- Conference
- 2007 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 23 October 2006
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that people seek asylum for many reasons but that women can face additional persecution on the grounds of their gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. This persecution often includes physical and sexual violence.
Conference further notes that the Refugee Convention of 1951 does not specify gender and sexual orientation as specific grounds for refugee status. Conference believes that the historical definitions have tended to reflect male political activists’ experiences and not those of women fleeing human rights abuses. However, women, including lesbian, bisexual and trans women have been able to makes claims through being classed as members of a ‘particular social group’.
Conference acknowledges the work carried out by the Refugee Women’s Legal Group in July 1998 which included guidelines for the determination of asylum claims in the United Kingdom. As a result of campaigning, the Home Office adopted a version of the guidance in 2004. In 2006, the Refugee Women’s Resource Project published research which highlighted examples of how gender-specific and gender-related persecution were dismissed as not being persecution.
Conference is concerned asylum claims from lesbians are regularly rejected on the grounds that the asylum seeker is not believed to have faced persecution or even to be a lesbian, because she may have children or have hidden her sexual orientation by having a relationship with a man in her home country.
Conference therefore calls on the National Women’s Committee to:
1)publicise details of lesbian, bisexual and trans women asylum campaigns;
2)distribute information on the work of the Refugee Women’s Resource Project;
3)publicise and support, where appropriate, anti-deportation campaigns for LGBT women and their families.