‘Sexual orientation is grounds for asylum’ – European Commission
February 12th, 2009
The European Commission has reiterated that persecution on grounds of sexual orientation is a legitimate justification for an asylum claim.
The question had been put to the Commission by a number of MEPs, following the rejection in Cyprus of an asylum claim by a gay Iranian man. The rejection was later overturned and the claim granted.
Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat European justice & human rights spokeswoman, said: “I strongly welcome this robust statement by the Commission on the responsibility of Member States to uphold their international commitments to refugees and recognise persecution on all legitimate grounds including sexual orientation. Such persecution is very much a reality for gay and lesbian people from countries such as Iran.”
“Iranians Mehdi Kazemi and Mr Bagherian were both eventually granted residence in the UK and Cyprus respectively but in both cases it was a struggle requiring a lot of lobbying. I hope that EU states will now heed the Commission and deal with future cases quickly and efficiently so that those who’ve been persecuted on the grounds of their sexuality can be spared further distress.”
The Commission repeats that there is ‘an obligation on Member States to grant refugee status to persons who…. are found to have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of membership of a particular social group, including a group based on a common characteristic of sexual orientation.’
Yes, that’s great news. I don’t believe that anyone should be made to feel inadequate or unfufilled of their sexuality to apply for asylum,feel threatened in their home country, neither should they be discriminated against because of the sexual orientation. I would totally welcome this, its a step foward, quite a victory for lgbt rights and also for freedom of movement. I think that another problem to deal with would be the issue of lgbt right in countries where it is condemned and at the worst cases, very brutally punished. Speaking of which, wasn’t there a UN Convention on Global LGBT rights not so long ago? What did they make of it, what steps are there to take now?
thefeministingpalace ∼ February 13th, 2009 11:10 pm