LGBT asylum news

South Africa: OUT launches campaign to alert gay men of dangers of casual sex dates

noreply@blogger.com (Denis Nzioka) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:05:00 +0000

Source: AMSHeR

OUT, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) health and well-being group in Pretoria, has launched a campaign to alert men who have sex with men (MSM) about the dangers of casual sex dates with strangers.

The campaign has been launched in response to the murder of at least seven gay men over the past two years in the Gauteng region.

The killings remain unsolved and they share striking similarities in that the men were all murdered in private homes and little or nothing was stolen. There is some suspicion that at least some of the men may have met their attackers through online dating sites.

"Sex between men has long been frowned upon by our society," explains OUT Director Dawie Nel. "That's led many gay, bi and other MSM to keep their sexual relations hidden from sight, hence the growth of online dating within the gay community. And there's no doubt that there is some element of excitement in the unknown."

"However," adds Nel, "people need to be aware that there is a risk in meeting strangers and especially when inviting them into their homes. These risks include the possibility of being blackmailed, being targeted with false charges, theft and even being murdered".

The campaign consists of articles that will be published in gay media, web banners, venue posters and other communication aimed at the LGBT community, highlighting the risks of casual sex dates.

Tips include: first meeting a date in a public place; making sure someone knows when you go out to meet a date; being wary of inviting strangers to your home; avoiding people who are deceitful and ask for financial support; and, if you meet someone at a club, introducing him to a friend before leaving with the date.

Nel expressed his concern at the apparent limited success of the police in investigating the murders and said that OUT is in discussion with pro-bono lawyers in a bid to pressure the authorities to take action.

"There is a perception that there is a lack of interest in the cases, in part due to the sexual orientation of the victims. Added to this, the investigating officers may have limited knowledge or awareness of the LGBT community and online dating," said Nel. "We fear that someone is preying on gay men and the authorities appear unwilling to acknowledge this."

To-date, gay lifestyle website Mambaonline.com, dating site MeetMarket.com and the LGBT newspaper Exit have committed to taking part in the campaign, but other LGBT media are being approached to be included.

The most recent murder was of 39-year-old HIV/Aids activist and television presenter Jason Wessenaar, who was stabbed in the neck seven times in his Pretoria West home on 18 December 2011.

The murder spree began with Manolis Veloudos, who was killed in April 2010. He was followed by Jim Cathels in Berea in December 2010, Oscar O'Hara (33) in May 2011, a 47-year-old un-named landlord in Northcliff in August 2011, Siphiwe Selby Nhlapo (36) in Soweto in September 2011, and Barney van Heerden (39) in Orange Grove, also in September 2011.

Despite the similarities in the crimes, the police have rejected the theory that the same killer or killers are involved. No suspects have yet been arrested.

Maurice Tomlinson's David Kato Award Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Denis Nzioka) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:01:00 +0000

Maurice Tomlinson (second left) with Peter Tatchell (far right), Frank Mugisha (second right) at the award ceremony

Maurice has been involved in HIV/AIDS and LGBTI activism in Jamaica for over 12 years. He is an Attorney-at-Law and law lecturer with current research interests in sexual rights and HIV/AIDS advocacy. He regularly writes on gay rights in Jamaican newspapers is leading an initiative of the major Jamaican NGOs (J-FLAG, JASL and CVC) working in the area of HIV/AIDS and LGBTI rights to have the country’s anti-buggery law repealed.

He is also seeking to have the legal prohibition against sex-work modified to allow for consensual adult sex work. Maurice regularly attends local and international conferences where he presents on the state of Jamaica’s law and homophobia. He also conducts human rights and advocacy training sessions for Jamaican LGBTI and conceptualized Jamaica’s first ‘Walk for Tolerance’ for April 7, 2010.

He is also the first honoree of the David Kato Vision & Voice Award.

He recently wed his Canadian partner. However, this led to further threats on his life with reports saying he has been forced to flee Jamaica.

The full text of his award speech is available here

Video: Ban Ki Moon 'Respect gay rights' to African leaders

noreply@blogger.com (Denis Nzioka) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:21:00 +0000

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, in an unusually outspoken declaration Sunday told African leaders assembled at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that they must respect gay rights an issue that is controversial in many African states.

The video is available here

Ban Ki Moon to African Union: Respect gay rights

noreply@blogger.com (Denis Nzioka) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:11:00 +0000

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

Source: Huffington Post

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says African nations should stop treating gays as "second-class citizens, or even criminals".

Ban told African leaders that gathered in Ethiopia's capital on Sunday for an African Union summit that discrimination based on sexual orientation "had been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for far too long".

Ban said it would be challenging for Africa to "confront this discrimination". There was no immediate response from African heads of states to Ban's speech. Many African countries outlaw homosexuality and many African churches preach against it.

Additional reporting here and here and here and here

Uganda: Activists pay tribute to David Kato one year since murder

noreply@blogger.com (Denis Nzioka) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Source: Behind The Mask

Gay rights activists in Uganda on Thursday paid tribute to murdered gay rights defender, David Kato, one year after his murder.

More than 100 activists, human rights defenders and allies to Uganda’s gay community remembered David Kato as a distinguished campaign for equality at a memorial service in held in Kampala.

His killer, Nsubuga Sydney, was sentenced to 30 years in jail on his own plea of guilty when charged with killing Kato.

Bishop Christopher Senyonjo during the David Kato remembrance mass

Retired Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, the head of the St. Paul Reconciliation and Equality Centre (SPREC) and US based pastor, Joseph Tolton said the mass.

Kato’s mother, sisters and family members attended the function.

Known to the Ugandan LGBTI community as Nnalongo (mother of twins) Kato’s mother said she was thankful for the love extended to her in the last one year since her son’s death.

She said often Kato’s friends had shown her “love, care and compassion” whenever she had been depressed thinking of her son, and that this generosity of spirit had kept her going.

Bishop Senyonjo spoke of David Kato as a selfless leader who served the gay community in Uganda to challenge discrimination and stigma for homosexuals. “I respect you all homosexuals. And my message is a message of love as God’s children,” Bishop Senyonjo said during the sermon.

Pastor Tolton said he stood by the US Episcopalian Church’s inclusion of gay ministers in the church. He said, “The fear that was meant to be instilled in the Ugandan homosexual community after Kato’s death had been broken by God.”

Bishop Senyonjo said that Kato lives on, and that although he had been killed to instil fear among the Ugandan gay community, homosexuals had prevailed.

One after the other, friends of David Kato spoke of him as a leader saying he had leadership qualities worth emulating, while others prayed for his soul to rest in peace.

One activist, Moses Kimbugwe, challenged the gay movement to set up an education fund for homosexuals who dropped out of school due to stigma and discrimination. “This was one of David Kato’s dreams. I challenge all of us to find ways of setting up this education fund,” Kimbugwe said.

Other activists who paid tribute to Kato included Frank Mugisha, the head of Sexual Minorities Uganda ( SMUG) where Kato worked, John Wambere, and Thomas Ndayigiragije, an official with Amnesty International’s, Kampala office.

They all praised David for the good work he had done. Mugisha said Kato was the Godfather of gay rights activism and challenged all activists to carry his vision and mission forth. Ndayiragije said it is not how long some one live that matters, but what they have done in life.

He added that Kato lives on. He said his name would always be remembered.

Kenya: Blackmail and extortion of gay men on the rise

noreply@blogger.com (Denis Nzioka) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:43:00 +0000

Courtesy: Identity Magazine

(Image: Michael Wambua Soi)

By Denis Nzioka

When Patrick Muiru* met George* on a Facebook dating page, little did he know this was the start of his problems that will leave him naked, sexually assaulted, beaten and humiliated.

Patrick is a 26 year old closeted gay man who has fallen prey to blackmailers and extortionists targeting gay men. Patrick who lives in Ngumbo estate told Identity Magazine that he met George on a Facebook profile page called ‘Nairobi Gays Dating and Sex’ and after several exchanges of messages, they decided to meet.

‘George called me one evening which was a Friday and told me to meet him in Wendani estate in Nairobi. I asked him to come to my place but he refused. I agreed to go to Wendani the following Saturday in the morning.’

Patrick agreed to go to the meeting assuming the two were going to have sex. ‘It was clear; from his SMS and tone of voice he wanted sex. But now I guess he was just using that to get me,’ said Patrick. On the fateful day, Patrick arrived in Wendani and was picked by George who took him to what Patrick assumed was his house.

‘He was hot and tall and dark. He picked me from the stage and we took several corners before reaching a house. We entered and he offered me tea and mandazis. He looked nice.’ Little did Patrick know that George had set him up.

‘Immediately after tea, he started to caress and kiss me and I responded back with removing my clothes,’ Patrick told Identity Magazine. ‘However, he soon changed and he told me that he does not have sex with someone he had just met for the first time. I was disappointed. He said we can mutually masturbate and I agreed.’

Soon after, Patrick recalls George taking his phone and texting someone. Five minutes later, they heard a knock and George went to open. Two men entered the house and locked it. The two men started questioning the two and wondered why two men were in a room locked together. One of the men asked why (pointing at George) he had no shirt on. ‘George was shirtless after the act,’ Patrick added.

