"Ich bin ein Niemand" ["I'm a nobody"]: Gay Iranian refused German asylum

Sepehr Nazari

Source: Frankfurter Rundschau (via Google translate)

By Von Marian Brehmer

Sepehr Nazari is gay and comes from Iran. Where gays are executed when they are discovered. Nazari took refuge in Germany, presented an application for asylum, and learned that he is not welcome here.

Sepehr Nazari, 25 years old, would like to start a new life without fear. But it's not that simple.

In Iran, the country Sepehr Nazari comes from, men like him do not exist. At least, says the  Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When asked in 2007 during a visit to New York's Columbia University about homosexuality in Iran, he shrugged his shoulders. He did not know what was the question. There are gays in America perhaps, but not in Iran.

The country Nazari talks of seems to be another one to Ahmadinejad's. He knew many gay men in Iran. He tells of secret hangouts and gay cafes, five queer identified online newspapers he has written for. At an international Online Dating Service for homosexuals were just in his home city of Tehran thousands of gays with profiles - more than in Berlin, he says.

Being gay in Iran is dangerous. The article 110 of the "hadd punishments for homosexuality" is: "The hadd punishment for homosexuality in the form of transport is the death penalty. The method of killing is at the discretion of the judge." But even "who has a kissing another of sensuality, is punished with a Tazir penalty of up to 60 lashes." Since 1979, according to Iranian human rights activist, four thousand homosexuals have been executed.

Sepehr Nazari in the spring of 2011 sought asylum in Germany, he currently resides in Dresden, and often comes to Berlin. As a meeting place the 25-year-old has picked his favorite cafe, located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin Reichenberg. In perfect English he tells his story.

Sent to the psychologist

At fourteen, he knew he was gay. Once, when his friend was visiting, Sepehr's mother burst into the room. She saw her son, entwined with a man, "This is immoral! I knew that you're spoiled," she shrieked. The friend fled from the apartment. Sepehr locked himself in the shower, until his father persuaded him to come out. This is only a phase that will pass soon, his father said. Since then the two have never spoken a word about his homosexuality.

Homosexuality is against nature, it is contrary to God's will. How often has Sepehr heard this. However, his parents are not religious, but rather concerned about the family, neighbors and friends. What to think? "I've always asked my mother what she really thinks," said Sepehr. He never received a reply.

Instead, his mother sent him to a psychologist. Some doctors in Iran are focused on the "disease" of homosexuality, prescribing electric shocks as therapy. Sepehr Nazari was lucky. The lady examined him and asked many questions. The result: He had a strong personality. Nothing more.

Sepehr never had trouble with the police. In the university no one knew about his homosexuality, he never talked to anyone about it. A double life? He laughs. "No, a multiple life. A life for the university, one for work, one for friends, one for close friends and one for the family. "

Once, Sepehr complained about a professor at the university because the language students had been only hours to translate Koran verses. He wrote a complaint letter to the dean.

Shortly after Sepehr got a call from the Secret Service. They want to meet with him to clarify a few things, it said. Through friends at the university he learned that the agency knew of his homosexuality. In March, the Persian New Year holidays, Nazari was flying on a Schengen visa to the Netherlands. There he wanted to visit some friends he knew from student exchange. The return ticket was already booked for Iran. But then he came to Berlin, met old friends from the German course. They convinced him not to return to Iran. Only then did he realize that his return could actually be dangerous for him.

He applied for in June 2011. Priority is given to applicants who have been tortured or leave their homeland for political reasons. Homosexuals are not considered hardship cases and thus can not count on a quick settlement of the asylum application. Not even when they face the death penalty in their homeland.

"War zone" in Chemnitz

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Asylum seekers tunnel to freedom in Indonesia

Video by NewsOnABC

Image via Wikipedia

By Matt Brown

About 30 asylum seekers have escaped from an Indonesian detention centre by digging a tunnel under the wall.

The men escaped through the two-metre tunnel in Surabaya city after using spoons, nails and sticks to dig their way from a toilet, under the main gate to freedom.

As some dug, others had played the traditional South Asian board game of carrom to distract the guards.

All of them, including one who survived the shipwreck which killed about 200 people last month, are believed to be from the Hazara ethnic group.

Immigration officers learned of the Sunday night breakout when an elderly escapee was spotted on the road outside the detention centre in East Java.

So far just 12 have been recaptured.

"The migrants dug the tunnel from the restroom in the church, which is positioned close to the main gate," the head of the East Java provincial ministry, Mashudi, told AFP.

"They managed to dig a space wide and long enough to eventually find their way out."

The escapees said they were frustrated because they had been waiting more than a year for the UN refugee agency to assess their claims.

Some have travelled to Jakarta to press their case while others are believed to be trying to arrange a boat trip to Australia.

The immigration department chief in the province, Arifin Somadilaga, has ordered a crackdown on asylum seekers in the wake of the escape.

He has directed his staff to report all future breaches of discipline to the police who will be urged to treat the asylum seekers as criminals.

He says guards at the centre did not notice the detainees digging a hole under the wall because they are understaffed.

The escape comes after some of the detention centre's detainees told the ABC of beatings from guards.

One of the men who was beaten, Ali Mohammed, said he had earlier escaped the detention centre but was recaptured.

Related articles

• Indonesia 'mistreating' refugee disaster survivors (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
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Finnish court stops removal of gay Iranian

Image via Wikipedia

Source: YLE

The Supreme Administrative Court sent back a Finnish Immigration Service decision to deport an Iranian asylum seeker who would face persecution in Iran for being gay.

The court sent the case back to the Immigration Service for further reconsideration, stating that case must be examined more closely.

The court said the Immigration Service must carefully examine whether Iranians have a legitimate reason to fear persecution in their homeland because of their sexual orientation.

