UNHCR, ‘Protecting Persons with Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities’, 2015
- Category: Reports
- Source: UNHCR
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Gender Identity, Refugee/Asylum
- Place: International
- Year: 2015
- File: 566140454
- URL: http://www.refworld.org/docid/566140454.html
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), ‘Protecting Persons with Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities: A Global Report on UNHCR’s Efforts to Protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Asylum-Seekers and Refugees’, 2015
Abstract
The document at hand presents key findings from a project undertaken globally between July 2014 and May 2015 to assess progress made by UNHCR country and regional operations to effectively protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) asylum-seekers and refugees. Globally, 106 offices, or roughly 90% of eligible country and regional operations, participated in the assessment. The key findings are presented along the following axes: legal, cultural and social context; outreach activities; displacement conditions; asylum and durable solutions; training on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI); operational guidelines and advocacy efforts. Offices reported that legislative, social, and cultural discrimination against LGBTI persons is pervasive globally, and that such discrimination
significantly impedes UNHCR’s LGBTI-focused protection efforts. While laws criminalising LGBTI identity, expression, and association were most frequently noted in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), social exclusion and other forms of violence were reported by offices in all five regions. In countries where discriminatory laws exist but are not enforced, offices discussed instances where such laws nonetheless offer social sanction for harassment and violence against LGBTI persons, including blackmail, extortion, and intimidation by authorities. Offices also reported that laws of general application, including laws pertaining to public decency, marriage, and sex work, may be disproportionately applied to target LGBTI persons. Even where legal protections exist for LGBTI persons, some offices noted these
protections may not be guaranteed in practice.