New help for LGBT asylum-seekers in South Africa
Gateway Health Institute, a South African not-for-profit organization, is extending its services to LGBT immigrants seeking asylum in South Africa.
The NGO, through its new LGBT Asylum Assist program, provides support to asylum-seeking LGBT persons who have fled their home countries to resettle in South Africa.
The first step for gay and trans refugees reaching South Africa is a rigorous process to acquire a Section 22 permit acknowledging their legal refugee status. Unfortunately, this doesn’t qualify people as legitimate asylum seekers, but merely gives them the right to stay for three months. Their Section 22 status must be continually renewed after that.
Eventually, the refugees will be invited for “status determination hearings.” If they are then accepted as genuine, they will be legally recognized as refugees and can then apply for official identification papers and travel documents. After that, they will need to wait five years before they can be naturalized as South African citizens.
Navigating life in a new environment can be very challenging – worse still for LGBT persons who face hostility. According to Gateway, several recent LGBT refugees reportedly faced “humiliating treatment and discrimination by officials at the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) as well as demanding bribes of more than R3000 [about U.S. $227] to issue a Section 22 Permit.”
To solve that problem, the Gateway program helps people to obtain Section 22 permits and offers legal assistance to expedite status determination hearings.
The LGBT Asylum Assist program provides LGBT refugees with safe accommodation for at least 2 months or until employment is secured. It also provides food, funds for transportation, and support and resources to enable refugees to secure employment. It helps refugees with printing of their CVs, teaches interview skills and, if needed, helps provide them with suitable clothing or uniforms.
The organization told NoStringsNG.com that it has helped 12 current LGBT refugees from Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi and Zimbabwe who otherwise could not obtain Section 22 permits due to corruption.
Overall, 13 individuals have all benefited from the program since its launch in February.
The organization hopes to get more funding to enable it to continue to help more people.
To learn more about Gateway Health Institute, click here.
Related articles:
- Africa’s most and least homophobic countries (March 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Southern African Anglicans to LGBT people: Welcome (February 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Archive of this blog’s articles about refugees.
Gateway does not offer any kind of help to LGBTI refugees. I have been here and I have personally sought help and their programs manager finally picked my call after calling them over 50 times for help. They are homophobic and do not recognise the LGBTI as refugees or asylum seeker. The programs manager categorically told me that they don’t have services for LGBTI refugees.
As at the time when this article was written and published, the organization was actually assisting asylum seekers. But recently when I had a conversation with the director about helping a young gay man in Ghana, he said that they were no longer at the moment, assisting LGBT refugees because currently, there was no funding for the ‘Asylum Assist’ program. I am sorry you did not get the help you sought for, but please what makes you think that they are ‘homophobic’?
I first emailed them about three times and gave them my contacts they did not respond. When I started calling they kept on hanging up on me. They did not even bother to pick up and explain. Further they finally picked up my call. When I spoke to them the programs manager was not interested and he first said that they do not assist Lgbti refugees. I asked for his position he said it. When I requested for his name he refused. Totally. I am homeless and I was calling them for help. They did not even bother to give referral. Meanwhile on their website they claim they assist Lgbti refugees. So who is fooling who? I just think that you 76crimes.com need to verify your source of information because this is not the first time you have shared unconfirmed report to legitimise them.