Last week, YLE reported that Finland has deported asylum seekers to countries where they can be sentenced to severe penalties for their homosexuality.

Homosexuality is a crime punished with imprisonment and even execution in Iran.

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Swiss violated asylum law in ignoring thousands of Iraqi applicants

Image via Wikipedia

The Swiss Federal Office for Migration violated asylum and constitutional law by ignoring 7,000 - 10,000 asylum applications lodged by Iraqis at Swiss embassies in Syria and Egypt between 2006 and 2008, an external inquiry into the matter by former federal Judge Michel Féraud has found. The government has taken note of the report.

Féraud said that around 3,000 outstanding applications were still legally valid and should be processed by the end of 2013. However, the Government has maintained that no disciplinary action will be taken due to the lapse of time and that officials have not abused their authority in failing to process the claims.

The Swiss Senate adopted a proposal for the abolishing of the asylum procedure from abroad in December 2011. Both former federal Judge Féraud and the Swiss Refugee Council consider that this procedure should be kept.

Via: ECRE

Related articles

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Refugee hunger strike in Ukraine

Source: No Deportations

In Ukraine, 61 Somalians have been on hunger strike since 6 January in the Lutsk detention centre with another 15 reportedly on hunger strike in another detention centre at Chernigiv. 13 of the hunger strikers are women (seven of whom are under the age of 18). 17 of the men are also under 18

"Either they recognise us as refugees - or they say 'no' and then tell the whole world what they are doing here" said one of the hunger strikers, Sultan Haibe, speaking from the detention centre. He continues "We are not murderers. We left Somalia just to save our life." 

The hunger strikers say that one 17 year old, Abdul Karim Siyad is very ill and in a separate room. He had not been examined by a doctor until recently, but Sultan Haibe said on Sunday 15January that a doctor has now finally seen him.

The hunger strikers say they are detained in an asylum system which is profoundly unjust. They say that Somalians are always refused asylum in Ukraine, but Sultan Haibe points out that if they try to cross into the EU they are bounced back into Ukraine and detained. Only about 12 of the hunger strikers had attempted this.

The hunger strikers say that they are subject to police harassment and corruption and can be detained by the authorities for periods of 12 months if they don't have a temporary permit to stay legally in Ukraine. They say that an asylum seeker can be re-detained within a short period after release and then faces another 12 months in detention. Some of the hunger strikers have been in Ukraine for 5 or 6 years before they were detained. Some have been detained more then once.

Their demands to the Ukrainian Government are:

1) Somalian asylum seekers are granted asylum status in Ukraine.

2) They are released from detention.

3) Asylum seekers are to be provided with documents so they cannot be arrested.

4) There is an end to the police harassment of asylum seekers.

5) No asylum seeker is to face re-arrest after a period of detention.

Ukraine's asylum procedure is in chaos. The arbitrary detention of the hunger strikers is just one more way in which the rule of law is ignored in Ukraine.

Recent asylum laws created a new Government department to examine asylum applications, but failed to give it authority to act, while the old department was dismantled. As a result, asylum seekers cannot make asylum applications so they cannot get temporary residence permits and so become illegal.

Asylum seekers who were already in the system often cannot obtain an extension of their temporary permits and are therefore subject to arrest as they become illegal. No decisions on refugee status are being made and asylum appeals are postponed as the new Government department is not recognised by judges.

Even those who have been granted refugee status in the past are often not receiving their residence permits – re-issued each year - and so become illegal.

The Government has increased the penalty for being without temporary residence documents from 6 to 12 months detention. Asylum seekers in Ukraine cannot work and do not receive financial support while they await the decision on their application.

The hunger strikers ask everyone to publicise and raise support for their demands as widely and as quickly as possible. If you are in the EU, please raise this with your parliamentary representative or Member of the European Parliament as Ukraine is sensitive to EU pressure.

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• In Ukraine, returned asylum seekers face abuse (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• In Ukraine, claims that refugees are being tortured (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
   

Report: Inadequate legal representation for migrants in New York

Source: New York Times

By Kirk Semple

They are often poorly prepared or make incoherent arguments in court. Some fail to present key evidence or witnesses. Others simply do not show up.

The performance of many lawyers who represent immigrants facing deportation in New York has long been considered mediocre. But in a new report that seeks to measure the extent of the problem, immigration judges themselves step forward and offer a scathing assessment of much of the lawyering they have witnessed in their courtrooms.

Immigrants received “inadequate” legal assistance in 33 percent of the cases between mid-2010 and mid-2011 and “grossly inadequate” assistance in 14 percent of the cases, the judges said. They gave private lawyers the lowest grades, while generally awarding higher marks to pro bono counsel and those from nonprofit organizations and law school clinics.

The study was conducted by a group of lawyers and researchers under the auspices of Robert A. Katzmann, a federal appellate judge in New York City. A year ago, they began sifting through government data and surveying immigration judges in an attempt to measure the quality and availability of legal representation for immigrants facing deportation.

Their report will be published this week in the Cardozo Law Review, a publication of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in Manhattan.

“We began this effort with an intuitive sense of the scale of the problem,” the report says. “The numbers sadly bear out that intuition in the starkest form.”

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Finland deported gays to dangerous countries, report claims

Source: YSE.fi

EU-funded research suggests Finland has deported asylum seekers to countries where they could be put to death for their sexual orientation. Some have even been told to conceal their sexuality to ensure they remain safe. But a ministry official says responsibility falls on Finland if deportees are harmed in their home countries.

Most of the cases took place between 2008 and 2010. Researchers say that ten refugees were sent to countries where they could receive harsh punishments for their sexuality, but there could be more cases. More than 70 countries currently treat homosexuality as a crime.

