Open Society Foundation for South Africa, ‘Is the Equality Clause in the South African Constitution’s Bill of Rights (1996) just a far-off hope for LGBTI Asylum Seekers and Refugees?’, 2012

In many African countries, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people are persecuted because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Studies have shown that homosexuality is illegal in 38 of the 54 African countries, with Nigeria, Liberia, Egypt and Botswana allowing for the death penalty. Homophobia, expressed by social attitudes and legal provision, has made this social group outcast, isolated from their family, community and society. As a result, many are fleeing their country of origin to South Africa where they hope to find greater safety, freedom and happiness. Upon arrival in South Africa, a nation characterised by the co-existence of progressive legislation upholding the rights of lesbians and gay men, LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers are faced with new challenges: discrimination in the work place, corrective rape, robbery, murder, stigma, homophobia, harassment etc. Thus, the gap between the reality and the regulation is huge. South Africa is at best an ambivalent case study in terms of the enforcement of LGBTI rights. The present report aims to describe different human rights violations faced by this vulnerable type of refugee and asylum seeker more often shunned and forgotten by the society.