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For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death (July 20, 09)
by
Joseph Erbentraut
EDGE Great Lakes
Regional Editor
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc3=&id=93938&pg=1
NOTE:
This is the second of two parts, the first,
on the election revolt, was on EDGE in June.
The international media clamor surrounding last month’s
Iranian election, which saw the contentious re-election of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad result in weeks of protests, demonstrations and violence, may
have died down, but the unstable atmosphere lives on for residents of the
Islamic republic.
They continue to face major restrictions on free speech
and threats to their safety if they choose to speak out. And they will not
soon forget the street violence that resulted in the death, imprisonment
and harassment of many protesters, activists and journalists--all part of
the worst unrest the country has seen in thirty years.
This is particularly true for gay and lesbian Iranians,
both those who remain inside the country and those who have escaped. They
are familiar with oppressive treatment from their government, one which
continues to outlaw homosexuality and crack down against any outward
display of queerness. The first story (published
here June 30, 2009,) examined the environment facing the Iranian queer
community, particularly in light of the government’s attempts to silence
any post-election voices of dissent.
Building from that story, we now take a look at the
climate facing queer Iranians who have fled the country with the hopes of
seeking asylum in the West. Forced, in many cases, to leave behind their
families, friends and the culture of their blood, their dreams of living
in freedom still face a number of challenges.
When gay Iranian refugees and asylum seekers leave,
they are sent to live temporarily to a number of a different places,
though most end up in small Turkish towns known as "satellite cities," far
from the larger cities like Ankara or Istanbul. They file a request to be
granted official refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), in order to legally move West, and then they wait.
In many cases, that waiting period can last up to three years, a time
during which employment is difficult to find and harassment is not
unusual.
"[The refugees] get stuck in Turkey for this red tape
process for years - one, two or more and you can never figure out why some
peoples’ process moves faster than others. They live in limbo," shared Tim
Murphy, a journalist for Out Magazine who
has covered the region extensively. "The atmosphere is very
conservative; it’s a bizarre, unwelcoming twilight zone. You have no idea
when you’ll finally be able to settle and exhale."
A report released last month jointly by the Helsinki Citizens’
Assembly’s Turkey Refugee Advocacy and Support Program and the
Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) outlined some of the
challenges facing LGBT refugees in the country.
"[They] are subject to a particularly caustic mix of
marginalization in key areas of life, preventing them from obtaining
assistance or employment, and depriving them of even the most basic
security during their lengthy stay," read the report, based on interviews
with 46 mostly Iranian LGBT asylum seekers and refugees. "Most live out
their time in Turkey in destitution and desperation."
Refugee influx creates crisis
The report also noted that recent years have seen
higher numbers of LGBT asylum seekers in Turkey, in addition to a
generally higher influx of migrants leaving Africa or Asia for Europe or
North America. According to sources interviewed for this story, the
increased rate of asylum seekers is problematic for a number of reasons.
Hossein Alizadeh, communications coordinator for the
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, recently returned
from Turkey, where he was investigating the atmosphere facing queer asylum
seekers. He was troubled by what he saw, noting "disappointment and
frustration" among many of the people he spoke with.
According to Alizadeh, Turkey called only 3,000
refugees home as recently as 2003, before the Iraqi invasion. Today, that
number is nearly 20,000, an estimated 150 of whom identify as LGBT.
"There are still refugees coming from Iran, and we get
more and more coming in every time there is a political development in one
country," he shared. "As more come in, the chance of the refugees finding
a host country get slimmer and slimmer."
Another fear among LGBT rights activists working on the
issue is that an influx of more gay refugees could result in an increased
safety risk for the community. Already this year, ten transgender and gay
people have been murdered within the country’s borders, the result of both
the conservative environment and limited police protection.
"Turkey doesn’t
like refugees," said Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT
Rights Program. "They have to huddle, are subject to violence, are
harassed and are accused of being devil worshippers. In some ways, it
replicates their experience in Iran. The more of them there are, the more
susceptible they will be."
A bittersweet choice
Arsham Parsi left his home of Iran to live in Turkey in
2005, when he discovered the police were seeking him out for his early
efforts to organize and network with fellow Iranian gay activists. He
stayed there for just over a year before seeking asylum in Toronto,
Canada.
"The Iranian queer community who escapes to other
countries have no other choice but to go through this process," explained
Parsi, who is now executive director of the IRanian Queer Railroad (IRQR),
an organization which provides support to gay Iranian refugees. "I had
lots of problems [in Turkey], but I had no choice. It’s about death or
life, choosing between bad and worse."
Parsi echoed the sentiments of the report released by
the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly and ORAM that major changes needed to be
made to the UNHCR’s method of processing and abjudicating refugee status
for gay Iranian applicants. He is currently writing an open letter urging
the organization to speed up their process. He hopes that other Western
groups will sign on with their cause. A similar campaign launched by IRQR
earlier this year successfully expediated country assignment for a number
of gay refugees.
"We need international lobbying with UNHCR," Parsi
said, noting that he is contact with Iranian refugees in a number of other
nations also having difficulty. "Everyone knows they are dealing with lots
of refugees and they have limited resources and staff, but the important
issue is that Iranian queers are particularly vulnerable. They have to
process their cases urgently because they are still facing
discrimination."
The challenge to the international community
Fearing danger both in their abandoned homeland and in
their temporary locations, queer Iranian refugees are indeed left in a
quandary. They cannot return home, where it is estimated that thousands of
gays and lesbians have been killed since 1979 and daily violence and
intimidation continue, but their future remains shrouded in uncertainty.
Activists on the issue hope that LGBT and human rights
organizations worldwide come to the aid of queer Iranian refugees,
creating an international effort to prevent continued threats on personal
safety.
"Significant steps must be taken to make LGBT refugees
and asylum seekers safer in Turkey and in many other places throughout the
world," said Neil Grungras, ORAM executive director. "The violence and
abuses will diminish only when all responsible parties begin giving the
problem the intensive and serious attention it deserves."
"It’s an international challenge for the Iranian queer
community," Parsi said "Where can we live freely and have our rights
respected? Most [Western nations] will say that Iran is violating rights,
but they should also respect those who escape from Iranian torture."
Joseph
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