Some African and Middle Eastern countries can sentence people to death for homosexuality, while several have fines, forced labour and long jail sentences on the statute books. Nigeria, Iran, Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania fall into that group.

The deportations came to light as a result of EU-funded research into the matter.

Pentti Visanen of the Interior Ministry is now examining the report. He says officials today are becoming increasingly aware of gay asylum cases. He says responsibility falls on Finland if deportees are harmed in their home countries.

Those working with gay asylum seekers say Finland encouraged them to go to safer areas of their home countries or conceal their sexuality.

Attorney Juha-Pekka Hippi says telling people to stay in the closet is a violation of human rights. Visanen of the ministry agrees, likening such advice to telling political refugees to not voice their opinions.

The Finnish Immigration Service, however, denies it sent gay asylum seekers into dangerous situations.

“Asylum is granted if the legal conditions are met and if the application is believable,” [translation] says senior inspector at the Service, Piia Pirkola-Mercier.

Related articles:

• In Finland, 'homosexuality rarely accepted as grounds for asylum'
• Finland orders gay Iranian out, told 'be discrete'

Slovenia refuses gay Kosovan couple asylum

Image via Wikipedia

By dr. Tatjana Greif, Škuc LL

In 2006 two gay men from Kosovo (Kadri Shala, born 1975 and Demir Krujezi, born 1981) first submitted their request to gain asylum in Slovenia. In Kosovo, where they used to live, they were persecuted on the grounds of homosexuality. Their application for the asylum in Slovenia, submitted in June 2006, was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior in February 2007.

The asylum seekers were ordered to leave Slovenia immediately. Due to procedural mistakes committed by the Ministry during the asylum procedure they brought charges first to the Administrative Court of Republic of Slovenia and later on to the Supreme Court of Republic of Slovenia.

Both court decisions were in favor of the plaintiffs. The Supreme Court ordered in May 2008 to the Ministry of the Interior to restart again the whole asylum procedure, according to the existing standards of international protection of asylum seekers. However, their case was closed down in July 2008 after both asylum seekers (depressed, victimized and in bad psychological condition) left Slovenia and went to seek help in the Netherlands. During their stay in Asylum Center in Ljubljana they suffered homophobic harassment and violence of the co-residents and the police.

Under the Dublin convention the gay couple was deported from the Netherlands back to Slovenia on 2 November 2009, where they asked (for the second time) for the international protection (asylum) on the ground of persecution based on sexual orientation.

After more than two years the Slovenian asylum authorities gave their decision, which was negative. Mr. Shala and Mr. Krujezi are being denied the right to international protection in the Republic of Slovenia with the decision of the Ministry of Interior, dated on 29 December 2011(received on 6 January 2012).

The arguments for rejection of the asylum application, given by the Ministry of Interior, are depicting the asylum seekers as unreliable and misleading, strongly suspecting of their credibility and undermining their truth. At the same time, the Ministry is saying that the situation in Kosovo today is not representing any danger for the safety of their life or any risk for them of being exposed to violence or discrimination if they return to Kosovo.

To support their decision the Ministry is even referring to the documents of the European Union, which suppose to serve as evidence that the human rights of LGBT people in Kosovo are well protected (sic!), such as European Commission’s Report on Progress of Kosovo, from 12 October 2012.

Considering this decision of Slovenian authorities, which we understand as unjust, discriminatory and shameful for a democratic state, both asylum seekers will now with the help of a lawyer open a dispute (bring charges) at the Administrative Court of Republic of Slovenia.

Nongovernmental association SKUC-LL, solicitor’s office and several lawyers, which are giving help and support to both asylum seekers since 2006, will continue to do so in the future. Both asylum seekers are in bad psychological condition and in need of medical treatment (which was available to them in the Netherlands, but not in Slovenia, where they are only entitled to medical assistance in a state of emergency).

Since 2006 we provided official data on social situation in Kosovo regarding violence and discrimination against GLBT people there (including the data by ILGA-Europe, etc.) to the asylum authorities in Slovenia and the Netherlands. Today still LGBT people in Kosovo are persecuted by the society, their families and threatened with death (blood-vengeance). It is highly dangerous for their lives if returned back to Kosovo.

ŠKUC-LL was established in 1987 within the framework of the feminist group Lilit as the first lesbian organisation in the former socialist Eastern European states.

Related articles

• Analysis: Balkan far right using attacks on gay pride for political gain (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• LGBT rights in Kosovo (en.wikipedia.org)

French government 'tighten' asylum and migration policy

Image via Wikipedia

Source: France24

By Ségolène Allemandou

As he presented his party’s campaign platform ahead of next year’s presidential and legislative elections, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant laid down the gauntlet to the far right by hardening the government’s position on immigration.

“It’s easier for immigrants to integrate if there are less of them,” Gueant told Europe 1 radio. “It’s obvious that we need to better manage the flow of immigrants. For immigration to work, we need to be welcoming fewer immigrants each year.”

The statement echoed the priority given to immigration issues during French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election campaign. But it also rekindled accusations that the UMP, France’s ruling party, is trying to steal a march on France’s far-right National Front (FN) by playing the anti-immigration card.

According to recent opinion polls, the FN’s presidential candidate Marine Le Pen enjoys support ranging between 16% and 20% among French voters. For his part, the current president benefits from marginally less support than his main opponent Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande, whom pollster LH2 gave 30% (a drop of nine points since he won the Socialist party primaries) in a survey last week.

As a result, Sarkozy - who has yet to officially announce his candidature - has a lot of ground to make up, especially among right wing swing voters.

“The UMP is once more taking up its 2007 strategy of hunting on FN territory”, Jerome Fouquet, co-director of the French pollster IFOP told FRANCE 24.

