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Der Begriff der „politischen Verfolgung“ ist eine deutsche Erfindung. Flüchtling ist, wer Verfolgung zu befürchten hat, gegen die kein Schutz besteht, und zwar wegen seiner Rasse, Religion, Nationalität, politischen Überzeugung oder Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten sozialen Gruppe. Diese menschenrechtlich geprägte Definition erfasst heute sowohl verfolgte Homosexuelle als auch manche Kriegs- und Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge.

Der Schutz vor geschlechtsspezifischer Gewalt in Flüchtlingsunterkünften weist erhebliche Defizite auf. Die Europaratskonvention gegen Gewalt gegen Frauen sieht detaillierte Verpflichtungen des Staates zum Schutz vor Gewalt vor. Diese beziehen sich auch auf geflüchtete Frauen, die aufgrund der strukturellen und rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen ihres Lebens in Unterkünften in ihrer Autonomie, ihrem Zugang zum Recht und damit in ihrer Wehrfähigkeit eingeschränkt sind. Das Papier gibt konkrete und detaillierte Empfehlungen für eine menschenrechtskonforme Weiterentwicklung des Gewaltschutzsystems für Asylsuchende und Geduldete in Flüchtlingsunterkünften.

For social workers striving for cultural competency and strength-based approaches with refugees resettled in the West, attention to the role of religion and faith as potential resources is particularly vital. With rising numbers of refugees fleeing from Islamic societies to Western host countries over the past two decades, social work research has articulated Islam as a source of strength and group solidarity, as well as the trigger for anti-Islam bias and discrimination. However, Muslims are not a monolithic group. This article reports on a qualitative study with fourteen Muslims seeking US asylum due to persecution based upon their gender role non-conforming behaviours. Findings suggest that, for persons in this category, relationships to religion and faith may be complex, and potentially traumatic. Creating opportunities for gender role non-conforming refugees from Islamic societies to discuss religion and spirituality, with appropriate psychological support and without judgements from co-ethnic others or service providers, is an important clinical intervention for social workers to consider.

Portugal’s migration history has been extensively explored in academic literature, including in legal scholarship. Yet, very little attention has so far been directed towards Portuguese refugee law. This may be due to the relatively low number of asylum seekers that Portugal receives, but that does not justify neglecting the study of the Portuguese socio-legal framework applicable to asylum seekers and refugees. This article addresses this gap by analyzing the framework in a European context, enhancing the analysis with a case study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers. The analysis explores the evolution of the current legal framework, the procedures and remedies available to asylum seekers, the substantive standards applied in decision making, and the broader socio-legal resources offered to asylum seekers. Several shortcomings and possible avenues of improvement are also identified.

Diese Broschüre gibt Ihnen einen Überblick über Themen, die für die professionelle oder private Begegnung mit dieser spezifischen Gruppe Asylsuchender relevant sind. Die Rede ist hier von Asylsuchenden, die ihr Herkunftsland aufgrund von Homo- oder Transphobie verlassen haben und in der Schweiz um Schutz ersuchen, indem sie ein Asylgesuch stellen. Wir nennen diese Menschen LGBTI-Asylsuchende, das sind die Anfangsbuchstaben von Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex. Diese Informationsbroschüre richtet sich an ein breites Publikum: an die Nachtwache in der Asylunterkunft, an die Seelsorger_innen im Ausschaffungsgefängnis, an die JuristInnen der Rechts-beratungsstelle, an den Dolmetscher im psychiatrischen Ambulatorium, an die Sozialarbeitenden im Spital, an die Therapeutinnen, den Hilfswerkvertreter, an die Lehrer der Integrationsklassen, an die Zahnärztin im Empfangszentrum, an die BefragerInnen und EntscheiderInnen des Bundesamtes und Bundesverwaltungsgerichts, andere Behörden und Private, an Zugewandte und Skeptische und an alle anderen interessierten Menschen.

This special issue of Sexualities emerges in response to the growing visibility of LGBTQI immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers within global gay rights advocacy. Despite the increasing prominence of LGBTQI issues on the international human rights agenda, there has been relatively little discussion of the relationship between queer migration and LGBTQI human rights activism in the field of sexuality studies. This special issue seeks to bring queer migration and sexual citizenship studies into critical conversation with current literature in the area of gender, sexuality and human rights.

This article examines how gender, sexuality, race and class intersect in queer asylum claims to influence the perceived credibility of gay and lesbian asylum applicants. Building on recent scholarship in queer migration studies that considers the role of gender and sexuality in the social construction of migrant illegality, this article explores how practices of credibility assessment in the political asylum process produce women and sexual minorities as deportable subjects. As I argue, the tactics utilized by gay male asylum applicants to resist deportation show how practices of credibility assessment in the political asylum process are linked to the state’s reproduction of sexual citizenship narratives, narratives that have a disproportionately negative impact upon queer female migrants of color. Accounting for the intersections among gender, sexuality, race and class in influencing the perceived credibility of gay and lesbian asylum applicants is thus crucial for conceptualizing alternative forms of queer anti-deportation activism.

This article explores the challenges of developing queer migrant justice strategies within nation-state contexts. With a focus on the Toronto-based ‘Let Alvaro Stay’ campaign (2011) and Julio Salgado’s collaborative ‘I Am Undocuqueer’ project, I critically examine queer anti-deportation activists’ reliance on methodological nationalisms and visibility politics in making claims hearable to the state. While such tactics risk reinforcing the nation-state as a primary site of identification, thereby contributing to its naturalization as an inevitable horizon of belonging, I argue that they also open space for imagining queer(er) no borders futures.

Stories matter for refugees. Refugees make sense of their past and present experiences, claim identities, interact with each other, and participate in cultural, political, and social conversations through the sharing of their stories. When we record oral histories, we not only capture important narratives about the lived–experiences and lived–histories of refugees, we also see how the narratives themselves “represent the constantly evolving ways in which migrants make their lives through stories.”