The two men began to shout and slap Patrick and George and demanded to know what they were doing. George ‘owned’ up and said that they were gay and had masturbated together only forcing the men to rain blows to Patrick as they shouted derogatorily at him.

The men forced Patrick to undress and one of them took a condom and placed it on Patrick’s penis and told his colleague to take photos. Patrick by now was naked and shivering as the men took turns photographing his genitals, face and behind. They ransacked his pockets and took KShs 2,000 and a mobile phone.

They told him to dress and forced him out of the house and threatened to send the photos to the contacts on his phone if he did not part with KShs 100,000. Patrick said that he left Wendani a humiliated man and has been forced to part with over KShs 20,000 so far which he sends to the men via M-Pesa.

This case is a stark reminder of what closeted gay men have to go through from blackmailers who target them. Most of these extortionists are taking advantage of the fact that their victims are not open about their own sexuality. Most of their targets are either married men in heterosexual relationships or bachelors or those in high-voltage professions like priests, pastors or politicians.

Risks Of Dating, Social, Networking Sites

Cedric* is one such example. A married man with two children who lives in Umoja, Cedric parted with over KShs 40,000 to appease blackmailers who took photos of him while engaged in anal sex with another man from a hidden camera. Cedric told Identity Magazine by phone that he met a young lad called John* who lived in Pipeline, Embakasi estate and who set him up.

‘I went to his place and one thing led to another and we had sex. Little did I know that I was being videotaped. After sex, we heard a knock on the door and someone claiming to a cousin of John and three others came in,’ said Cedric. What Cedric did not know was that John, immediately after sex had requested to dispose of the used condom only for him to wrap it and hide it under the mattress. Cedric said he was shocked to learn that John had not disposed of it.

‘The so called ‘cousins’ started to shout at me and threatening me. John then took out the used condom from under the mattress and showed them. He said he will use this as evidence that I raped him and he said he will take me to the police.’

‘I was afraid of the police. I work in a local NGO in Industrial Area and something like this was dangerous to my family and career,’ said Cedric. ‘I had to give them the KShs 8,000 I had with me and my phone which they took and found my wife’s number and wrote it down and said they will send the video and photos to her.’

‘I had no choice,’ Cedric said. ‘It was either my family or career and so we went to the ATM close by and I gave them KShs 20,000 which was in my account. By now I was afraid and shaking.’

Blackmail, according to Wikipedia, is defined ‘as a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats for the purposes of taking the person's money or property.’

Identity Magazine talked to Anthony Oluoch, the Legal and Human Rights Officer based at the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) who said that blackmail and extortion is the leading form of violation reported at his desk by Kenyan gay men most of whom are married. ‘It accounts for over 30% of cases we see in a year,’ said Oluoch.

Oluoch said that most blackmailers are either gays or straight people acting gay in order to get targets. One avenue they mostly use is social networks and sites. ‘One of the places they often visit is Facebook and dating sites like Gay Kenya, GayRomeo, GayDar and ManJam where people put their profiles for dates, sex or mutual friendship,’ Oluoch reported.

A casual visit to one of the sites - Gay Romeo - by Identity Magazine revealed that there are over 800 Kenyan profiles of gay men registered. Majority of them had photos, some graphic and other personal details like phone numbers, residence, place of work and places they like to frequent like bars and restaurants. Under a fake name, Identity Magazine was able to register and within minutes had received over three numbers from potential dates looking for, surprisingly, strictly sex. One even went further to say that a taxi can be provided for to transport us to his house.

‘Most people are free in giving their numbers to other people over the internet. This is dangerous,’ said Mona Kareithi, the Assistant Program Officer who works on LGBT in the larger equality and non-discrimination at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

‘Not only are you putting your life in danger but of other persons like family members, work mates, friends and others,’ said Mona. ‘You have to be secure and private or else you become a potential candidate for extortion. Married men are more likely to be targeted since they are married and in the closet though even single gay men are targeted,’ she cautioned.

Rape, Sodomy And Sexual Violence

Some of the blackmailers not only extort money. Others use sexual violence and reports of rape are not uncommon.

Prince Ben* works as a chef at Nairobi’s Intercontinental Hotel. He lives in Dagoretti Corner in Nairobi and fell victim to blackmailers who sodomized and raped him. ‘I met this guy on Facebook from Kisii who told me where he lives and I agreed to meet him. We met at his friend’s place in Wanyee estate since he told me his friend had left him the house,’ Prince recounted.

‘We met at Nakumatt Prestige on Ngong road in October 2011 and after buying alcohol, we headed to Wanyee,’ Prince told Identity Magazine.

‘While we were there, some three men came to the house and closed us in and they threatened me. My date also turned on me and forced me to remove my clothes. I pleaded with them not to rape me but they overpowered me and sodomized me. They took turns,’ Prince said. ‘I had nothing I could do and I could not go to hospital to be checked or the police to report it because being gay is illegal here in Kenya so I just went home and showered and kept quiet,’ Prince concluded.

‘Homosexuality remains criminalized in Kenya, and even though there are few prosecutions in the country on the sections of the penal code (162–165), that criminalize it, LGBTI people are routinely harassed by the police, held in remand houses for long without charges being preferred against them, and presented in court, on trumped-up charge. Closely related to this, is a cartel of corrupt police officials who routinely extort and blackmail LGBTI people with the threat of arrest and imprisonment if they do not give them bribes,’ Wikipedia cites.

The Kenya Penal Code, Section 300, outlaws extortion and states, ‘Any person who, with the intent to extort or gain anything from any person (a) accuses or threatens to accuse any person of committing any felony or misdemeanor, or of offering or making any solicitation or threat to any person as an inducement to commit or permit the commission of any felony or misdemeanor, or (b) threaten that any person shall be accused by any other person of any felony or misdemeanor, or of any such act; or (c) knowing the contents of the writing, causes any person to receive any writing containing any such accusation or threat as aforesaid, is guilty of a felony and the offender is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years’ and further provides that “if the accusation or threat of accusation is of an assault with intent to have carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature, or an unlawful and indecent assault upon a male person; the offender is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years; and in any other case the offender is liable to imprisonment for three years.”

Ideally, the provision offers protection to any person who may be threatened with extortion by anyone who has information on any crime that the person may have committed. It means that should someone have knowledge of another person having engaged or is engaging or conspiring to engage in a crime, they cannot use this information to try and get money from them and that the person who has committed the crime should not pay any money for the other person to remain silent. Any male person who engages in same sex activities, even consensual, despite it being illegal in Kenya, should not be threatened by any person who has this knowledge. This provision ensures that should any person try to obtain money or threaten with this information, then that person is committing an offence and if found guilty , is liable to be imprisonment for three years.

A Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) report ‘The Outlawed Amongst Us’ reports that ‘educated professionals are often blackmailed by a cartel of colleagues at work, security agents, who work in cohort with other LGBT persons to who know the professional’s sexual orientation.’

The report also adds ‘There were reports of blackmail within the community especially where same sex partners broke up and one of them would blackmail the other to offer him/her a substantive amount of money or other favor in exchange for their silence on the other’s sexual orientation. One respondent reported that his sexual orientation was revealed on a popular FM station after he broke up with his partner.’

Bisexual men were more at risk of blackmail.

‘Those who were bisexuals reported that they were constantly blackmailed by their heterosexual partners to give up their children and asked to part with exorbitant maintenance for their children,’ the report cites. Blackmailing is not only limited to extorting money or gifts from victims. A more subtle but also effective form of blackmail is cutting off of support to victims in order to get them to be ‘straight’. Esther* is a lesbian in Kisumu whose parents used blackmail to change her sexual orientation. She reported that her parents refused to pay her school fees for college if she did not start stop her ‘immoral’ lifestyle.

Another incident reported in the KHRC reports says ‘I am quite effeminate and proud of myself. This landed me in trouble when I was in high school. I was expelled upon suspicion of being gay. My parents were enraged. My dad said no son of his was a woman and he sent me away from home saying that I was better off dead. He said I could only come back if I reformed. I wondered how I could prove I was reformed and what evil I was reforming from. I went to Nairobi to stay with my cousin then later ended up meeting gay men who took care of me financially in exchange for sexual favors. I was naïve and I used to have sex without a condom. I got infected with the HIV virus and I am now living positive and proudly gay. I hope another child won’t go through what I went through.’

The report adds, ‘These manipulative tactics have the effect of blackmailing the LGBTI persons to reform. These vulnerable situations are conducive for exploitation and child abuse or sex trafficking because most dependants are below 18 years at this stage. Criminal sanctions increase vulnerability of lesbians, gays and bisexuals persons to blackmail and extortion. The vulnerability is driven by the need to hide one’s sexuality from family, friends, work colleagues or the general public. Public stigmatization or internalized homophobia particularly forces one to remain secretive about their sexuality. Unfortunately, this deeply felt need for taciturn, even while affording reduced public censure of one’s sexuality creates a fault-line for blackmailing and extortion to thrive.’

‘GALCK have emergency hotline numbers to report cases of blackmail. In addition, we have lawyers willing to take up cases of blackmail against LGBT persons. The emergency hotline numbers are 0202347403 and 0700422956. Likewise, they can e-mail GALCK on info@galck.org. Cases of blackmail can be reported at local police stations where appropriate action will be taken,’ Oluoch told Identity Magazine.