Among the measures “for better management of the flow of immigrants” announced by Gueant are a toughening of the conditions necessary to obtain French citizenship and of the rules allowing an immigrant living in France to be joined by family members.

Other measures include increasing the number of expulsions of illegal immigrants and increasing the capacity of detention centres.

On November 27, Gueant announced that he wanted to reduce the number of legal immigrants coming to France annually from 200,000 to 180,000, a 10% decrease. (“Legal immigration” includes individuals coming to France on work and study visas and those seeking asylum).

After toughening the conditions on work and study visas, Gueant announced last week reforms to the asylum system in France, including a reduction in the asylum budget and a shortening of the time frame during which asylum applications have to be made. Currently, the asylum budget allows for 21,500 places in reception centres, 20,000 emergency lodgings and temporary social benefits for another 37,000 asylum seekers.

The reforms would also expand the list of “safe” countries, whose citizens would no longer qualify for asylum in France.

Voters’ concerns on economy and immigration

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Israel passes 'harsh' immigration law

Photo by runran

By Paul Canning

A law which could lead to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers has been passed by the Israeli parliament.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted for the bill, which his spokesman called part of a “multitiered strategy to deal with the challenge of illegal immigration to Israel.”

The bill has been sharply criticized by refugee advocates, and is seen as targeting some 50,000 Africans who have entered Israel illegally since 2005, according to Israeli government estimates.

And in a country built by refugees it has caused soul-searching with the conservative Jerusalem Post in a November 11 Editorial saying:

Now with a sovereign country of its own the Jewish people must not only serve as a moral example of how developed countries should deal with refugees and asylum-seekers, but also make sure that a strong Jewish majority is maintained in a sovereign Jewish state.

The law is the first one dealing with refugees - until now they have been managed under an emergency law from 1954.

The amended law will enable the Israeli authorities to hold in administrative detention for up to three years migrant workers and asylum seekers with their children. This is not unusual, although harsh. Australia, for example, also holds asylum seekers in detention for long periods although it is retreating from that policy because of the growing evidence that it produces serious mental harm. Contrary to that trend, the Israeli law's proponents argued that long detention periods would deter refugees.

Anyone who is fleeing from a so-called “enemy” country can be held indefinitely. This can mean those refugees and their children fleeing genocide from the Darfur region of Sudan or gays fleeing Iraq. The law stipulates that persons originating from such countries or areas are not to be bailed from detention under any conditions.

Any refugee or migrant committing the most minor infraction of Israeli law could be jailed from three years to life.

"This is extremely irregular, because in Israel today it is legally impossible to keep a person in custody for years without putting him on trial and proving his guilt in a legal procedure," Knesset legal advisor Eyal Yinon told the Constitution Committee last month.

The law will criminalize what it calls ‘irregular entry’ and makes no provision for those fleeing persecution.

It creates a summary removal procedure — within 72 hours — without giving the individual an adequate opportunity to challenge their deportation. There is no distinction made for how children will be treated.

The Justice Ministry had proposed that those aiding refugees could be criminally prosecuted - providing them with shelter could mean a prison sentence of between five and 15 years. That provision was amended at the last moment, so it no longer applies to organizations or people who provide humanitarian aid.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has called the law:

“one of the most dangerous bills ever presented in the Knesset.”

Israeli activist Elizabeth Tsurkov wrote that:

The law is designed to target the weakest of the groups living in Israel – survivors of genocide, civil war, prolonged servitude, torture and rape – by using a law originally intended to combat armed saboteurs. Past attempts to pass this law (which was first drafted in 2006) were foiled due to a harsh public response. However, following years of systematic incitement against refugees by Israel government officials, the Israeli public now largely sees refugees as illegal migrants, undeserving of sympathy, and as a result, this inhumane law has now become reality.

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The Africans reaching Israel face appalling conditions on the way with NGO EveryOne Group reporting only yesterday about 44 more Eritreans kidnapped for ransom in the Northern Sinai, including six children. They also reported that another African released by traffickers had then been tortured and shot in the leg by Egyptian police.

There have also been multiple, grisly reports of migrants in Egypt being targeted for body parts.

Related articles

• Israel proposing indefinite detention of refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Video: The law that crosses the line (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Resource: Country guidance commentary

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter

Mike Kaye is the Advocacy Manager for Still Human Still Here, a coalition of more than 40 organisations that are campaigning to end the destitution of refused asylum seekers in the UK.

Still Human Still Here believes that many asylum seekers who should be granted some form of protection in the UK are being refused and subsequently end up destitute. In 2010, it was estimated that around 70 percent of destitute refused asylum seekers in the UK came from just eight countries, all of which were either in conflict or had serious and widespread human rights violations. These countries were Zimbabwe, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Eritrea (Still Human Still Here, At the end of the line: Restoring the integrity of the UK’s asylum system, 2010, p. 38).

Still Human Still Here’s contention that the Home Office incorrectly refuses many asylum seekers any form of protection in the UK is supported by a review of the number of decisions which are subsequently overturned on appeal. In 2010, 27 percent of appeals were allowed. That is to say that in more than one in four cases the UKBA got the initial decision wrong.

For some of the nationalities highlighted above, however, the overturn rates on appeal were significantly higher. For example, 50 percent of Somalis won their appeals in 2010 and 36 percent of Eritreans and Zimbabweans were also successful. During 2011, asylum seekers from these and other countries have continued to have an extremely high percentage of their appeals allowed. For example, 57 percent of Eritreans, 53 percent of Somalis, 38 percent of Sri Lankans and 31 percent of Zimbabweans won their appeals in the third quarter of 2011. These cases alone affected 218 individuals, causing them unnecessary anxiety and wasting considerable amounts of taxpayers’ money by forcing them to go to appeal when in many cases they could have been granted refugee status at the initial determination.

