Canada, gay Nicaraguan artist threatened with removal
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| Alvaro Orozco |
At 8pm on the evening of 13 May, award-winning undocumented queer artist Alvaro Orozco was arrested on his way to dinner with friends. Now in detention at the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre, he faces imminent deportation to Nicaragua.
An accomplished artist and dedicated advocate for queer and newcomer youth, Alvaro’s love for art and commitment to community has captured the appreciation and respect of thousands of people in Toronto. He received the 2010 Street-Level Advocate Award from the Toronto Youth Cabinet and City of Toronto in recognition of his work with queer and newcomer youth.
Alvaro first rose to national prominence in 2007 when his refugee claim was denied on the basis that he did not look “gay enough” for the adjudicator hearing his case via a television screen in Calgary.
This story was picked up by the largest newspapers in Nicaragua, effectively “outing” him to the entire country he left at age 12 due to severe physical abuse by a father who threatened to “kill any child of his that was homosexual.”
Alvaro, now 25, is still waiting for a decision on his Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) application.
Friends and supporters of Alvaro are meeting to move quickly to stay his deportation. It is critical that we keep this strong voice in our community.
Alvaro’s Accomplishments & Exhibits
- Volunteer/Mentor with Supporting Our Youth (SOY)Let Alvaro Stay Campaign
- Mayworks Festival, Toronto, 2011
- Toronto Youth Cabinet, 2010 Identify & Impact Awards, Street-Level Advocate Award Winner
- Migrant Expressions Photography Exhibition, Montreal, 2009
- Under the Bridge Art Exhibition, Toronto, 2009
- Jumblies Theatre, Prop-Maker and Photographer, Toronto, 2009
- Refugee Rights Day, Toronto City Hall, Toronto, 2008
- ArtWherk Collective 2007, Pride Art Exhibition, Toronto, 2007
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Landmark refugee ruling in Canada
IMMIGRATION / UN would set new standards for persecution, proving gayness
Twenty-eight-year-old Tam has never been threatened, beaten or thrown in jail for being gay. In his home country of Vietnam homosexuality isn’t illegal. It isn’t mentioned in any law. In fact, it’s rarely mentioned at all. But the Toronto student, who applied for refugee status in 2006, says gay and lesbian people there are still punished for being themselves.
“As for physical violence, I don’t think it’s common in Vietnam. Mentally, there’s a lot,” says Tam, who, asks that his second name not be used.
He says authorities in Vietnam pressure gay and lesbian people to remain hidden and prevent gay groups from organizing, while state-controlled media deride homosexuality as a disease of the West. If he returned to Vietnam, Tam fears he would be forced to choose between marrying a woman and becoming a social pariah.
“The people who hold power [in Vietnam] are very powerful,” he says. “They can change your life if they want to.”
In a Jan 22 precedent-setting decision the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) accepted Tam’s plea to stay in Canada. Tam’s case is an especially important one because for the first time the IRB cited a new report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as basis for a decision involving sexual orientation.
Published late last year the report sets out legal opinions on issues critics say undermine requests for asylum by gay and lesbian people around the world. In Canada IRB members have, for example, demanded proof that a claimant is gay and suggested they simply go back to where they came from and avoid drawing attention to their sexuality.
There is no procedure or guidelines for when the IRB requests proof that a claimant is gay or lesbian — proof that might not exist if a claimant was forced to conceal it back home. Without corroborating evidence like photographs or testimony, adjudicators have been left to decide for themselves if a claimant is telling the truth about his or her sexuality.
“There are many cases that have identified problems with the way tribunal members evaluate claims,” says immigration lawyer Michael Battista, who represented Tam before the IRB. “For example, basing the person’s claim of being LGBT on behaviour — being effeminate for gay men or being masculine for lesbian women…. There have been cases where a tribunal member has rejected someone’s claim because they had been married or had kids. These are all based on presumptions about the way the gay community behaves.”
In one high-profile case last year Alvaro Orozco, a gay Nicaraguan man who fled to the US in his teens, was denied refugee status after a tribunal member said a lack of same-sex relationships while Orozco was in the US meant he isn’t gay.
In Tam’s case Battista argued that his client would have been unable to live life as a gay man in Vietnam because the society there doesn’t tolerate same-sex couples in the public eye.
“Pressure to be discreet can be a kind of persecution,” Battista explains. “It’s forcing you to be someone you’re not.”
“The UNHCR Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity considers persecution to include being compelled to forsake or conceal one’s sexual orientation,” wrote the tribunal in its decision to allow Tam to stay. “Where this is instigated by the state, it may amount to persecution.”
The IRB concluded that it is unfair to expect Tam to hide his sexual orientation in return for a normal life.
Source
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Nicaraguan man denied Canadian asylum for not having teenage sex
Image by erjkprunczyk via FlickrA refugee from Nicaragua has been denied asylum in Canada because he could not prove he is gay.
The Immigration and Refugee Board said that as Alvaro Antonio Orozco was not sexually active as a teenager, it was impossible to verify his sexuality.
Mr Oroxco’s lawyer accused the IRB of stereotyping gay teenagers as more sexually active than their heterosexual counterparts.
The case has raised questions about how a refugee can “prove” their sexual orientation.
“I think the decision shows a lack of understanding of issues facing queer kids from homophobic cultures and what they have to deal with in terms of gender stereotypes,” El-Farouk Khaki told the Globe and Mail newspaper.
Mr Orozco, now 21, fled Nicaragua when he was 12 years old, hitchhiked to the Mexican/American border, nearly drowned swimming across the Rio Grande, spent a year in a detention centre and took refuge with a Seventh Day Adventist group.
He came to Canada two years ago because he thought the country was more accepting of gay refugees.
His home country of Nicaragua criminalised gay relationships in 1992, and gay people fear for their lives in the violently macho culture.
Mr Orozco told the IRB tribunal that his father had beaten him for being gay from an early age, which prompted him to run away.
But IRB member Deborah Lamont was unconvinced by the Nicaraguan.
“I found the claimant’s many explanations unsatisfactory for why he chose not to pursue same-sex relationships in the U.S. as he alleged it was his intention to do so and he wanted to do so,” she ruled, according to the Globe and Mail.
“He is not a homosexual . . . and fabricated the sexual orientation component to support a non-existent claim for protection in Canada.”
The case highlights the problems that many gay refugees face in proving their sexuality.
Mr Orozco’s lawyer argues that as his client is alone, uneducated and the victim of abuse he should be treated as a vulnerable person.
“We are asking the immigration minister to grant him a stay of removal on humanitarian grounds and allow him to stay,” Mr. Khaki said.
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