It now seems victims are fighting back. A Facebook group called ‘Nairobi Gay Blackmailers and Thieves’ has attracted over 80 members. Its aim is ‘to expose all blackmailers, thieves; by doing this you shall end up making your friends safe.’ Members post incidents of blackmail as well as names and phone numbers of suspected blackmailers.

We were not able to establish if any person has been prosecuted so far.

"Ich bin ein Niemand" ["I'm a nobody"]: Gay Iranian refused German asylum

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:20:00 +0000

Sepehr Nazari

Source: Frankfurter Rundschau (via Google translate)

By Von Marian Brehmer

Sepehr Nazari is gay and comes from Iran. Where gays are executed when they are discovered. Nazari took refuge in Germany, presented an application for asylum, and learned that he is not welcome here.

Sepehr Nazari, 25 years old, would like to start a new life without fear. But it's not that simple.

In Iran, the country Sepehr Nazari comes from, men like him do not exist. At least, says the Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When asked in 2007 during a visit to New York's Columbia University about homosexuality in Iran, he shrugged his shoulders. He did not know what was the question. There are gays in America perhaps, but not in Iran.

The country Nazari talks of seems to be another one to Ahmadinejad's. He knew many gay men in Iran. He tells of secret hangouts and gay cafes, five queer identified online newspapers he has written for. At an international Online Dating Service for homosexuals were just in his home city of Tehran thousands of gays with profiles - more than in Berlin, he says.

Being gay in Iran is dangerous. The article 110 of the "hadd punishments for homosexuality" is: "The hadd punishment for homosexuality in the form of transport is the death penalty. The method of killing is at the discretion of the judge." But even "who has a kissing another of sensuality, is punished with a Tazir penalty of up to 60 lashes." Since 1979, according to Iranian human rights activist, four thousand homosexuals have been executed.

Sepehr Nazari in the spring of 2011 sought asylum in Germany, he currently resides in Dresden, and often comes to Berlin. As a meeting place the 25-year-old has picked his favorite cafe, located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin Reichenberg. In perfect English he tells his story.

Sent to the psychologist

At fourteen, he knew he was gay. Once, when his friend was visiting, Sepehr's mother burst into the room. She saw her son, entwined with a man, "This is immoral! I knew that you're spoiled," she shrieked. The friend fled from the apartment. Sepehr locked himself in the shower, until his father persuaded him to come out. This is only a phase that will pass soon, his father said. Since then the two have never spoken a word about his homosexuality.

Homosexuality is against nature, it is contrary to God's will. How often has Sepehr heard this. However, his parents are not religious, but rather concerned about the family, neighbors and friends. What to think? "I've always asked my mother what she really thinks," said Sepehr. He never received a reply.

Instead, his mother sent him to a psychologist. Some doctors in Iran are focused on the "disease" of homosexuality, prescribing electric shocks as therapy. Sepehr Nazari was lucky. The lady examined him and asked many questions. The result: He had a strong personality. Nothing more.

Sepehr never had trouble with the police. In the university no one knew about his homosexuality, he never talked to anyone about it. A double life? He laughs. "No, a multiple life. A life for the university, one for work, one for friends, one for close friends and one for the family. "

Once, Sepehr complained about a professor at the university because the language students had been only hours to translate Koran verses. He wrote a complaint letter to the dean.

Shortly after Sepehr got a call from the Secret Service. They want to meet with him to clarify a few things, it said. Through friends at the university he learned that the agency knew of his homosexuality. In March, the Persian New Year holidays, Nazari was flying on a Schengen visa to the Netherlands. There he wanted to visit some friends he knew from student exchange. The return ticket was already booked for Iran. But then he came to Berlin, met old friends from the German course. They convinced him not to return to Iran. Only then did he realize that his return could actually be dangerous for him.

He applied for in June 2011. Priority is given to applicants who have been tortured or leave their homeland for political reasons. Homosexuals are not considered hardship cases and thus can not count on a quick settlement of the asylum application. Not even when they face the death penalty in their homeland.

"War zone" in Chemnitz

The first stop of Sepehr was Chemnitz. "This was a war zone," he says about the time he spent in a halfway house in the Saxon town. He describes the home as crowded and cramped. There were burglaries, suicides, and once even a stabbing. The police were called, but did not do anything. Social workers were never seen.

He was then transferred to Schneeberg, in the Erzgebirge. The home was a former military barracks. "This brought the determining authority under the easy-care foreigners who did not want trouble," said Sepehr. The mood was good. The residents helped each other, celebrated and danced in the night, despite the adverse circumstances.

Three times a day were given to asylum seekers bread with cheese, lunch or a soup. Bread was rationed. When the residents asked for more, it was said that there were only two slices for each. In protest, the Afghans went on a hunger strike and rioted in the kitchen. "On so many nights I went to bed hungry," said Sepehr. "There were way too pregnant women there, it was threatening for them."

Then he went to Neustadt in the 'Saxonian Switzerland'. There, the asylum seekers were living in containers. Some of the residents had been there for years. "A totally deserted village," said Sepehr. Only old people on the streets. He was constantly stared at, followed by the supermarket's security personnel. The idea that he might have been in this place for months tormented him. The first three days he did not leave his room. In Iran, he had studied, translated books, was employed. Here he felt under-challenged, intellectually stunted. The boredom slowly wore him down.

Here they can perhaps be better controlled, they can do nothing here. And here they might think again if they really want to stay in Germany. Sepehr also talks about walks in nature, moments of joy in a bleak environment.

In August, one of the living containers was set on fire. The asylum residents were moved into a gym and then transported to other transitional homes.

The closest accommodation assigned to him by the immigration office was in Pirna. Three hundred people crowded there for hours. "It was pure chaos," said Sepehr. Each individual was called into an office and got a new place allotted. Those who had bad luck, had to go back to Neustadt. Sepehr was called in with a Russian. The Russian was desperate, had been drinking brandy and threw, in his rage, the office computer out the window. The police came and Sepehr tried to explain the disillusionment and hopelessness of his friend.

Sometimes Sepehr asks himself whether the police officers and officials in the immigration offices and staff in the homes can ever imagine how an asylum seeker feels. How sad and lonely you can be here in this rich and beautiful country.

At last he was lucky. He was sent to a suburb of Dresden, where the asylum seekers were housed in a residential block. The other residents met their new neighbors with suspicion. No one greeted Sepehr back when he said hello. One day a note from the local authority was left in the doorway. Because he understands German, Sepehr could read the message: the residents should please have no fear as the asylum seekers are under the observation of the authorities.

Whenever allowed to leave his home Sepehr went to Berlin. Florian lives there. The two met on the Internet, fell in love and became a couple. Florian has helped deal with the bureaucratic pitfalls in the procedure. Are you wondering whether they should marry. A marriage might make things easier. After three years of marriage could Sepehr even get German citizenship. "But that's just one small reason. The most important thing is our love and that we both can be in one place", says Sepehr.

Deportation in the Netherlands

But now Sepehr is to be deported to the Netherlands. Since he came to Germany with a Dutch visa, formally the neighboring country is responsible for his case [under the 'Dublin regulation' asylum seekers must be sent back to the EU country they first entered].

Sepehr has become accustomed to the uncertainty. "I've lost my self-confidence. Here I am officially a nobody," he says sadly. Whenever he meets new people in Berlin and the question arises "and ... what are you doing in Germany?" he feels bad. "I know not what to say then," said Sepehr. He has studied, speaks English and the German language well enough to communicate in all areas of everyday life. Actually, exactly the image of a migrant the Federal Republic wants: Educated, young, curious.

But that is not true in asylum cases. Only the threat to the person is crucial. It's about what fate threatens the applicant, if he is deported. And if one from another EU country is entering Germany, then he must be deported under the law there. This is not xenophobia, but European asylum law. But that does not make it easier for people like Sepehr, only here because they have to fear for their lives in the homeland.

When his grandmother calls and asks if he's fine, he told her nothing of the asylum homes, of the difficulties. He only told of the green landscape in Germany, the clear air, the TV in the room. His grandmother always then begins to cry. Because she misses him so.

Sepehr says that others are much worse off than him. Of all those he has met over time in the homes, the Afghans have the worst fate, he says. They are suffered many years of war trauma. Most of them have grueling escape route behind them after being smuggled overland to Europe. Of the two hundred euros, which an asylum seeker gets from the German government the majority of the Afghans save, which then goes to the family members back home in Afghanistan.

Sepehr sometimes supported the Afghan refugees with translation and making sure that the children can attend school. He finally found himself being used and found useful - a feeling that he had almost forgotten.

Evil against LGBT: Ostensibly in the name of god + the law

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:53:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Gay Kenya

By Danny

Shocking, but true, is to learn that out of 76 countries that currently criminalize homosexuality, 45 are former British anti gay colonies whose modern elites in charge of current governments are largely Christian.

The legacy of Christianity and British rule and morality in many parts of the modern world need careful and urgent scrutiny in the light of millions of suffering human lives as a result of the consequences of that legacy.

The legacy is weighing heavily on the shoulders of the LGB who, among other evils, risk suffering the death penalty or life imprisonment for being gay and are excluded from national HIV strategies in many countries because (according to the Law), they remain an illegal group.

