Patrick Awondo, ‘Provisory notes on the narratives of african (homo)sexual refugee in Paris’ (nd)
- Category: Literature
- Source: Academic
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Refugee/Asylum
- Place: Africa, Other
- Year: 2021
- File: provisory_notes_on_the_narratives_of_afr
- URL: https://www.academia.edu/10164860/provisory_notes_on_the_narratives_of_african_homo_sexual_refugee_in_Paris?email_work_card=view-paper
Patrick Awondo, ‘Provisory notes on the narratives of african (homo)sexual refugee in Paris’ (nd)
Abstract
This article analyses the position of African asylum-seekers and refugees in France lodging claims on the basis of homosexuality or gender identity. Firstly, it attempts to explore the “exile” experience, drawing on the narratives of a Cameroonian woman and a Senegalese man. It then examines the investigation of claims by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA)[1] and looks at claims rejected by this body and referred on appeal to the French National Court of Asylum (CNDA)[2]. Issues are identified in relation to the attribution of identity to claimants who are unable to demonstrate a gender identity which conforms to the perception shared by OFPRA protection officers or CNDA judges. Proving membership of “a particular social group” constitutes a further barrier to claims by homosexual Africans, above and beyond their individual experiences.
Keywords: (homo)sexual refugee, asylum-seeker, OFPRA, CNDA.