Refugee International and ICRA Casabierta, ‘Networks of Care for Displaced LGBTQ+ People’, 2022
- Category: Other
- Source: NGOs
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Gender Identity, Intersex, Refugee/Asylum, LGBT+
- Place: Americas
- Year: 2022
- File: LGBTQ+Report+FINAL
- URL: https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2022/1/21/networks-of-care-for-displaced-lgbtq-people-how-the-united-states-can-support-lgbtq-led-organizations-in-central-america-and-mexico?mkt_tok=NTcwLVZQRC05MjUAAAGCXt2GR0ZITwxBcyp7fte8wd9sQJDirOBK0YJYaCNubPlOGfYzQCNU9gnBCrbNrU_eeb7smyh7scqqzbpeUVzrH4vYFKf0ayJ1dz2_Zw3Z
Refugee International and ICRA Casabierta, ‘Networks of Care for Displaced LGBTQ+ People: How the United States Can Support LGBTQ+-led Organizations in Central America and Mexico’, Refugee International and ICRA Casabierta, January 27, 2022
Abstract
LGBTQ+ people in Central America are often at heightened risk of violence and discrimination, and thousands have fled their home countries in search of international protection. While the United States remains a major destination for displaced LGBTQ+ people, increasingly, more and more LGBTQ+ people on the move are heading to countries within the region to seek protection. Protection systems in the region are improving but need strengthening. LGBTQ+-led organizations in Central America are often leaders in these systems, providing protection, support, and advocacy for and on behalf of LGBTQ+ people in their countries of origin, while on the move, and in their destination countries.
In the Fall of 2021, Refugees International and IRCA CASABIERTA, a Costa Rica-based NGO that is led by and provides services to LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees, conducted fifteen consultation meetings with Central American NGOs in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama that are led by and provide services to LGBTQ+ people. The meetings aimed to discuss the challenges that LGBTQ+-led organizations face in their respective countries in providing services to LGBTQ+ people.
The meeting outcomes also provide a roadmap for how the Biden administration can play a key supportive role for organizations in the region. They suggest concrete ways that the United States can support the rights of LGBTQ+ people through its Collaborative Migration Management Strategy, which prioritizes working with international organizations and regional governments to protect marginalized groups. There are also ways to support displaced LGBTQ+ people through USAID’s initiative to empower local organizations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to address the drivers of forced displacement. While access to asylum and other legal pathways to the United States are of critical importance, it is also important for the U.S. government to support responsibility sharing in the region that focuses on the protection of high-risk groups. The Biden administration’s executive orders and issuance of new policies present an opportunity for the U.S. government to meaningfully invest in protection in the region for LGBTQ+ people on the move.
Spanish version here.