Protecting the rights of LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees in the reform of the Common European Asylum System

With this briefing, ILGA Europe sets out how to ensure that the proposed EU directives and regulations will protect the rights of LGBTI asylum seekers, and respect their specific needs in terms of reception conditions, procedures and protection status.

ILGA-Europe’s key demands:

  • The new Qualification Regulation, the Reception Conditions Directive and the Procedure Regulation should enhance protection, reception and procedural standards offered to people persecuted on the ground of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
  • Outdated or inappropriate language excluding trans and intersex people or linking LGBTI people to criminal practices should be removed.
  • The definition of the asylum seeker’s family members should be improved to clearly include same-sex partners and their families.
  • People belonging to persecuted minorities, including LGBTI people, should not be subject to accelerated procedures, like lists of safe countries of origin, safe third countries, etc.

See also

Blog

The United Nations has identified LGBTI people as a group specifically affected by the war in Ukraine

Working alongside ILGA-Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Refugee has published recommendations for humanitarian actors working with LGBTI people affected by the war in Ukraine.
read more
Blog

A Marathon, not a sprint: how we’re responding to the invasion of Ukraine

In the past week, since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the global response has been massive, alongside a great number of organisations working with […]
read more
Blog

Alarming new research shows how LGBTI people are affected every day by inequality

Recent data shows that LGBTI young people perceive the labour market with fear and that most of LGBTI youth living with their families have experienced violence in different parts of Europe. These are among the alarming facts related to the impact of inequality and oppression in LGBTI communities, as identified through ILGA-Europe’s No One Left Behind initiative.
read more
Policy Paper

Policy Briefing on LGBTI Refugees and EU asylum legislation

LGBTI asylum seekers are often at risk of additional danger because of their SOGIESC during their journey and upon arrival in the country where they […]
read more
Blog

5 urgent things the EU must do to help to protect Afghan women, girls and minorities at risk

Since the Taliban have come back to power in Afghanistan, leading to a humanitarian crisis as thousands try to flee the country, ILGA-Europe and several European human rights organisations are alarmed and deeply worried about the security of people, especially women and minorities, including LGBTI people. Here are five responses the EU and its member states must engage in to protect Afghans at risk.
read more
News

Joint Statement: Current priorities for an EU response to the situation in Afghanistan

As European NGOs working on asylum and migration and Afghan Diaspora organisations in Europe, we are alarmed about the situation in Afghanistan and concerned above all about the security of the people of Afghanistan, both those within the country and those displaced and seeking protection in the region and beyond.
read more
Blog

The shocking truth about LGBTI asylum seekers living through COVID-19 in Europe

The COVID-19 pandemic and the political responses to it have hit already beleaguered LGBTI asylum seekers in Europe particularly hard. We report on the alarming impact.
read more
Press Release

Finland violated rights of a lesbian mothers’ child by rejecting his asylum application, UN finds

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child found that Finland failed to consider the best interests of the child of a lesbian couple when assessing his asylum request. Now the country is under an obligation to provide reparation.
read more
Case Law

V.D. v Russia

Asylum. Submitted jointly by ILGA-Europe, AIRE Centre, ICJ and UKLGIG.
read more
News

ILGA-Europe welcome a landmark judgment by the European Court of Human Rights concerning the deportation of a gay man to The Gambia

Yesterday, in the case of B. and C. v Switzerland, for the first time the European Court of Human Rights found that deportation of the applicant, a gay man, would give rise to a violation of Article 3 due to failure by the responding State to assess the risks of ill-treatment for a gay person in The Gambia, and the availability of State protection against ill-treatment emanating from non-State actors.
read more
Press Release

ILGA-Europe, TGEU and Transvanilla welcome landmark judgement from the European Court of Human Rights recognising the right of refugees to legal gender recognition

In the judgement Rana v. Hungary delivered today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held that Hungary had breached its obligation to protect the right to private life under Article 8 of the Convention by rejecting the application of an Iranian transgender refugee to have his name and sex marker changed officially.
read more
Case Law

B and C v Switzerland

Asylum/ arbitrary refoulement
read more
Case Law

S.A.C. v UK

Arbitrary refoulement
read more
News

Psychological tests should not be used to check credibility of LGBTI asylum seekers

in an important development from the Court of Justice of the European Union, psychological testing has been prohibited as an assessment method for . These […]
read more
Case Law

Rana v. Hungary

Change of name and gender of Iranian refugee
read more
Case Law

O.S. v Switzerland

Asylum/ arbitrary refoulement
read more
Case Law

M.T. v. France

Refusal to grant asylum/ Risk of persecution based on sexual orientation
read more
Case Law

E.S. v. Spain

Asylum
read more
Policy Paper

Seeking refuge without harassment, detention or return to a “safe country”

A significant number of people applying for asylum in EU Member States are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or intersex (LGBTI). Some of them flee persecution […]
read more
Case Law

M.B. v Spain

Asylum
read more
Case Law

O.M. v. Hungary

Arbitrary detention
read more
Case Law

A.T. v. Sweden

Asylum
read more
Case Law

M.E. v. Sweden

Asylum
read more
Report

Good practices related to LGBTI asylum applicants in Europe

The Fleeing Homophobia research, a study on policy and practice in 25 European countries, showed huge diversity in the handling of LGBTI asylum claims in […]
read more
Report

Laying the grounds for LGBTI sensitive asylum decision-making in Europe

Transposition of the Recast Asylum Procedure Directives and of the Recast Reception Conditions Directive Directives 2013/32/EU (the recast “Procedures Directive”) and 2013/33/EU (the recast “Reception […]
read more
Case Law

A.E. v. Finland

Asylum
read more
Report

Guidelines: transposition of the Asylum Qualification Directive

In 2011, the European Union adopted the recast Qualification Directive (2011/95/EU) setting out rules governing minimum standards on conditions under which international protection is granted […]
read more
Policy Paper

“En-gendering the European Asylum Support Office”

Recommendations for the integration of a gender perspective into the work of the European Asylum Support Office The current discriminatory and incoherent provision of protection […]
read more
Report

Guidelines Refugee Status Directive

The Directive adopted in 2004 by the European Union sets out the minimum rules governing the award conditions under which of refugee status is granted. […]
read more