While the appeals process works for some refugees, it should be stressed that success at appeal is largely dependent on having good quality legal advice and representation and this is in increasingly short supply, particularly since the closure of both Refugee and Migrant Justice and the Immigration Advisory Service.

One way in which Still Human Still Here believes refugees could be better identified at the initial determination would be through improvements to the Operational Guidance Notes (OGNs). The OGNs outline conditions and risks to particular groups in various countries and are used by case owners as a key resource when deciding on individual asylum applications.

Several OGNs contain country of origin information and references to case law which are outdated. For example, the current OGN on the DRC was issued in December 2008 and relies heavily on the Country of Origin Information Service DRC Country Report from May 2008, which is now more than three-and-a-half years old. Since the beginning of 2009, more than 500 new applications for asylum have been made by individuals from the DRC. Decisions will have been reached on these applications on the basis of information which, at best, was seven months old. In this context, it is not surprising that the percentage of DRC appeals that are successful has risen to 34 percent in 2011 (up to October).

There are currently 30 OGNs published on the countries from which the UK receives the most asylum applications. Those countries from which there are lower numbers of applications tend to be updated with even less frequency. For example, the most recent OGN for Rwanda was issued in March 2009 and generally relies on country of origin information which was published in November 2008.

Even where OGNs are updated regularly, Still Human Still Here considers that many have inconsistencies and omissions between their conclusions and currently available country of origin information and/or case law.

For example, before an update on 15 December this year, the Somalia OGN cited a UKBA fact-finding mission as reporting ‘travel within Al-Shabaab controlled areas of southern and central Somalia was common and considered relatively safe’. It further noted that ‘everyone can move freely in south central’ and that given ‘the relative ease of travel within many areas of Somalia, it will be feasible for many to return to their home areas from Mogadishu airport as most areas are accessible’ (paras. 2.4.3 and 2.4.6).

This assessment appeared to ignore various reputable sources which note that checkpoints operated by armed militias and groups associated with Al-Shabaab inhibit passage and expose civilians to rape, violence, extortion and forced recruitment. Indeed, the United Nations Report of the Secretary-General on Somalia, 30 December 2010, noted that ‘[i]nternally displaced persons and refugees fleeing southern Somalia continued to report abuses by militias manning checkpoints before they reached safe areas, including rape, beatings and looting’ (para.33).

In order to draw attention to these sorts of inconsistencies, Still Human Still Here has published OGN commentaries, including 2011 commentaries on the most recent OGNs for Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Iran, Eritrea and Sudan. These commentaries are intended as tools to assist legal practitioners in preparing appeals; we hope they will help ensure that individuals who may be at risk of persecution or other serious harm in their country of origin have a reasonable chance of getting protection in the UK.

Related articles

• Is the UK's asylum system sexist? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

US politicians protest treatment of LGBT immigration detainees

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Source: Statement by Congressman Mike Quigley and Congressman Jared Polis

LGBT Detainees Specifically Targeted for Sexual Abuse, Denial of Care

WASHINGTON—Following repeated reports of sexual abuse in the immigration detention system by the Heartland Alliance, Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate and offer possible remedies to improve conditions at Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and those with which they contract. According to government documents, nearly 200 allegations of abuse from detainees in detention facilities across the nation have been reported to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since 2007. Many of these incidents have involved LGBT immigrants.

“The government has a moral responsibility to ensure the safety of any person under its charge,” said Rep. Quigley. “The pervasive and systematic abuse of detainees held in immigration detention facilities, especially gay and transgender individuals, is unconscionable and should be addressed at the highest level. I am confident that DHS and DOJ will work quickly to review this matter and do everything in the agencies power to prevent further instances of sexual abuse, essentially at the hands of the government.”

“The continued reports of sexual abuse against immigrants in ICE detention facilities are appalling,” said Rep. Polis. “Here we have people who are at their most vulnerable—many without access to any legal assistance—who are being preyed upon and assaulted. LGBT immigrants appear to be special targets for abuse in ICE facilities. I expect that GAO will conduct a thorough investigation and offer up solutions that will end this intolerable situation.”

In a letter to the GAO led by Quigley and Polis and signed by 28 other Members of Congress, it was urged that an investigation include facilities run by ICE, private facilities under contract with ICE to hold immigration detainees, and those public facilities (like county jails) also under contract with ICE. Further, the letter requested GAO identify what steps DHS is taking to rectify the problem and suggest additional actions the Department should consider to ensure that sexual abuse does not continue to plague the immigration detention system.

Members signing the letter included: Zoe Lofgren (D-CA); Yvette Clarke (D-NY); Judy Chu (D-CA); Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL); Barbara Lee (D-CA); Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC); Charles Rangel (D-NY); Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL); Gwen Moore (D-WI); Michael Honda (D-CA); Janice Hahn (D-CA); José Serrano (D-NY); Bob Filner (D-CA); Loretta Sanchez (D-CA); Nydia Velazquez (D-NY); Carolyn Maloney (D-NY); Laura Richardson (D-CA); James Moran (D-VA); John Olver (D-MA); Steve Rothman (D-NJ); John Lewis (D-GA); Robert Brady (D-PA); Alcee Hastings (D-FL); Henry Waxman (D-CA); George Miller (D-CA); Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA); Pete Stark (D-CA); and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

