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News > World

LGBTI Asylum Seekers Suffer Double Discrimination in Europe

  • The LGBTI community is suffering discrimination in Europe. Feb, 14, 2022.

    The LGBTI community is suffering discrimination in Europe. Feb, 14, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@ENGenDem

Published 15 February 2022
Opinion

According to a new report, the LGBTI community seeking asylum faces double discrimination across Europe.

Members of the LGBTI community which are looking for asylum in different countries of Europe are facing some difficulties, including double discrimination even in countries that rank high for positive LGBT legislative change, according to the annual review released by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).  

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According to the report, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK are some countries where LGBTI asylum seekers have been victims of discrimination.

Activists from Denmark have reported cases of trans asylum seekers unable to access trans-specific healthcare or being harassed. NGOs have alerted the underreporting of discrimination and violence in Spain where LGBTI asylum seekers are suffering and finding difficulties accessing social and healthcare services.

"The unsafe practice of conducting investigations of asylum seekers in their home countries and outing them" has been one of the remarks made in Germany. Criticisms have been made to some countries, including France, Malta, and Greece, for adding nations (considered by some as being unsafe for LGBTI people) to their list of "safe countries" to which asylum seekers could be sent back in case their applications were denied.

Turkey is one of the countries that Greece considers safe for the LGBTI community; ILGA-Europe claims the country is among the three worst countries in Europe for LGBTI rights and protection.

Under the right of acting as the supreme court for administrative justice, France's Council of State stated last March that LGBTQI+ asylum seekers coming from a country that criminalizes or persecutes LGBTQI+ people should not be granted refugee status automatically.

Malta and Sweden were pointed for their new policies that make it harder for asylum seekers to find work or settle permanently. At the same time, the Scandinavian country passed regulations that make temporary residence permits the default for refugees, making it more difficult for anyone to acquire permanent residence in the country.

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