Secure safe, appropriate accommodation for LGBT asylum seekers in Ireland
To call on the Minister for Foreign affairs
to provide secure and safe accommodation for LGBT asylum seekers.
Because of repressive laws such as the Ugandan ‘Anti-Gay’ Bill, LGBT people are often forced to flee their home countries and seek asylum elsewhere. They find themselves in a strange and different land, where most of the time they are housed with other men and women of the same nationality. This can mean living every day with the very people who have supported those repressive laws, since homophobia is everywhere and often goes unchallenged. LGBT asylum seekers live each day in fear of physical violence and persecution.
When people seek asylum on the basis of their sexual orientation there are no regulations in place to ensure that they have safe accomodation while awaiting refugee status. Further, some of the repressive anti-LGBT laws mean that someone could be extradited from another country and brought “home” to face charges of “bringing the country into disrepute”.
Requirements for seeking asylum on the basis of sexual orientation / gender identity are:
The LGBT person (s) must prove they have been in contact with an LGBT group.
Risks:
While LGBT asylum seekers are required to make contact with an LGBT group or society in Ireland, they risk exposing themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender while housed with others, potentially extremely homophobic.
They also risk persecution and criminal charges if their application for asylum is denied and they are deported to their native country.