In recent times, we have witnessed the worst homophobia and anti-gay hate incidences in countries like Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria. Coalitions have been formed (like; Coalition for the Restoration of Moral Values; headed by Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, former Ugandan Ethics minister) and registered with government departments to have a legal mandate for their work.

Legislations have been drafted with clear and legalized objectives to systemically commit evil against innocent citizens (members of the LGBT community). These activities are spearheaded and supported by religious leaders and protected by the law.

More than half of the countries, who deny basic information and health services to gender and sexual minorities within their national boundaries, do so because of religious and largely Christian beliefs that strongly influence public policies.

Public health and human rights advocates have spoken for over a decade about the risks of creating these significant holes in the fabric of comprehensive national health policies, but leaders in homophobic counties have chosen to keep their ears shut to this calling. This has left a gap in global interventions for universal access to health care, which is regrettable.

One wonders what leaders of today (both religious and political) want to be remembered for, 50 years from now. Do they want to be remembered for gross violations of global and fundamental human rights and a failed public policy on HIV/AIDS? Or do they want to be remembered for being a diverse global community that disagreed about a lot of things, but drew a sacred line at protecting human life and promoting families of birth and families of choice?

The hate and discrimination meted out on the LGBT cannot (in any form) be Christian and Christians around the world should not be deceived and lured into this evil. It remains evil and in sharp contrast with the core teaching of Christianity. An outstanding characteristic of the first century Christian community was that Christians shared food and hospitality with one another outside of rigid family and social systems.

They were families of choice. People were cared for and protected in those communities. There is no community on earth that is living this orthodox practice in our modern world, more deeply than gay and lesbian persons in multiple and diverse cultures.

The fact that the LGBT are united globally for common causes; to care for and empower each other; to change the future for the better; is an indication of the scale of the invisible and unappreciated contribution “families of choice” make to our global family.

Radical stances like Bahati’s Bill in Uganda (for some Christians, the first fruits of their new world order blossoming in the Pearl of Africa - Uganda), undermines both human life and mutual unity. If supported, such stances would require that family members report on each other, if they are gay or even suspected of being so. Sadly, the ‘Bahatis’ in the homophobic world have the backing of some Christian movements and religious fundamentalists from the global North.

Ironically, the global North is taking the lead in respecting and protecting LGBT rights and one might assume that the religious fundamentalists living there, are making similar efforts to influence their governments to change their laws accordingly, but that is not the case. This raises a very big question about the prudence of these Christian movements and their leaders. If they think and strongly believe that GLBT rights are not good for humanity, why don’t they seek to have strict ant-gay laws in their own countries?

Some Christian churches in Africa are convinced that God is calling them to be the new missionaries to other parts of the world and to their seedling congregations that have left the Church and allowed GLBT rights to prevail in this Godless world (the global North).

But their partners living in this world referred to as “Godless” consider the mission unnecessary and have done everything possible to avoid being seen participating in a mission of that nature. In reality, they don’t want to participate because their common sense tells them that the mission is evil.

They don’t want to be seen committing evil against their own people. It is a mission that would require them to report their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, neighbors or co-workers who are gay or lesbian to the police, knowing that their people will go to prison for 7-20 years or even face a death sentence.

This is what homophobic Christians in countries like Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria are supporting and the clergy in these countries can praise Jesus and urge everyone to love and be good to their neighbor. What a lie!

Globalization has brought us closer to each other and there is no going back. Our silence in the perpetuation of hate and discrimination against a section of humanity has profound implications. We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and be indifferent about this evil committed against the LGBT community (ostensibly) in the name of restoring Christian values and keeping the law.

God invites us to give life, not to destroy it and if we don’t support evil, we must share our concerns and take a position about the dignity, rights and responsibilities that we owe one another as global citizens for the good of the entire humanity.

Danny is a refuge living in Kenya, having fled his country of origin where he was persecuted by his government. He was accused of being gay, promoting homosexuality in the country and collaborating with International LGBT organizations to sabotage government programs and hatching plans with those organizations to destabilize government.

'Homosexual panic' grips Tunisian politics

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Image by Magharebia via Flickr

Source: Gay Middle East

By Dan Littauer

Tunisia’s new interior minister, Ali Larayedh, has been embroiled in controversy and scandal as a leaked video allegedly shows him in a gay prison sex video. This scandal has outraged and inflamed public opinion regarding homosexuality which was already jittery due to the electoral political tactics that used sexuality in order to discredit various opponents.

18 January, a 45 minute long black and white video, dating from 1991, showing two men having sex, was posted on YouTube. The occasional close-up on one of the men’s faces resembles Ali Larayedh, the current interior minister and a member of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda who won last years’ October elections after the first Arab spring rebellion which deposed dictator Ben Ali. The poor quality of the video makes it difficult to determine the video’s authenticity, or whether Larayedh is actually in the video. The video on the site was quickly removed, although it is still available on file-sharing sites.

In 1990 Ali Larayedh was arrested by Ben Ali's police for his activity as a member of the then illegal Ennahda party and was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a show trial. He alleges that he has been tortured while serving his jail sentence, while in 1992 his wife was sexually assaulted during an investigation at the Ministry of the Interior.

The alleged video of Ali Larayedh from his time in prison was posted shortly after an announcement by the Tunisian government that three arrest warrants had been issued for senior officials at the Ministry of the Interior. Tarek, Tunisian Editor for Gay Middle East notes that “the security forces of Tunisia have largely remained intact since the time of Ben-Ali and thus many of its personnel are potentially hostile to the Ennahda party.” In other words, the video may have been leaked by someone in the Ministry of the Interior, or perhaps former a high-ranking police officer, wishing to undermine Ali Larayedh by further inciting public opinion using a tactic dubbed “porno politics” by Tunisian activist Ahmed Manaï. According Manaï’s book, book, “Tunisian Torture: The Secret Garden of General Ben Ali”, tactics to discredit political opponents through exposing sexual scandals, and in particular homosexual ones were used by the deposed Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, during the early 1990s.

The background to this scandal is important to note. Two days before this incident (16.1.12) Naji Behiri, the brother of the Tunisian Minister of Justice, Noureddine Behiri, was released from prison under presidential amnesty, despite allegation from his hometown that he raped a young boy. Tarek attests: “A wave of public anger erupted across the nation accusing Ennahda party of being at league with homosexuals and paedophiles, terms that were used interchangeably. Highly homophobic comments were posted on related news articles and throughout the social networking sites, mostly asking that Naji Behiri remains in prison and tried and punished for sodomy. Conspiracy theories of homosexual corruption and cover up within the Ennahda party have become commonplace.”

These two scandals have ignited a kind of “homosexual panic” according to Tarek. Many people have been voicing their opinions that the Interior Minister should resign as his behaviour contradicts Islamic values while others even called for him to be indicted for violating Article 230 of the Tunisian penal code that punishes homosexual acts between consenting adults with up to three years imprisonment. Public discourse has been saturated with conspiracy theories that the ruling party is rife with homosexuals, protecting gays/paedophiles or failing to protect Tunisia from a homosexual epidemic. Mocking satires such Ennahda is a “fag” party, “they are all shaz (fags in arabic) in Ennahda”, are “quite commonly heard in the streets of Tunisia” stated Tarek, “often conflating the terms ‘paedophilia’, ‘homosexuality’, ‘sodomy’ and ‘Islamists’ intentionally.” The picture to the left, spread via Facebook, depicts two veiled women are portrayed kissing, while on the right it reads: “Legal fags/Haraam fags” with the logo of the Ennahda party below.

In an attempt to stop such allegations, Samir Dilou, a spokesperson for the Tunisian government, claimed the video was an attempt at a set-up and that the private life of politicians should not be used as a political weapon. All the Tunisian political parties condemned what they called an unjustified attempt to discredit the minister. Tunisian media has not published even one frame shot from the video.

However the current wave of “homosexual panic” and homophobia can be traced to the pre-election campaigning. Firstly to discredit the preceding dictatorship, the party claimed that the deposed Ben Ali and preceding dictator Habib Bourguiba encouraged homosexuality, prostitution and vice which would be swept clean should Ennahda be elected.

During this period nationwide marches entitled أعتقني aatakni (“Leave me alone”) were held in support of the secular parties and against the islamsits. Supporters of Ennahda used the fact that in some of these marches the PEACE rainbow flag (often used in Italian rallies) were waved, alleging and ridiculing that aatakni are in fact gay pride marches. For example in the following poster the viewer is asked to “spot the pictures of Tunisian aatakni from a variety of ‘aatakni’ marches worldwide”, which Israeli gay prides (pictures 2,7), gay pride marches (4,5,8) and Tunisia (1,3,6), where in picture 6 the logo of the secular and tolerant Modern Democratic Pole” (MDP) is almost equated with the star of David. Thus creating and associative link of aatakni=fags=zionists, i.e. bad and morally corrupt/suspect, which was spread via social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter.

Opposing political parties were signalled out using this “homosexual panic” tactic. For example in this Photoshop edited picture the banner of the Socialist Party has been altered to read "sodomy is the basis of the republic", most likely sodomy replaced the word “freedom.” Tarek testifies “many banners reading ‘give us freedom, we want freedom’ were reworked replacing ‘freedom’ with ‘sodomy’ on blogs and facebook pages of supporters of the Ennahda party.”