The full text of the letter can be found below. It is also available here [PDF].


~~~~~~

The Honorable Gene Dodaro

Read more »

Rare look inside America's immigration jails

Source: Colorlines

By Seth Freed Wessler

Sam Kitching, a soft-spoken, round old man dressed in civilian clothes who works for the Sheriff’s department at the Baker County Jail put his hand on my shoulder and, addressing me as “young man,” said, “It’s very important that you be careful in there. They might have AIDS and might try to grab your hand and push something into it.”

“AIDS?” I ask.

“They could,” he said. “These men can be dangerous.”

A younger man dressed in a tight, dark green Sheriff’s uniform unlatched the door into one of the pods that holds several dozen federal immigration detainees.

Mostly Latino and black and all dressed in orange jump suits, unzipped with the arms tied around waists, the men stood or sat at metal tables in groups of four or five in the three-sided concrete room.

“Zip up,” the guard yelled as the door opened.

The detainees pulled the jumpers up over their shoulders and I followed the guard, Kitching and a young Legal Aid attorney named Karen Winston into the pod. A man stood on a grated walkway in front of one of the two-bed jail cells where the detainees eat, sleep, bathe and go to the bathroom. The rest of the men were below in the concrete room where they pass all their time—there’s only one hour of recreation time in an enclosed gravel yard.

“Hey, Honduras, get down here,” Kitching yelled to the man on the platform, who walked down the grated metal stairs and joined three other Latino men talking in a corner.

“That’s what I do sometimes,” Kitching explained to me. “I call them by their country. For some reason if they’ve been here a while, I can remember their country.”

Winston, a recent law school graduate, works long days in the south Florida jail defending some of the close to 250 immigration detainees held there. On this Friday morning, she’d driven from Jacksonville, the closest city, to conduct a “know your rights” training for as many of the detainees as possible. She noted the training name is misleading, since detainees don’t have many rights to know of.

“I’m here to give a training on your legal rights. He’s here doing research,” she said, pointing at me. “He’ll tell you what it’s about.”

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In Greece, asylum seekers are economic scapegoats in racially motivated attacks

Source: The Guardian

By Hans Lucht 

On the morning of 25 May, Kelly from Ghana was on the bus going to a pickup place at the outskirts of Athens, where African immigrants and asylum seekers go to look for work, when he was attacked by a mob. He saw them from afar, standing at the bus stop – a group of about 10 young men – but thought nothing of it. They were probably going to one of the demonstrations, he supposed. But as they entered the bus, they pulled out bats, iron rods and knives, and attacked him.

As Greece struggles to avoid economic meltdown, dark-skinned immigrants and asylum seekers have become scapegoats in racially motivated attacks that, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, have become an almost daily occurrence in Athens.

Last week, in cases pertaining to asylum seekers caught entering the UK and Ireland, the European court of justice upheld that asylum seekers could not be sent back to Greece because they risk being subjected to "inhuman or degrading treatment".

Ninety per cent of undocumented immigrants enter the EU via Greece. The Greek response has been to announce the construction of a barbed wire wall on the Turkish border, though the EU has made clear that such a wall will receive no funding. The influx of migrants has not been welcomed by some segments of the Greek population. Thus the extreme rightwing party Golden Dawn won its first ever seat on the Athens city council in November 2010 on an anti-immigrant agenda.

On top of the many struggles they face, asylum seekers like Kelly now live in constant fear of attack. I met Kelly while doing anthropological fieldwork in Athens in February of this year. He was a friend of a friend, and he had agreed to show me around the west African immigrant quarters, where he and a group of several hundred young Ghanaian migrants and asylum seekers had settled, looking for a route into Europe.

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South Korea reforms refugee and asylum law

Image by skinnylawyer via Flickr

Source: Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid

This news was submitted by HoTaeg Lee, head of Refugee pNan in Korea.

I just want to inform you all that the new Refugee Act, apart from Immigration Control Act, finally passed the National Assembly in Korea on 29 December 2011.

Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network president PhilKyu Hwang, along with attorney JongChul Kim, WonGuen Choi of Nancen, HoTaeg Lee of the Refuge pNan, National Human Rights Commission and UNHCR provided excellent leadership and devotion in making this new law. Lawmaker Woo Yer Hwang played the key role in passing the Act.

The main victory of our legislative activities is that during all refugee application processes, including judicial procedures, refugee applicants will now have legal status to stay in Korea and will be protected by a work permit, subsistence allowances, housing, medical care, and education.

The Act also stipulates detailed RSD procedures, including the procedure at ports of entry, an information guide, interpretation, legal assistance, NGO presences, video and audio recording, confirmation and copy of the interview records, confidentiality, detention for identification, and an appeals committee, amongst other details.

Under the Act, a first instance decision should be made within six months of the application, but if necessary it can be extended for six months with seven days prior notice. The appeal process is  the same. Applications submitted with false and fraudulent documents, re-applications submitted without a basic situation change or applications submitted in in order to avoid or delay imminent removal after a stay in Korea of more than one year can be handled by simplified or accelerated process.

The Act also adds clauses for recognized refugees beyond the protection of the refugee convention, related to family unity and recognition of academic diplomas and qualification licence.

The new Refugee Act will come into effect on 1 July 2013 for cases filed thereafter.

Related articles

• Resource: UNHCR guidance note: LGBTI refugees in forced displacement (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Salvadorian trans woman secures US asylum

Source: Washington Post

By Teresa Tomassoni

After a gang member held him at gunpoint inside his home, the 24-year-old gay man knew he had to flee El Salvador to survive. He had been beaten and harassed repeatedly on the streets by gang members. Eventually, they warned, they would kill him.

It took two attempts to get across the U.S.-Mexican border, but in 2006, he was smuggled into Arizona and made his way to Washington, where his brother lived.

“Finally, I can have my real life, exactly how I am,” he thought.

Valerie Villalta, now 30, found that new life as a transgender woman and, in the process, won a kind of protection she didn’t even know was possible for someone like her: asylum.

Asylum, which allows an immigrant to live and work in the country legally, is more commonly associated with immigrants who have been persecuted in their home countries — or who might be in the future — because of their politics, race, religion or ethnicity. But Villalta learned that it also can apply to gay and transgender immigrants who have been tortured because of their sexuality.

Since winning her asylum case in 2009 with the help of the Whitman-Walker Health clinic in the District, Villalta has dedicated much of her life to providing guidance to gay and transgender Latino immigrants who find themselves in a foreign land with little or no knowledge of the language, the culture or the services that can help them find peace with who they really are.

She volunteers with a health education program for gay and transgender youths called Empoderate, or “Empower yourself” — the same program that helped her find her way. The youth center is just a few blocks from its umbrella organization, La Clinica del Pueblo, a bilingual community health center in Columbia Heights.

“When you try to help other people, you feel good,” Villalta said recently, sitting in the center’s coral pink Girls Meeting Room. A drawing of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon hangs above her head. “Soy mujer trans (I’m a transgender woman),” it says.

