LGBTIQ+ persons / Diverse SOGIESC

Around the world, LGBTIQ+ persons experience discrimination, stigmatization, violence and abuse because their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and/or sex characteristics (SOGIESC) do not conform to prevailing sociocultural norms. Many of them may find themselves in situations of forced displacement where they continue to face challenges as they are frequently excluded from traditional support networks, their human rights are violated and they face barriers in accessing protection services and assistance. You will find in this section a repository of documents related to the protection of LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced and stateless persons, including legal, policy, and background information.

International Commission of Jurists

• Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10 - Additional Principles and State Obligation on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics to Complement the Yogyakarta Principles, 10 November 2017
• Yogyakarta Principles - Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, March 2007

UNHCR

• 2021 Global Roundtable on Protection and Solutions for LGBTIQ+ People in Forced Displacement - Summary Conclusions, June 2021
• Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, 23 October 2012
• Guidelines on International Protection No. 1: Gender-Related Persecution Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 7 May 2002
• Guidelines on International Protection No. 2: "Membership of a Particular Social Group" Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 7 May 2002
• UNHCR's Comments on the Practice of Phallometry in the Czech Republic to Determine the Credibility of Asylum Claims based on Persecution due to Sexual Orientation, April 2011

UNHCR Court Interventions and Observations

• Written Observations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the cases of A and Others (C-148/13, 149/13 and 150/13), 21 August 2013
• UNHCR intervention before the Court of Justice of the European Union in the cases of Minister voor Immigratie en Asiel v. X, Y and Z, 28 September 2012
• UNHCR intervention before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in the case of HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 19 April 2010

Other

• ECtHR, O.M. v. Hungary, App no 9912/15, 5 July 2016
• CJEU, A, B, C v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, 2 December 2014
• CJEU, X, Y, Z v Minister voor Immigratie en Asiel, 7 November 2013
• United Kingdom Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), SD (military service – sexual identity) Turkey CG v. Secretary for the Home Department, 5 December 2013
• Australia Federal Circuit Court , SZQRM v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, 11 July 2013
• United Kingdom: Court of Appeal (England and Wales), R (JB) Jamaica v. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, 12 June 2013
• Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal, RRT Case No. 1212651, 11 June 2013
• United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), OO (gay men: risk) Algeria v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 28 March 2013
• Italy: Court of Appeal (Corte d’Appello), Sentenza n. 640/2012, 5 March 2013
• Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal, RRT Case No. 1208496, 24 December 2012
• Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal, RRT Case No. 1207970, 3 September 2012
• Poland: Refugee Board, X. v. The Head of the Office for Foreigners, 25 July 2012
• Canada: Federal Court, Francis Ojo Ogunrinde v. Canada (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 15 June 2012
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Caso Atala Riffo y Niñas v. Chile, 24 February 2012
• United Kingdom Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), LZ (homosexuals) Zimbabwe v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 8 January 2012
• United Kingdom Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), SW (lesbians - HJ and HT applied) Jamaica v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 24 June 2011
• US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Todorovic v. US Attorney General, 27 September 2010
• United Kingdom Supreme Court, HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, 7 July 2010
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Geovanni Hernandez-Montiel v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 24 August 2000
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Alla Konstantinova Pitcherskaia v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 24 June 1997
• United States Board of Immigration Appeals, Matter of Toboso-Alfonso, 12 March 1990

UNHCR

• Protecting Persons with Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities: A Global Report on UNHCR's Efforts to Protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Asylum-Seekers and Refugees, December 2015 (also available in French)
• International Commission of Jurists: Expert Roundtable on asylum claims based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression Brussels, 27 June 2014 - X, Y and Z: The "A, B, C" of Claims based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity?, 27 June 2014
• "Judging gender: Asylum adjudication and issues of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation": Keynote statement by Dr Alice Edwards, Senior Legal Coordinator and Chief of the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section, 26 October 2012
• "Ensuring Protection to LGBTI Persons of Concern" : Keynote Address by Volker Turk, Director of International Protection, UNHCR Headquarters, 20 September 2012
• LGBTIQ+ Persons in Forced Displacement and Statelessness: Protection and Solutions – Discussion Paper, June 2021

Organization of American States (OAS)

• Homophobia, transphobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity - 2010 Update, 10 December 2010
• Human rights, sexual orientation, and gender identity, 4 June 2009
• Human rights, sexual orientation, and gender identity,  3 June 2008

International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (IGLA)

• Good Practices: Related to LGBTI Asylum Applicants in Europe, May 2014
• Laying the Ground for LGBTI Sensitive Asylum Decision-making in Europe: Transportation of the Recast Asylum Procedures Directive and the Recast Reception Conditions Directive, May 2014
• State-Sponsored Homophobia, A world survey of laws: Criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love, May 2013
• Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People in Europe - 2013, 17 May 2013

Other

• Current migration situation in the EU: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex asylum seekers, European Union: European Agency for Fundamental Rights, March 2017
• Ending violence and other human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and others, 2016
• Ending violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, United Nations, September 2015
• EU LGBT survey European Union lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survey - Main results, European Union: European Agency for Fundamental Rights, October 2014
• "I'm Scared to Be a Woman" - Human Rights Abuses Against Transgender People in Malaysia, Human Rights Watch, 25 September 2014
• Sexual orientation and gender identity and the protection of forced migrants, Forced Migration Review, April 2013
• Born Free and Equal: Sexual Orientation and Gender identity in International Human Rights Law, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, September 2012
• Trans and intersex people: Discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender identity and gender expression, European Union: European Commission, June 2011
• "Free And Equal In Dignity And Rights", United States Department of State, 6 December 2011
• Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity , UN Human Rights Council, 17 November 2011
• Fleeing Homophobia, Asylum Claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe, Jansen S. and Spijkerboer T, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, September 2011
• Joint Statement on Ending Acts of Violence Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, UN Human Rights Council, 22 March 2011
• Unequal in Exile: Gender Equality, Sexual Identity and Refugee Status, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2011

• UNHCR Multilingual Glossary on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics, UNHCR, 2024
• Need to Know Guidance: Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer Persons in Forced Displacement, UNHCR, 2021
• Asylum Policy instruction - Sexual orientation in asylum claims, United Kingdom: Home Office, 3 August 2016
• Resettlement Assessment Tool: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Refugees, UNHCR, April 2013
• Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Intersex Persons in Forced Displacement, UNHCR, 2011
• Guidance for Adjudicating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugee and Asylum Claims, United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, 27 December 2011

Refworld

• UNHCR Protection Manual, Section B: Refugee Protection, Sexual orientation and gender identity

Documents

• Violence: Through the Lens of Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Trans People in Asia, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), 6 June 2014
• Missing the Mark: Decision making on Lesbian, Gay (Bisexual, Trans and Intersex) Asylum Claims, UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group, September 2013
• Refugee Claims Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: an Annotated Bibliography, University of Ottawa, 1 June 2014

Websites

• Amnesty International
• Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights
• Free & Equal
• Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
• Human Rights Watch
• Immigration Equality
• Outright International
• International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans- and Inter-Sex Association (ILGA)
• ILGA World Database
• Micro Rainbow International
• Organization for Refuge Asylum and Migration (ORAM international)