Supporters of Ennahda did not stop there and vilified leaders or public figures they saw as opposing to their political ideas via scandalous allegations as to their sexuality or support of “social vices”. Most notably this was the case with Dr. Olfa Youssef a famous female intellectual, writer, psychoanalyst and director of the National Library of Tunisia. She is a public figure that appears on TV shows and writes many articles regarding freedom, women’s rights and human rights in general. She was consistently called a lover and supporter of prostitutes and fags. The Facebook page where the picture above was posted is entitled “Against Olfa Youssef who says liwat (sodomy) is not haraam”.

It thus appears that the current “homosexual panic” has its roots in the campaigns started by supporters of the Ennahda party against competing parties. The islamists used far more public and forceful tactics than the old style Ben-Ali “porno politics” that formed the probable basis of the Ali Larayedh scandal. This was done by linking unpopular subjects which were previously taboo, like homosexuality and prostitution, to spread fear, rumours and ridicule of opponents. Such discourses were in turn used by the opposition during the two recent scandals of Naji Behiri and Ali Larayedh, which found an already receptive public which has been continuously imbued with bigotry throughout the electoral campaign. Tarek explains: “what shocked me most is the readiness and enthusiasm that opposition supporters that champion Human Rights and democracy have readily adopted such homophobic discourses previously used by the islamists against the islamists Ennahda party. I did not expect them to use this as a weapon, it created a kind of public consensus and consciousness of homosexuality as something evil and sick”.

Tarek despairingly notes that “the main victims of this ‘homosexual panic’, are unfortunately, the Tunisian LGBT community. In public discourse homosexuality has now become synonymous with paedophilia and hypocrisy, entrenching further negative stereotypes. Under Ben-Ali dictatorship we were invisible, with the occasional scandal and harassment, but this increased negative and smear campaigning has inflamed public opinion and brought immense fear to gays and lesbians living in Tunisia.” The one ray of hope is that all the political parties have now committed themselves not to use any such tactics further. “This I hope will be a lesson for Ennahda, since they let loose this tactic only to find it rebounded on themselves. I really hope this realisation is going to last.”

Video: In US, another gay bi-national couple faces deportation

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Via Towleroad

22 years after they first met, Mark and Frédéric, now with four children, faced a hearing at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Philadelphia to be interviewed in connection with the marriage-based immigration petition they filed last summer.

If the petition is not accepted, the family will be forced to leave the country. They will not separate. All because the federal government does not recognize same-sex married couples under DOMA and outdated immigration laws.

Stop the Deportations has a lengthy, detailed story on the couple's struggle.

And CNN has just done a story on Mark and Frédéric and their family.

New research on mental health of LGBT refugees

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The Research Institute Without Walls, an NGO that does collaborative research on the impact of human rights violations on LGBT mental health, invites you to join the Collaborative Working Group for LGBT Asylum and Refugees.

Physician for Human Rights, Immigration Equality, and Psychologists for Social Responsibility are our first member groups.

The purpose of the Collaborative Working Group is to share information and coordinate research on the psychological effects of persecution and torture because of sexual orientation and gender identity in asylum seekers. This population faces special mental health challenges when navigating the challenges of rebuilding their lives.

We invite groups and individuals to join us in the formation and development of a working group that will allow us to collaborate on documenting the experiences of our clients. Gathering empirical data will allow us to more effectively help LGBT asylum seekers and refugees.

Our first project is a collaboration with Mike Corradini, asylum advocacy associate and attorney at Physicians for Human Rights. We are conducting the first empirical study on the impact of immigration detention on the mental health of LGBT refugees.

We are seeking LGBT persons who have been in detention who are willing to be interviewed about their experiences.

Please let us know if you would be interested in joining the Collaborative Working Group and/or might be able to refer to us LGBT persons who’ve been in immigration detention, who may be willing to be interviewed. Participation is confidential and interviews can be conducted by telephone. For more information you can contact Ariel Shidlo, PhD at ariel.shidlo@riww.org

Israel refuses citizenship for Israeli man's husband

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Maayan Zafrir, an Israeli citizen, and his husband Felipe Javier Episcopo

Source: Dos manzanas via Google translate

Israel has refused to grant citizenship to a Uruguayan citizen married since 2008 with an Israeli. The couple, who have two young children, may be forced to appeal to the country's Supreme Court, which in 2006 accepted the request of five gay couples married to Israeli nationals abroad who asked to see their marriage recognized and forced the administration to register their marriages. What happened once again highlighted the complexity and paradoxical nature of the rules in matrimonial matters in Israel.

Felipe Javier Episcopo and Maayan Zafrir met online in 1999 and have lived together in Israel since 2001, where they are legally recognized as a couple, according to Israeli law. Episcopo legally immigrated to Israel where he was initially granted a visa and work permit in 2005 and obtained a temporary residence permit. In 2008 the couple married in Canada. Initially, there were no problems, the authorities accepted the marriage and updated the status of both. However, when Episcopo applied for citizenship (continued temporary residence permit), the Ministry of Interior refused to fully recognize the marriage, citing as the reason the existence of a regulation that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman and rejected the request.

The couple is thus confronted with the paradox that the state recognizes marriage only in part. Zafrir denounced the attitude of the Ministry of Interior, stating that what most concerns him are his children (two years old twins) because, as things stand, if he died Felipe could no longer care for them. The couple spoke to New Family, an advocacy group fighting for LGBT rights. The group's founder, Irit Rosenblum, has denounced what he considers "a clear case of discrimination." "It is difficult to understand why the state has to act as discriminatory and humiliating, since the couple are already recognized," he said, noting that they are willing to go to the Supreme Court.

Last September we reported here in dosmanzanas the Israeli Interior Ministry decision to grant Israeli citizenship to Bayardo Alvarez, the non-Jewish spouse of a gay marriage. It was a historic decision, the first time that the 'law of return' was applied to a gay marriage. However, a ministry spokesman stressed that the decision would not necessarily be similar in other cases.

The law on marriage in Israel

What happened once again highlighted the need for reform of marriage laws in Israel. This is a situation that does not, of course, apply only to same-sex couples. In December, for example, the Ministry of Interior refused entry to the country to the Nigerian husband of an Israeli woman, calling him 'just a sperm donor'.

In Israel there is only religious marriage, and most of the population used to join the rabbinate as Jewish orthodoxy (religious marriages may also be held Christians or Muslims). If a heterosexual couple wants to marry Israeli in a non-religious ceremony they must do so abroad, and then apply for registration in Israel. Many, in fact, of those who choose to cross the border to celebrate a secular marriage do it in Cyprus. According to polls, two thirds of the Israeli population supports the adoption of a civil marriage law. However, last year the Knesset (Israeli parliament) again rejected a proposal to that effect.

Torture killing of another trans person in Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

By Paul Canning

Mexican media reported 17 January on the brutal killing of an apparently transsexual person in Apodaca, near Monterrey in Northern Mexico.

The body of a man wearing women's clothes was found by police after local residents heard gun shots and explosions.

According to the police report, the body was found lying face down and was about 25 years old. It showed signs of torture, of being shot as he was beaten, his hands were semi-amputated and there was a written message that said "For Rat" ("Por Rata").

The body has reportedly not yet been identified but had a major identifying mark, a tattoo with the name "Pamela".

The Trans Murder Monitoring project recorded 23 reports of murders of trans people in Mexico in 2011. Last August, in Mexico City, the first national march against anti-gay hate crime took place. That claimed that 700 LGBT people had been murdered in 2011.

Last year it was reported that LGBT Mexicans fleeing for US sanctuary are increasingly finding their asylum requests turned down.

Video: Brave LGBT Russians protest in Red Square

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:34:00 +0000

Video source by VladimirIVANOV1945

Image gayrussia.eu

By Paul Canning

A small group of LGBT Russians have taken their protest against laws intended to silence their movement to every region - and last night they produced images of their protesting arrest in front of the Kremlin.

Their protest, signaled on social media to happen in another Moscow location, in fact occurred in front of the most famous location in all of Russia. Within seconds they were swarmed by police.

A small group of activists within the past fortnight have protested a law passed in the northern city of Arkhangelsk which effectively bans all gay organising. Supposedly to 'protect children', the law actually bans all LGBT public events and protests and the rhetoric surrounding it is explicitly against the emerging LGBT movement in Russia.

The dolls - Piggy, Stepashka, Fili and Karkushi - at the Red Square protest were from popular children's TV shows and the banners said "Good night, kids!"

Two Russian regions have already adopted the same law and the supposedly 'liberal' city of St Petersberg has voted in favour but has yet to pass the law. It is reportedly under discussion in Moscow and Novosibirsk and some have suggested it may become a federal law.

Honduras is test of new American policy on gay rights

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Protester holds up image of murdered gay leader Walter Trochez

Source: Tri-City Herald

By Tim Johnson

From U.N. chambers to the halls of the State Department, global pressure on countries to protect the rights of homosexuals and transgender people is rising.

For Josue Hernandez, the new emphasis can't come fast enough.