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Indonesia 'mistreating' refugee disaster survivors

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

Two new boats have arrived in Australia carrying asylum seekers as a group who survived a disaster began a hunger strike in Indonesia.

The 18 December boat disaster off the Indonesian island of Java left an estimated 200 dead.

Those who survived have begun a hunger strike after being moved to a detention centre where as many as 12 people are sharing each cell and they claim they are being taunted by guards and kept in inhumane conditions.

''One of us has lost 11 members of his family,'' said Noroz Yousefi, an Iranian asylum seeker.

 ''He is going crazy in here. There are 12 of us in one room and they won't let us go outside, even to get some air."

''When we asked, the guards shouted at us and said, 'This is our country and we can do with you what we want'.''

Activists have put part of the blame for the tragedy on Australian policy.

"The policy of detaining asylum seekers in Indonesia means asylum seekers risk imprisonment if they contact authorities if they are concerned about the seaworthiness of any boat. The fact that Australia impounds and destroys the vessels that bring asylum seekers here means boats used are more likely to be unseaworthy. The crossing from Indonesia is these boats’ last voyage,” said Ian Rintoul, Refugee Action Collective (RAC) spokesperson.

"It doesn’t matter how unsafe the boat is, refugees will try to get to Australia because that is often the only place where they can be safe.”

Meanwhile, controversy has erupted over claims that new media guidelines on privacy could lead to the disappearance of shots of arriving boats on TV. The Immigration Department say non-identification of asylum seekers had long been department policy, in part because identification could pose a threat to the families of asylum seekers in their home countries. But they have also been criticised for blocking investigation of detention centres and allowing cameras into them.

Sue Bolton, a spokeswoman for RAC, told the Sydney Morning Herald that identification was an important part of ensuring asylum seekers did not become dehumanised but stressed their consent should be sought.

Related articles

• 2011 round-up: Part six: Asylum and refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Activists say Australia shares responsibility for latest asylum seeker deaths at sea (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

2011 round-up: Part six: Asylum and refugees

Image by gianlucacostantini via Flickr

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!

Asylum and refugees

In May a Spanish academic estimated that 6000 LGBT Africans flee to Europe each year.

In the UK, authorities bureaucratically codified the landmark Supreme Court decision of 2010 ending the concept that refused asylum seekers could (and should) 'go home and be discreet' or relocate to avoid repression. They also began to record sexuality-based asylum claims.

This 'discretion' argument, widely employed to refuse asylum, was rejected by a US Ninth Circuit court in March but used in cases elsewhere.

In the Netherlands, 'westernization' after being in the country for a decade became an argument against the removal of an Afghan refugee, and by extension for others, that was accepted by the government. The Netherlands also created liberal rules for immigration of partners of gay people and said they'd consider extending a existing legal presumption in favour of LGBT asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan to those from Uganda.


In the UK in an important precedent a court accepted that an individual who does not live a ‘heterosexual narrative’ (i.e. have men ‘calling’ or have a boyfriend/husband and/or have children) can suffer persecution and therefore have an asylum claim in a Jamaican lesbian case.

In the US there were numerous formal complaints over the treatment of LGBT immigration detainees, which includes asylum seekers. The complaints included sexual abuse but the administration refused to extend rules offering protection against rape and other sexual abuse to criminals in jails to immigration detainees. A number of prominent 'undocumented' immigrants came out, including many young people in the movement for a DREAM act which would regularize the status of those brought to the US as children. There were reports that Mexican asylum seekers' claims in the US are increasingly being rejected, using the 'relocation=safety' argument.

Human rights groups started to focus on the position of LGBT in African refugee camps and the thousands believed to have made their way to relative safety in South Africa. The first LGBT refugee project started in May in South Africa. A landmark conference in Kampala in July covered the problem of LGBT refugees in East Africa.

In May the first public appearance of Iranian LGBT refugees happened in Turkey during Ankara Pride.

LGBT asylum seekers continue to face problems in Europe with campaigning attention in 2011 including: a Swiss attempt to remove a gay Iranian; a gay Cameroonian in France; several gay Ugandan, Burundian, Cameroonian and Nigerian cases in UK; a Norwegian gay Iraqi case; a transgender Turkish case in Austria. In Canada, a loud campaign in Toronto stopped the removal of a gay Nicaraguan, as did support for a Sri Lankan in Australia. Most - though not all - such cases demonstrated how campaigning can help stop removals. In the UK, in several cases, judges ordered the anonimization of lesbian and gay asylum seekers supposedly for their protection but also stemming both media coverage and campaigning highlighting such egregious asylum decisions.

In September a first comprehensive report showed prejudiced treatment of LGBT asylum seekers happening in many European countries. But in October, most EU nations adopted rules recognising repression for sexuality reasons as grounds for asylum claims and also gender identity for the first time. They also agreed to share best practice on treatment of LGBT asylum cases.

In Australia a law was passed clarifying protection rights for homosexual refugees.

It emerged in October that key global south LGBT activists are increasingly encountering visa problems when they are invited to events in western countries.

Azerbaijani gay artist Babi Badalov finally won asylum in France after being deported by the UK two years previously, then fleeing to Russia and finally reaching Paris.

In Canada, the conservative government reached out to LGBT groups and the community to support LGBT refugees - and provided funding to help. In the US the administration provided funding for a first LGBT asylum support project in Chicago and a new refugee route began to deliver LGBT to sanctuary in San Francisco.

In August a report confirmed significant progress in UNHCR and other agency handling of gay refugees, mostly Iranians, in Turkey, an example of growing engagement by UNHCR with the issue.

Related articles

• Voice of LGBT asylum seekers raised at Manchester Pride (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Paper: LGBT refugees looking for protection and safety: Challenges in refugee status determination and living conditions in Turkey. (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Contradiction in how Obama admin treating LGBT refugees (ilga.org)
• Norway refuses gay Iraqi asylum (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: Brenda, lesbienne ougandaise, obtient le statut de réfugiée en France

Video source: Yagg




Souvenez-vous. En février dernier, Yagg avait interviewé Brenda Mutesi, jeune lesbienne tout juste débarquée d’Ouganda et demandeuse d’asile en France. Elle venait de fuir son pays, où, après le meurtre de l’activiste gay David Kato, la traque des homos avait pris une nouvelle ampleur.

Après de multiples démarches, parfois humiliantes – l’accueil des étrangers en préfecture n’est pas digne de la cinquième puissance économique du monde – Brenda a pu déposer sa demande à l’Ofpra (Office français de protection des réfugiés et des apatrides). Elle a aussi obtenu l’aide de l’Ardhis (Association pour la reconnaissance des droits des homosexuels à l’immigration et au séjour) dans ses démarches.
Le 13 décembre 2011, soit près de dix mois après son arrivée en France, Brenda obtenait enfin le document tant attendu et qui la place sous la protection de la République française. C’est quelques jours après que nous l’avons à nouveau interviewée.

