They Have Built Their Hope On IRQR And...

They Have Built Their Hope On IRQR And...

January 2012

Dear friends,

On behalf of Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees, I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very happy and prosperous new year. As part of our new year’s resolution we are committed to continuing our primary mission to aid and assist Iranian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered refugees in countries all over the world. Our focus is securing those who are at risk of deportation back to Iran to the best of our abilities. IRQR helps those refugees with their asylum processes and provides financial aid for rent, health, food and other basic needs when and wherever possible. Although most cases are considered to be urgent, we are however, limited to helping a certain amount of refugees/asylum seekers through your generous donations.

In order to provide financial assistance to our refugees in Turkey we have created an online Financial Aid Application form available on our website in English and Persian (here) to evaluate their eligibility to receive allowances. Approximately about 16% of our refugees for a short period of time received monthly financial aid and about 5% of them received a one time payment from the UNHCR. Nevertheless, we have provided support to about 13% of our refugees for both one time and monthly based financial aid for the amount of 100 CAD.

We strive to give priority to those who have been rejected by the UNHCR for financial aid. However, the average minimum living expense in Turkey for one person who shares a room with two other individuals is about 230 CAD a month that is much more than what they can receive from either IRQR or the UNHCR. Therefore, it is vital to continue to receive your thoughtful contributions to help all refugees receive adequate living conditions.

There is no doubt that during the past several years your generous contributions made IRQR the premium organization that works on behalf of the global population of Iranian queers. In addition, IRQR has launched several projects including Neda Magazine, the Network of Iranian Queer HIV/AIDS (NIQHA), and etc. we are currently working on PFLAG Iran, that is the network of parents, families and friends of Iranian queers who would like to support their loved ones at home and within the family.

We have recently published our first financial report that includes 2010 and 2011 fiscal year which is available on our website for your viewing (here). We are delighted to announce that with your generous contributions you helped us increase our total revenue by 58% from 2010 to 2011. As a result, we were able to help more people and provide financial aids to some of our refugees who are in need of financial assistance to pay for food, shelter, health services and other basic needs.

An example of how your donations have helped many individuals is Mahtab, an Iranian transwoman, who was rejected by the UNHCR once. She was at risk of deportation when we called our supporters to make donations in order to bring Mahtab to Canada. We were able to collect more than 4000 CAD in a week where I traveled to Turkey to meet with UNHCR officers and discuss her situation with officials. The good news was that Mahtab and her husband were granted asylum and they were refereed to Canadian embassy for resettlement by the UNHCR office in Ankara. We started to provide monthly allowances for Mahtab and her husband since they were living under difficult circumstances and we are pleased that they will be able to come to Toronto, Canada in two weeks.

Mahtab is just one of our positive outcome examples who is now receiving financial aid since our resources is very limited and majority of our refugees/asylum seekers are in need. Unfortunately, we must reject some of the online application requests we receive due to insufficient funds to provide financial aid to all refugees. We hope that one day we will be able to support all our refugees/asylum seekers financially as well.

In last few years we were quite successful in helping our members of the Iranian queer community who were forced to seek asylum. Approximately, 67% of our cases were granted refugee status and resettled in Canada, USA and some European countries. The rest of them are still uncertain of their future and waiting to be accepted. We have at least five new cases every month. Sadly, we still have some cases with special circumstances where we need to focus more time and effort to ensure their safety and well-being.

We approach you today in the hopes of receiving your support once again and helping our members who are living in dire conditions in transit countries by making a donation as part of your New Year resolution as well.

Abdi a 26-year-old Iranian gay escaped Iran to Indonesia and applied for a refugee status at the UNHCR office in Jakarta after being at risk of arrest in Iran due to his sexual orientation. He was interviewed in August 2011 and still waiting for the commissioner’s decision. He is currently in a refugee camp with very poor conditions. On a telephone conversation with Abdi a few days ago he said, “I was sick and I asked the camp manager to take me to hospital or allow me to visit a doctor. No one paid any attention to me. Finally, I was visited by a doctor and I was diagnosed with Endoparasite was advised to take medications. However, they did not give me anything and I do not have money to buy my much needed medication to get well.”