The 33-year-old gay activist bears the scar of the bullet that grazed his skull in an attack a few years ago. He's moved the office of his advocacy group four times. Still, he feels hunted in what is arguably the most homophobic nation in the Americas.

"We are in a deplorable state," Hernandez said of homosexuals in Honduras. "When we walk the streets, people shout insults at us and throw rocks. Parents move their children away."

Three months ago, a U.N. report declared that discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people — or LGBT — violates core international human rights law. It listed nations where violations are most severe.

Joining a push that originated in Europe, the Obama administration said in December that respect for LGBT rights is now a factor in its foreign policy decisions.

"Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in what diplomats described as a landmark speech Dec. 6 in Geneva. "It is a violation of human rights when governments declare it illegal to be gay, or allow those who harm gay people to go unpunished."

But even as that view grows more prevalent, it has yet to translate into better security, less hostility or fewer killings in places like Honduras, a nation of 8 million people in Central America.

Since the beginning of 2010, Honduras has tallied at least 62 homicides within the LGBT community, and some experts say the count may be far higher. Some victims have been mutilated and even burned.

The killing of homosexuals is part of broader lawlessness. Honduras registered more than 6,700 homicides last year and has the highest per capita murder rate in the hemisphere.

One recent victim was Carlos Porfirio Juarez, a 25-year-old deaf mute who was taking hormones as part of a switch in gender to become "Karlita."

On Dec. 4, Juarez vanished while seeking sex clients at the Obelisco Park near the army general staff headquarters in Comayaguela, a city adjacent to the capital, Tegucigalpa.

"She didn't have a purse, a cellular phone or anything of value," said Jose Zambrano of the Association for a Better Quality of Life for those Infected with HIV/AIDS in Honduras.

"Only her life," added Zambrano's sister, Sandra, a leader of the group.

The killer stabbed Juarez in the chest multiple times.

Experts point to conservative religious sentiment, machismo, rampant impunity, and social pressure on police to "cleanse" undesirables for the violence against people who defy sexual and gender norms.

"The connotation of being gay, lesbian or trans here is that we are worthless. We have no rights. We should be killed," said Ramon Antonio Valladares, leader of the nonprofit Sanpedrana Gay Community. "We've had people who were tortured, who were crushed and spattered against the wall."

Few businesses catering to the gay community find a way to keep doors open in this manufacturing metropolis. It has only two known gay bars.

"The police always come around with 'orders.' They allege some regulation or other, trying to shut the door. They say things like, 'There are minors here,'" said Valladares.

For gays, the battle can be both public and private. Some relatives shun them when they reveal their sexual orientation, forcing them onto the streets. Many, struggling to survive, turn to prostitution to earn a living.

Several dozen nonprofit groups that offer services, such as HIV testing, say they've been thwarted in efforts to register as corporations, a step that would grant them the legal status to open a bank account, appoint a board of directors or function as organizations.

"We've tried to incorporate twice and we've been rejected both times," said Josue Hernandez, a leader of the Center for Education in Health, Sexuality and AIDS Prevention, a group with some 500 volunteers that has been operating since 1996.

Despite public antipathy, dozens of gay activists gather in front of the federal prosecutor's office in Tegucigalpa on the 13th of every month, the anniversary of the 2009 slaying of Walter Trochez, a prominent activist killed in a drive-by shooting.

Hostility toward homosexuals spilled into the newspapers in October.

When promoters announced a benefit concert by pop singer Ricky Martin, who is openly gay, evangelical and Catholic leaders demanded that he be detained at the border to "protect the moral and ethical principles of our society." President Porfirio Lobo ordered immigration to let him in, saying that anything else would be "a highly reprehensible act of intolerance." Still, youngsters under 15 were banned from the concert because of alleged "erotic content."

Under Clinton's directive, U.S. embassies around the world have been instructed to champion LGBT protection and to take an active role in hotspots like Honduras, Uganda, Malawi, Pakistan and Serbia by channeling funds to advocacy groups and ensuring local officials know that assistance is linked to the issue.

Under pressure from Washington, Honduran authorities ordered police to set up a unit to investigate crimes against homosexuals and others. The unit began work in November. That unit and a partner squad of a prosecutor, three detectives and two analysts have been given U.S. funds to function. Even so, there have been fewer than five arrests in LGBT slayings.

U.S. Ambassador Lisa Kubiske said she believes the policy emphasis to protect rights associated with sexual orientation will have an impact, and not just in Honduras.

Advocates for legal protection of sexual diversity say they see favorable global trends. Groups supporting homosexuals are emerging openly, they say. Spikes of violence against activists may actually signal headway.

"The general arc of acceptance and tolerance is headed in a positive direction," said Mark Bromley, chairman of the Council for Global Equality, a Washington-based advocacy group.

In some parts of the world, violence against homosexuals rises and falls in tune with political cycles. Leaders use the issue to divert attention from other pressures, including economic hardship and demands for greater participation.

"President (Robert) Mugabe created the textbook in Zimbabwe for scapegoating the LGBT community for distracting attention from corrupt elections and difficult economic times," Bromley said, referring to a campaign in that southern African nation over the past decade.

Laws criminalizing homosexuality have led the U.S. and British governments to threaten economic assistance to Malawi, Ghana and Uganda in Africa.

"It does translate into dollars and cents," Bromley said, referring to the economic assistance, but "conditionality really is not the main tool in the tool kit."

He said a greater emphasis on providing training and funding to gay rights groups operating in difficult environments, such as Russia, has the potential for lasting impact, while U.S. diplomats bring up homosexual rights as part of broader human rights discussions.

Bromley said persistent discussions on the matter "can be slow and, at times, tedious, but over the long term they do have impact."

Report: Who are the refugees 'lost' at Europe's borders?

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Source: W2eu.info

LOST AT BORDER reports on the reality of loss and death at the Greek borders. As a close friend of ours said once:

“If you are a refugee and you die nobody asks any questions. But for living somewhere, everybody is questioning you!” We want to break the silence and ask: What happened with all these people whose traces got lost?

Accidents and death at border belong unfortunately to the daily experiences of refugees trying to reach a safe haven. The European Border Control Agency FRONTEX in co-operation with national authorities are heightening and thickening the fences and walls around us, controlling and patrolling the borders and externalizing them to European neighbour states such as Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia a.o.

They have created treaties of co-operation in deportations and huge refugee detention camps at the gates of Europe. Trying to cross a number of borders, among them the ones of Fortress Europe is a huge risk of death! The numbers are shocking: more than 2,000 people died in the Mediterranean Sea only in 2011. Each single person left behind a big gap in the life of relatives and friends.

LOST AT BORDER gives the voice mainly to refugees searching and mourning for their beloved. The report was made by a group of antiracist activists from different countries who have been already involved in the search of migrants who got lost at the border between Greece and Turkey.

It can be quite difficult to find information on what has happened when somebody is missing at the border. Apart from the report we want to help and fill this information gap by a new Blog. We want to connect the relatives and friends of border victims to each other and we want to let you know and feel that you are not alone on this journey! We will never forget. We promise to overcome the murderous border regime and to continue our struggle for a welcoming Europe.

Lost at Border

Asylum seekers tunnel to freedom in Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Video by NewsOnABC

Image via Wikipedia

By Matt Brown

About 30 asylum seekers have escaped from an Indonesian detention centre by digging a tunnel under the wall.

The men escaped through the two-metre tunnel in Surabaya city after using spoons, nails and sticks to dig their way from a toilet, under the main gate to freedom.

As some dug, others had played the traditional South Asian board game of carrom to distract the guards.

All of them, including one who survived the shipwreck which killed about 200 people last month, are believed to be from the Hazara ethnic group.

Immigration officers learned of the Sunday night breakout when an elderly escapee was spotted on the road outside the detention centre in East Java.

So far just 12 have been recaptured.

"The migrants dug the tunnel from the restroom in the church, which is positioned close to the main gate," the head of the East Java provincial ministry, Mashudi, told AFP.

"They managed to dig a space wide and long enough to eventually find their way out."

The escapees said they were frustrated because they had been waiting more than a year for the UN refugee agency to assess their claims.

Some have travelled to Jakarta to press their case while others are believed to be trying to arrange a boat trip to Australia.

The immigration department chief in the province, Arifin Somadilaga, has ordered a crackdown on asylum seekers in the wake of the escape.

He has directed his staff to report all future breaches of discipline to the police who will be urged to treat the asylum seekers as criminals.

He says guards at the centre did not notice the detainees digging a hole under the wall because they are understaffed.

The escape comes after some of the detention centre's detainees told the ABC of beatings from guards.

One of the men who was beaten, Ali Mohammed, said he had earlier escaped the detention centre but was recaptured.

Report: Trans woman killed by Cuban police

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:18:00 +0000

Image by flippinyank via Flickr

By Paul Canning

Florida-based news website Cubanet is reporting that a young transgender woman has been beaten to death in police custody in Cuba.

Eighteen-year-old Leidel Luis, who was known as Jessica, originally from the province of Santiago de Cuba and who lived with her partner named Yariel in Las Tunas, died after receiving a brutal beating in Guáimaro in Camaguey, southern Cuba.

It is alledged that she was picked up at a traffic stop 4 January by police calling her "faggot, nigger and disgusting."

