If you or anyone you know would like support and information from the Belong To LGBT Asylum Seekers and Refugees project, you can contact them by phone (01-670 6223) or by email (john@belongto.org)

This morning BeLonG To Youth Services launched their LGBT Asylum Seekers and Refugees Project.

BeLonG To created the Project to make life better for young asylum seekers and Refugees who may be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).

BeLonG To has found that in several cases, young people in the refugee determination process come out after their initial arrival into Ireland, and therefore after their initial claim for asylum has been lodged.

There could be a number of reasons for this.

Think about it: largely, the countries where LGBT people are persecuted are countries where officials are corrupt and/or the police routinely violate the human rights of those they are meant to protect.

It may not be surprising, then, for someone who has lived their lives in that society to be fearful of disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity to officials in Ireland.

Consider, too, the situation of separated children under the age of 18 years. The very fact of their young age may mean they haven’t come out to themselves, let alone disclosed this fact to anyone else.

I know I certainly didn’t seek support until my final year in school, and didn’t disclose to my peers until some time after that.

Significantly, if a person who applies for refugee status is perceived by the determining authority to have “changed their story”, this will almost certainly be viewed as undermining the applicant’s credibility.

A culture of disbelief permeates Ireland’s refugee status determination procedures at every level as it is.

Without proper training for the relevant officials, a person who discloses or comes out after the initial application for refugee status has been made will effectively be regarded as either simply a liar or someone who is introducing new information as a way to “enhance their claim”.

It is important to bear in mind, too, what happens when a separated child turns 18 while they await the outcome of their asylum claim.

A separated child is one who is in Ireland and is been placed in the care of the HSE as soon as they come to the attention of the authorities here. Usually nowadays the child resides with a foster family and has the support of a HSE social worker and/or project worker.

As soon as they turn 18, however, they leave the care of the HSE and are placed in one of the hostels housing adult asylum seekers.

In other words, they leave the constant safety and support of their adult carers. Although they will normally have an “after care plan” with the HSE, these young people are suddenly placed in a new environment where the possibility of hostile attitudes towards LGBT people is very real.

Even if a young LGBT person overcomes the hurdles of disclosure, coming out, establishing their credibility with the authorities, adjusting to their living arrangements – all while trying to carry on as normal an existence as possible, incluing pursuing studies and receiving any possible medical treatment they may need – they still must contend with simple ignorance and failure to correctly apply the law in their cases.

A refugee is someone who is outside of their own country, who fears persecution – in these cases on the grounds of being LGBT, or being perceived as such – and whose own country is unwilling or unable to protect them.

The recent report, Fleeing Homophobia, found that there have been a number of cases involving people who identify as gay which were refused notwithstanding the fact that homosexuality is criminalised in their countries of origins. It also found inconsistencies where some applicants from a particular country – e.g. Kenya – were declared to be refugees whereas others were refused.

The same report found that Ireland often refuses asylum on the basis that if the applicant is “discreet” in his or her country of origin no persecution will arise.

This is despite the fact that a leading ruling regarding LGBT asylum seekers states clearly what approach is required in cases involving LGBT asylum seekers. In short, a person cannot be expected to conceal their sexual or gender identity in order to avoid persecution.

The court stated:

When an applicant applies for asylum on the ground of a well-founded fear of persecution because he is gay, the tribunal must first ask itself whether it is satisfied on the evidence that he is gay, or that he would be treated as gay by potential persecutors in his country of nationality.

If so, the tribunal must then ask itself whether it is satisfied on the available evidence that gay people who lived openly would be liable to persecution in the applicant’s country of nationality.

If so, the tribunal must go on to consider what the individual applicant would do if he were returned to that country.

If the applicant would in fact live openly and thereby be exposed to a real risk of persecution, then he has a well-founded fear of persecution – even if he could avoid the risk by living “discreetly”.

If, on the other hand, the tribunal concludes that the applicant would in fact live discreetly and so avoid persecution, it must go on to ask itself why he would do so.

If the tribunal concludes that the applicant would choose to live discreetly simply because that was how he himself would wish to live, or because of social pressures, e g, not wanting to distress his parents or embarrass his friends, then his application should be rejected. Social pressures of that kind do not amount to persecution and the Convention does not offer protection against them. Such a person has no well-founded fear of persecution because, for reasons that have nothing to do with any fear of persecution, he himself chooses to adopt a way of life which means that he is not in fact liable to be persecuted because he is gay.

If, on the other hand, the tribunal concludes that a material reason for the applicant living discreetly on his return would be a fear of the persecution which would follow if he were to live openly as a gay man, then, other things being equal, his application should be accepted. Such a person has a well-founded fear of persecution. To reject his application on the ground that he could avoid the persecution by living discreetly would be to defeat the very right which the Convention exists to protect – his right to live freely and openly as a gay man without fear of persecution. By admitting him to asylum and allowing him to live freely and openly as a gay man without fear of persecution, the receiving state gives effect to that right by affording the applicant a surrogate for the protection from persecution which his country of nationality should have afforded him.

The Secretary of State should, of course, apply the same approach when considering applications of this type. Although I have, for the most part, concentrated on the position of gay men, the Secretary of State and tribunals should approach applications concerning lesbian women in the same way.

(The man who wrote this seminal judgement, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, sadly passed away almost exactly one year later, on 26th June 2011, following a brief illness. His same principles were later applied, separately, to a case relating to religious belief.)

The BeLonG To Project aims to develop best practice for inclusion of LGBT asylum seekers and refugees in those statutory and voluntary services which work with either asylum seekers and refugees or LGBT communities, and which have a focus on youth and young adults.

BeLonG To will offer training and capacity building to this end. The organisation will also provide direct support to LGBT asylum seeking and refugee young people aged 14-30 years through its Project Youth Worker, John Duffy.

The Project draws on advice and feedback from key partners in the statutory and NGO sectors. Training Workshops will soon be launched, and in December 2012 there will be a seminar and report published.  The Project will be completed in January 2013.

The LGBT Asylum Seekers and Refugees Project is co-financed by the European Commission under the European Refugee Fund (ERF) and is supported by the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration in the Department of Justice and Equality, by Pobal and by the HSE.

Speakers at this morning’s launch included:

• Sophie Magennis, Head of Office, UNHCR Ireland
• Sue Conlon, CEO, Irish Refugee Council
• Dr. Nazih Eldin, Director, HSE Health Promotion Office, Dublin North East
• Patricia Brazil, Barrister and the Averill Deverill Lecturer in Law at TCD / National Expert for Ireland to the European Fleeing Homophobia Project

If you or anyone you know would like support and information from the Belong To LGBT Asylum Seekers and Refugees project, you can contact them by phone (01-670 6223) or by email (john@belongto.org)

For any further information, please contact the Project Coordinator, Marissa Ryan.

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