Ali a 29 year-old Iranian gay who escaped Iran to China and applied for a refugee status at the UNHCR office in Beijing on the basis of his sexual orientation but unfortunately he was rejected because they did not believe that his life was in danger. He submitted his appeal letter just a few days ago to reconsider his situation since he has well known fear of persecution if he goes back to Iran.

Mahmood a 21-year-old Iranian gay who escaped Iran to Turkey in August 2010 when his sexual orientation was revealed in his small town and he was at risk of arrest. He was arrested by Turkish police at the border and was sent to prison due to his illegal entry. He was interviewed by the UNHCR representative while he was in prison but he was scared to mention his sexual orientation and instead of speaking about his relationship with his same sex partner and the many violent attacks due to his punishable feeling, he changed the sexuality of his partner into a female to protect himself. As a result, he was rejected by the UNHCR and is currently waiting for the commissioner’s decision on his appeal process.

Shima a 29-year-old Iranian lesbian left Iran to Norway in November 2006 and still remaining to hear from the Norwegian refugee board about her case. A short statement was made from the refugee board stating that Iranian lesbians can stay and live in Iran with no fear. Shima escaped from Norway to England since she did not want to be deported back to Iran but according to Dublin Agreement, she was returned to Norway after living several months in a detention centre in England and now she is waiting for her result in Norway again.

Jozef a 29-year-old Iranian bisexual like his Iranian queer refugee fellows in Cyprus have many difficulties since their claims were rejected by immigration services including their appeal and lobbying all members of the parliament and government have not been beneficial for them.

IRQR is tirelessly working on all its refugee/asylum cases and following the long and frustrating journey with them every step of the way. We are in contact with local organizations and international governments to support all of our members who are waiting for their refugee status and still are in a limbo situation.

Many people have built their hope because of our organization and the work we do and we build our hope on your support.

We have recently conducted two surveys following our 2010 survey, in order to improve our services. One of our surveys exclusively focuses on Iranian queer refugee/asylum seekers in transit countries such as Turkey. Although, I make an effort to visit our refugees and officials in Turkey and other asylum countries in order to provide emotional support while working on their case with officials. It is crucial for our organization to be informed about the conditions our members live in and ways for us to improve their condition to meet their basic needs. We have also conducted our second survey on our website to gather feedback and suggestions on our services and ways to improve them and will publish its report in a couple of weeks. If you have not participated in our survey and you wish to do so, please share your feedback by January 31st. (here)

We thank you in advance for your support and donation for Iranian queer human rights cause and help us fight against queerphobia and for equality.

You can make a donation by using one of these options:

Join MDP (Monthly Dnation Plan)

You can join this plan by using PayPal and support IRQR and its projects on a monthly basis that offers less than 1 CAD a day options by visiting http://www.irqr.net/mdp.htm

Writing a Cheque

If you are in North America and you would like to get involved in our cause you can write a cheque payable to the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees and mail it to:

20 Bay St. 12th Floor Office#42

Toronto, Ontario

M5J 2N8 Canada

Paypal - Credit Cards

If you would like to make a donation through secure PayPal website you can use donation@irqr.net email address that is being registered under business account of PayPal and was reviewed and authorized by the PayPal specialists.

Email Money

If you are in Canada and you would like to use Interac Email-Transfer method, you can email your donation to info@irqr.net through your financial institutions and send us the key in a separate email.

Bank Wire

If you are not comfortable using above mentioned options, you can wire your donation directly to the IRQR’s bank account by using these information:

Beneficiary name: Iranian Railroad for Queer refugees

Account Number: 5007374

Branch (Transit) Number: 12202

Institution Number: 004

Bank SWIFT Code: TDOMCATTTOR

Branch Address: TD Canada Trust, Village Centre, 65 Wellesley Street East. Toronto, Ontario, M4Y1G7

The IRQR’s volunteer board of directors ensures good governance and oversees the appropriate spending of our donor’s contributions.

Once again thank you so much for all your contributions and looking forward to have your ongoing support in the future as well.

Please do not hesitate to forward our request to your family and friends and recommend them to get involved in this important cause since queer rights are human rights.

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Arsham Parsi

Executive Director

Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees

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