The report is sourced to a prison inmate, Rolando Castro Sanchez who names those he alleges beat Luis to death as police officers Galindo Yarian Larena, Juan Ramon Lorenzo, their commanding officer Heriberto, and the sector chief Boris Luis Caballero. It is alleged that her body was removed after she was found dead in her cell in the middle of the night to an unknown location.

Cuba's Communist Party Congress, which opens 28 January, will reportedly adopt pro-gay provisions. Mariela Castro Espín, the daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro and the leading advocate for LGBT rights in Cuba, wrote on her blog this week that the revision of the Family Code in 2013 will include recognition of same-sex couples.

However, continuing police harassment in Cuba, including arrests, has been reported on a number gay Cuban blogs, such as that of the Reinaldo Arenas Memorial Foundation. Gay Cuban blogger Francisco Rodríguez Cruz has also condemned 'irregularities' committed by Cuban police, who, he says, have repeatedly fined visitors to a gay meeting spot in central Havana. In September a death in custody of a transgender man was reported in Havana.

Dissident Roberto de Jesús Guerra, who was released from prison after two years in 2007, said last year that raids by police on LGBT meeting at several sites in the Cuban capital have been stepped up.

According to Imbert Leannes Acosta, director of El Observatorio Cubano de los Derechos de la Comunidad LGBT (OBCUD LGBT, Cuban Observatory of the Rights of the LGBT), repression of LGBT in Cuba is increasing, not only in Havana but "we have documented Matanzas [North Cuba] and Guantanamo [East Cuba] cases." He said that his group would protest repression to the United Nations.

The independent organisation has not been allowed to officially register. Under the slogan "Homosexuality is a matter of rights, not of opinions", OBCUD LGBT ran the "National Campaign for LGBT rights" in June 2011 which included a march 28 June.

A US State Department document released by Wikileaks last September suggests that non-state supported LGBT initiatives in Cuba are receiving American funding.

Finnish court stops removal of gay Iranian

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Source: YLE

The Supreme Administrative Court sent back a Finnish Immigration Service decision to deport an Iranian asylum seeker who would face persecution in Iran for being gay.

The court sent the case back to the Immigration Service for further reconsideration, stating that case must be examined more closely.

The court said the Immigration Service must carefully examine whether Iranians have a legitimate reason to fear persecution in their homeland because of their sexual orientation.

Last week, YLE reported that Finland has deported asylum seekers to countries where they can be sentenced to severe penalties for their homosexuality.

Homosexuality is a crime punished with imprisonment and even execution in Iran.

Video: Persecution of gay people in Sri Lanka

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:07:00 +0000

Video by LGBTsrilanka

"Saman" is a graduate student in Sri Lanka who was doing research on 'safer sex' for his thesis. He told me that while he was working in the southern city of Galle, the local police detained and tortured him assuming he was gay.

While in detention he witnessed how the Sri Lankan police discriminated against other allegedly gay men who were locked up in jail. Fearing retribution, Saman did not want to show his face or use his real name in recording this experience.

Under the Sri Lankan penal code Section 365 A, homosexual acts are prohibited and "violators" face a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. While few cases have ever been prosecuted, the threat of public shame and blackmail looms large for Sri Lanka's gay community and this "dead letter" has become a greater threat in light of pervasive police corruption.

This is only one example of the codified homophobia in Sri Lanka and its oppressive side-effects. Similar incidents are still happening to LGBT individuals in Sri Lanka on a regular basis.

These incidents include, but are not limited to blackmail, violent threats, employment discrimination, and rejection by friends, family, the police, and society at large. Cases of physical assault, harassment, and detention are not uncommon.

Regardless, these incidents are more or less ignored by the Sri Lankan media; even when they are reported, their connection to homophobia is rarely articulated. Of course, many LGBT individuals are happy to keep these incidents quiet, fearing that they would be subject to further attacks if they were outed. Both gay and straight Sri Lankans hold a negative view of homosexuality.

Swiss violated asylum law in ignoring thousands of Iraqi applicants

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The Swiss Federal Office for Migration violated asylum and constitutional law by ignoring 7,000 - 10,000 asylum applications lodged by Iraqis at Swiss embassies in Syria and Egypt between 2006 and 2008, an external inquiry into the matter by former federal Judge Michel Féraud has found. The government has taken note of the report.

Féraud said that around 3,000 outstanding applications were still legally valid and should be processed by the end of 2013. However, the Government has maintained that no disciplinary action will be taken due to the lapse of time and that officials have not abused their authority in failing to process the claims.

The Swiss Senate adopted a proposal for the abolishing of the asylum procedure from abroad in December 2011. Both former federal Judge Féraud and the Swiss Refugee Council consider that this procedure should be kept.

Via: ECRE

Ugandan ambassador: 'Kill gays' bill dead, 'no persecution'

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Kamunanwire

Source: Washington Blade

By Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Uganda’s ambassador to the United States blasted the head of the United Negro College Fund for sending him an “incendiary” letter last week asking him to discuss an anti-homosexuality bill introduced in the Uganda Parliament in his scheduled speech at a Martin Luther King Day event sponsored by the Fund.

Ambassador Perezi K. Kamunanwire responded to that letter by withdrawing as keynote speaker at the King Day event, held Monday morning in Greenbelt, Md. In his own letter, he said United Negro College Fund president and CEO, Michael L. Lomax, “blindsided and startled” him with Lomax’s Jan. 12 letter raising the issue of the anti-homosexuality bill.

In addition, Kamunanwire claims in the letter that the Ugandan Parliament is not planning to reconsider a bill that would impose the death penalty for homosexual acts.

The ambassador, a former college professor who has taught at U.S. universities, said in his letter that he had been invited to speak on education-related issues at the King Day event.

Lomax said in his letter to Kamunanwire that he raised the issue of reports of anti-gay persecution in Uganda after receiving an inquiry from the Washington Blade and others asking why his organization invited a Ugandan official to speak at a King Day commemoration.

“Following a brief telephone conversation with Dr. Lomax in which I expressed concern that changing the topic would distract from our shared commitment to honor Dr. King’s legacy and advance the discussion of education equality, it was clear from his discourteous and insulting tone that I was no longer welcome,” Kamunanwire said in a Jan. 15 letter to William F. Stasior, chairman of the board of directors of the United Negro College Fund.

Kamunanwire sent a copy of his letter to Stasior to the Blade along with an email message expressing concern about the Blade’s story reporting he had withdrawn abruptly as a speaker for the King Day event. The Blade story cited a press release from the United Negro College Fund announcing Kamunanwire’s withdrawal as speaker.

“My staff at the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda, and members of the Ugandan American community, brought your article to my attention,” he said in his email to the Blade. “In an effort to clarify my decision to withdraw as keynote speaker from the UNCF’s 29th Anniversary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast fundraiser, I am sharing a letter which was sent to the chair of the UNCF board,” he said.

“This will be my only statement on the matter, as I withdrew my name so as not to distract from the importance of the King holiday and education equality,” he said. “It is my hope that the Washington Blade will report this matter fairly.”

Lomax and a spokesperson for the United Negro College Fund didn’t immediately respond to calls from the Blade seeking their response to Kamunanwire’s criticism of Lomax.

In his Jan. 12 letter to Kamunanwire, Lomax said:

“We are dismayed at present polices in Uganda (and in many other African nations) criminalizing sexual orientation, and we view with alarm the draconian penalties, including the death penalty, that the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill would impose if passed.”

Kamunanwire replied in his letter to UNCF board chair Stasior that Lomax’s assumptions that Uganda’s existing laws and policies result in anti-gay persecution were false.

“It is important to note that Uganda does not have such policies,” he said, adding that the bill in question was introduced by a single member of the Uganda Parliament and was never officially debated or passed.

“[A]nd contrary to popular belief, it is not being reconsidered,” Kamunanwire said in his letter. “This has been explained to the U.S. government, Department of State, and several other concerned parties to their satisfaction,” he said.

The New York Times and international human rights activists reported in October that the Uganda Parliament voted to reopen a debate on the anti-homosexuality bill, which was first introduced in 2009. Some of the activists cited a report by Uganda’s Daily Mail newspaper as saying that Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga confirmed that the bill had been sent to several committees for consideration last October and could be brought to a vote.

A spokesperson for the State Department couldn’t be reached for comment early Monday to verify Kamunanwire’s assertion that U.S. officials were satisfied that the anti-homosexuality bill was not being taken up again. President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton expressed concern last year over reports of anti-gay persecution in Uganda following the murder of a prominent Ugandan gay rights activist in the activist’s home.

“As is the case with several members of the British Commonwealth, the outdated anti-sodomy laws in the Ugandan penal code were inherited from our British colonizers,” Kamunanwire said in his letter, in referring to existing law in Uganda.

“Quite similarly, there are dormant anti-sodomy laws on the books in fourteen U.S. states, including Virginia where the UNCF makes its home,” he said.

Kamunanwire was referring to a decision by legislatures in some states to leave their sodomy laws on the books following the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence vs. Texas, which overturned state sodomy laws that criminalized sodomy between consenting adults in private. Legal experts have said the state sodomy laws remaining on the books cannot be enforced under the Supreme Court ruling.

