Kenya: LGBTI refugees trek for protection; funds needed
Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran. He is the…
Seeking relief from the harsh conditions and homophobic hostility that LGBTI refugees endure at the Kakuma Camp in Kenya, a group of refugees trekked on foot several miles to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to ask for protection. Meanwhile, the U.S-based African Human Rights Coalition is raising money to help them.
The Trump administration’s suspension of the U.S. refugee admissions program has aggravated the situation for refugees in Kenya, as elsewhere.
South African-American activist Melanie Nathan, executive director of the AHRC, stated:
“We need help.
“We are in great need of funding to continue to support our general advocacy for 100 LGBTI refugees in Kakuma Camp, Kenya, as well as our list of refugees in Kakuma and Nairobi who have been assigned the USA for resettlement — now caught between a rock and a hard place. These LGBTI refugees went through a long arduous vetting process to be assigned the USA for resettlement. Now what? We are working with each refugee, on a case by case basis, to determine their future.
“THANK YOU for your kind support: DONATE.“
The refugees’ specific concerns include:
- Torture and bullying by other, homophobic refugees.
- Economic distress.
- Social exclusion and discrimination from homophobic refugees.
- Inadequate food.
- Inadequate medical care.
- Lack of security.
- Poor accommodations.
- Delays in processing their requests for formal refugee status and resettlement.
Those issues are discussed in greater detail in the article, “Desperate LGBT refugees seek a way out, though it’s ‘suicidal’.”
Nathan said that Trump’s cutback on travel to the United States has been hard on refugees:
“The Trump administration announced new restrictions on visitors from eight countries — an expansion of the pre-existing travel ban that has spurred fierce legal debates over security, immigration and discrimination. Chad, North Korea and Venezuela were added to the expiring and now re-invoked list. The suspension of U.S. refugees continues.
“Just like the prior ban, this new ban is also discriminatory and hence unconstitutional, and adding two non-majority Muslim countries in no way mitigates the clear Trump motive — to keep Muslims out of the United States. …
“The new ban does nothing to protect the US against terrorism. The policy is simply based on lies, myth, with not a single fact to prop it up. It is just the latest in the Trump Administration’s shameful attack on immigrant communities of color.
“Here at African Human Rights Coalition we call on Americans, whether in political office or activists at grassroot levels, to look at the specific and unconscionable hardship this senseless policy has caused to all refugees, and especially already well vetted LGBTI refugees, now caught in a quagmire of legal gymnastics, which has held up their process to such an extent, that for some this could be a matter of life or death.”
Related articles:
- Desperate LGBT refugees seek a way out, though it’s ‘suicidal’ (September 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Ugandan trans woman flees to Kenya, finds ‘complete hell’
-
Prison for 17 protesting Ugandan refugees in Kenya (May 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Pictures of Police Using Force on LGBTI Refugees in Kenya outside UNHCR gates (May 2017, O-blog-dee blog)
- Kenya arrests LGBTI refugees, sends them into danger (May 2017, 76crimes.com)
- For gay refugee, Kenya is tough, but better than Uganda (May 2017, 76crimes.com)
- The lonely life of an LGBT Ugandan refugee in Kenya (May 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Trans man Prince fled Uganda to save his life (March 2017, 76crimes.com)
- I escaped death in Uganda. Now I’m a sex worker in Kenya (March 2017, 76crimes.com)
- With Trump stymied, LGBTQ refugees reach the U.S. (February 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Final flights to U.S.? Needy LGBTI refugees seek safety (February 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Kenya: I’m homeless because of Trump’s refugee order (February 2017, 76crimes.com)
- LGBTI Refugees Hurt by Trump Ban (February 2017, O-blog-dee)
- Scarred in Uganda, LGBT refugee is about to reach safety in U.S. (January 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Out of Kampala’s frying pan, into Nairobi’s fire (September 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Ugandan Refugees and Asylum Seekers Start Self Help Project to Make Ends Meet (September 2015, Kuchu Times)