~~~~

Translation by F Young

Last February, the Yagg website did a video interview of Brenda Mutesi, a young lesbian from Uganda seeking asylum in France. She had just fled her country, where, after the murder of gay activist David Kato, the hunt for gays had taken on unprecedented dimensions.

She was assisted by ARDHIS (association for the recognition of gay rights to immigration and residence). After undergoing numerous, sometimes humiliating, procedures, Brenda was able to submit an application to OFPRA (french office for the protection of refugees and stateless persons).

On December 13, almost ten months after her arrival in France, Brenda finally received the document that places her under the protection of the French Republic. This is a video of her interview by Yagg a few days later.

Related articles

• Event: Conférence sur l'asile LGBTI à Paris (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Audio: Droits des homosexuels en Afrique: où en est-on ? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: Nicole, lesbian asylum seeker from Cameroon (transcript) (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Gay Ugandan asylum seeker freed from US detention

By Paul Canning

A gay Ugandan asylum seeker has been freed from detention in California after a campaign by his friends.

Joseph Bukombe had been held at an Otay Mesa, San Diego detention facility for nearly two years.


He needed $20,000 bail and this was raised following a campaign to 'get him home for Xmas'. Friends are now raising money to fight for his asylum claim.

"It's like a dream come true," Bukombe told 10News.

Eight years ago, he arrived in San Diego from Uganda and came out as a gay man but was afraid to go home. He said his work visa expired several years ago.

He says that during the time he has lived in California a mob beat one of his friends to death.

"I didn't want to die. I didn't want to go back and die," he said.

In early 2010, Bukombe was stopped for a DUI after eating Jell-O at a birthday party.

"I knew I was driving, so I was trying to be careful. I didn't know the Jell-O had alcohol in it," he said.

Bukombe was detained and faced deportation. He hired an attorney, but could not pay for him.

After languishing for several years, Bukombe discovered a $20,000 bail had been set early in the process.

Hector Martinez, a friend of a friend, started a campaign supporting Bukombe, including a petition drive.

"We think either paperwork got sent to the wrong address or the attorney never informed him," said Martinez.

Martinez raised $6,000 and took out a loan for the remainder of the bail.


"Thanks to all the 70 donors who contributed to bail for Joseph Bukombe who was released from Otay Mesa last night," the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle wrote in an email to friends and supporters on Christmas Eve.

"He enjoyed his first meal with friends in San Diego at a Kenyan restaurant with friends and wanted to express his deep appreciation to everyone who helped to secure his release after two years in prison," Ogle wrote.

"Joseph and his close friend Hector Martinez will be attending Midnight Mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral tonight in San Diego," Ogle said.

However, Bukombe still faces deportation hearings.

"It's clear I will die," said Bukombe of being returned to Uganda. "I'm scared for the future, but at least I have hope."

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have told 10News about Bukombe's case:

"Over the course of the last year, Mr. Bukombe's immigration case has undergone extensive review by judges at multiple levels of our legal system. In those proceedings, the courts have held that he has failed to establish a legal basis to remain in the United States. ICE is now in the process of seeking to carry out the deportation order handed down by the immigration court."

Supporters are also pushing a congressional bill that could allow him to stay. Bukombe's supporters say that they are hopeful because of the Obama Administration's new policy toward LGBT immigrants who face persecution or the threat of death in their homeland.

Related articles

• Three causes to support at Xmas (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Ugandan gay refugee recounts horror of imprisonment (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• A hard life for gay refugees in Kenya (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Contradiction in how Obama admin treating LGBT refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)