Refugee hunger strike in Ukraine

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Source: No Deportations

In Ukraine, 61 Somalians have been on hunger strike since 6 January in the Lutsk detention centre with another 15 reportedly on hunger strike in another detention centre at Chernigiv. 13 of the hunger strikers are women (seven of whom are under the age of 18). 17 of the men are also under 18

"Either they recognise us as refugees - or they say 'no' and then tell the whole world what they are doing here" said one of the hunger strikers, Sultan Haibe, speaking from the detention centre. He continues "We are not murderers. We left Somalia just to save our life."

The hunger strikers say that one 17 year old, Abdul Karim Siyad is very ill and in a separate room. He had not been examined by a doctor until recently, but Sultan Haibe said on Sunday 15January that a doctor has now finally seen him.

The hunger strikers say they are detained in an asylum system which is profoundly unjust. They say that Somalians are always refused asylum in Ukraine, but Sultan Haibe points out that if they try to cross into the EU they are bounced back into Ukraine and detained. Only about 12 of the hunger strikers had attempted this.

The hunger strikers say that they are subject to police harassment and corruption and can be detained by the authorities for periods of 12 months if they don't have a temporary permit to stay legally in Ukraine. They say that an asylum seeker can be re-detained within a short period after release and then faces another 12 months in detention. Some of the hunger strikers have been in Ukraine for 5 or 6 years before they were detained. Some have been detained more then once.

Their demands to the Ukrainian Government are:

1) Somalian asylum seekers are granted asylum status in Ukraine.

2) They are released from detention.

3) Asylum seekers are to be provided with documents so they cannot be arrested.

4) There is an end to the police harassment of asylum seekers.

5) No asylum seeker is to face re-arrest after a period of detention.

Ukraine's asylum procedure is in chaos. The arbitrary detention of the hunger strikers is just one more way in which the rule of law is ignored in Ukraine.

Recent asylum laws created a new Government department to examine asylum applications, but failed to give it authority to act, while the old department was dismantled. As a result, asylum seekers cannot make asylum applications so they cannot get temporary residence permits and so become illegal.

Asylum seekers who were already in the system often cannot obtain an extension of their temporary permits and are therefore subject to arrest as they become illegal. No decisions on refugee status are being made and asylum appeals are postponed as the new Government department is not recognised by judges.

Even those who have been granted refugee status in the past are often not receiving their residence permits – re-issued each year - and so become illegal.

The Government has increased the penalty for being without temporary residence documents from 6 to 12 months detention. Asylum seekers in Ukraine cannot work and do not receive financial support while they await the decision on their application.

The hunger strikers ask everyone to publicise and raise support for their demands as widely and as quickly as possible. If you are in the EU, please raise this with your parliamentary representative or Member of the European Parliament as Ukraine is sensitive to EU pressure.

Video: Without any window of His own: Being gay in Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Video by MrTanvirAlim

Image by erjkprunczyk via Flickr

Sometimes an image or a word says more than an action. Sometimes things cannot be expressed as bluntly because of fear and stigma.

Growing up, we were taught that society is where men and women get married, and that's how a relationship works. But at least 10% of the total population of a country belongs to the non-normative gender and sexuality.

There is a British colonial law, penal code 377, which prohibits sexual relations between people of the same sex, claiming they are "against the order of nature". The law has been repealed in the UK. While it is not enforced, it still exists in Bangladesh, and it is difficult to speak out in favour of human rights because of it.

The gay community in Bangladesh is generally underground and being out in public is uncommon. There is a culture of collective denial of the existence of the gay in Bangladesh - a fact attributable to social conservatism. Stigmatization and taboo have made the gay community, in particular, a vulnerable community. Unable to cope with social conditioning, they try to redefine a way of coherence.

This video project speaks on behalf of the significant 10% of Bangladeshi population who are almost invisible to the wider society. The individual interviews tells the story of individual longing, belief, a countless of emotions and a silent resilience.

With this work, our intention was to begin a debate around this subject. We want to ask questions as to why gay community is so stigmatized, and why there is this culture of collective denial. We felt it is important to show the humane aspects of the gay community. At the same time, we want to show how the gay community challenge the compulsory hetero-normative ideals upon which our conservative society is based.

Concept: Tanvir Alim
Direction: Tanvir Alim and Arifur Rahman

Camera:
Rubel Hasan

Editing:
Mohammad Romel
Arifur Rahman

Music:
Ehsanul Haque

Creative team members:
Ayesha Sultana
Arifur Rahman
Tanvir Alim

Photography:
Ayesha Sultana
Tanvir Alim

Research, Text and Subtitle
Shakhawat Imam Rajeeb
Tanvir Alim

Made in cooperation with
Boys of Bangladesh (BoB)
Goethe-Institut Bangladesh

Special thanks to
Ehsanul Haque
Taariq Rahman
Roni Haque
Shakhawat Imam Rajeeb
M Hasan Ashraf

For farther information on this production, please feel free to write us
thecrowbd@gmail.com
arifseafly@yahoo.com

Report: Inadequate legal representation for migrants in New York

noreply@blogger.com (paulocanning) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Source: New York Times

By Kirk Semple

They are often poorly prepared or make incoherent arguments in court. Some fail to present key evidence or witnesses. Others simply do not show up.

The performance of many lawyers who represent immigrants facing deportation in New York has long been considered mediocre. But in a new report that seeks to measure the extent of the problem, immigration judges themselves step forward and offer a scathing assessment of much of the lawyering they have witnessed in their courtrooms.

Immigrants received “inadequate” legal assistance in 33 percent of the cases between mid-2010 and mid-2011 and “grossly inadequate” assistance in 14 percent of the cases, the judges said. They gave private lawyers the lowest grades, while generally awarding higher marks to pro bono counsel and those from nonprofit organizations and law school clinics.

The study was conducted by a group of lawyers and researchers under the auspices of Robert A. Katzmann, a federal appellate judge in New York City. A year ago, they began sifting through government data and surveying immigration judges in an attempt to measure the quality and availability of legal representation for immigrants facing deportation.

Their report will be published this week in the Cardozo Law Review, a publication of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in Manhattan.

“We began this effort with an intuitive sense of the scale of the problem,” the report says. “The numbers sadly bear out that intuition in the starkest form.”

Judge Katzmann blames predatory lawyers who are not familiar with immigration law for much of the poor representation. The immigrants who hire them often do not speak English and are unfamiliar with the court system, making them particularly vulnerable.

“They are easy prey for ambulance-chasing-style lawyers who do not adhere to the highest standards of responsibility,” said the judge, who for several years has been pushing for better legal representation of immigrants in New York.

For the judges’ survey, researchers polled judges in five immigration courts — three in New York City and two in the northern suburbs — about the representatives who appeared before them. All but 2 of the 33 sitting judges at the time participated in the investigation.

While much legal representation in New York immigration courts is shoddy, the report found that many immigrants do not have representation at all. (Unlike in criminal courts, respondents in immigration courts are not entitled to court-appointed lawyers.)

Immigrants in 27 percent of cases between October 2005 and July 2010 appeared in court without a legal representative, according to the report. For detained immigrants, 67 percent appeared alone before a judge.

The report found that immigrants’ fate can depend largely on whether they can find legal representation: About 67 percent of all immigrants with counsel during that five-year period had successful outcomes in their cases, while only 8 percent of those without lawyers prevailed.

Where detainees were held also appeared to make a considerable difference in their cases. Nearly two-thirds of those detained in New York are sent to detention centers out of state, often as far away as Louisiana and Texas. Yet only 21 percent of detainees transferred out of New York between October 2005 and July 2010 received representation, the report said.

Even a short transfer to New Jersey can have a considerable impact, the researchers found. Among immigrants transferred to Newark, only 22 percent had representation.

Judge Katzmann’s study group said this was a significant finding because immigration authorities were expanding detention capacity in Newark to hold detainees from around the region.

“It’s hard to get New York lawyers to go to New Jersey and do those cases,” said Peter L. Markowitz, a clinical associate professor at the Cardozo law school and chairman of the research team that produced the report. “To take a day to go do a case out in Newark is just disruptive to their practice and not worth it to them.”

The Obama administration has acknowledged the problem of inadequate representation. In 2009, immigration officials announced plans to overhaul the detention system, including providing more detention capacity in and around cities with large immigrant populations, like New York, so detainees are closer to their families and lawyers.

While immigration officials recently closed a detention center in Lower Manhattan, they are planning to double detention capacity in Newark. The study group’s report, however, did not address the potential impact of these proposed changes.

The report also did not consider the potential impact of a new Obama administration plan to review all pending deportation cases in the immigration courts and to train enforcement agents and government lawyers in the use of new prosecutorial guidelines. The plan is intended to unclog the immigration system and to focus the government’s deportation efforts on convicted criminals.

“I’m somewhat skeptical still of that process,” Mr. Markowitz said. “Skeptical but hopeful.”

He added:

“Meaningful prosecutorial discretion on the front end is something that could have a real impact.”

Judge Katzmann’s group is currently in the midst of another project: to develop a system that would guarantee competent legal representation for all immigrants facing deportation. The group hopes its project will provide a model for the rest of the country.

“Having the data means that we can think sensibly about how to address this dire crisis,” the judge said.
New York Immigrant Representation Study (NYIRS)

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