Tag Archives: Lesbian Asylum Seeker

Nigerian LGBT Activist’s Bid for Asylum Rejected Becasue Judge Doesn’t Believe She’s a Lesbian

Nigerian LGBTI activist, Aderonke Apata, bid for asylum was rejected by a British High Court, because the judge ruled her lesbian relationship was ‘fabricated’.

Apata says she now faces persecution, imprisonment and even death if she returns to Nigeria, where she had been an outspoken gay rights activist before moving to the UK in 2004.

Aderonke-Apata-02

Her applications for asylum have been repeatedly denied as the Home Office did not believe she was really a lesbian.

Also read: UK Home Office Claims Asylum Seeker Can’t Be A Lesbian Because She Is A Mother

Last year Apata, desperate to prove to the authorities that she is homosexual, submitted private photographs and a DVD of her sex life.

However, a Home Office barrister argued last month that Ms Apata cannot be a lesbian as she has children. He claimed that while she “indulged in same-sex activity” she was not “part of the social group known as lesbians”.

Deputy High Court Judge John Bowers QC this week said:

I find it difficult to disagree with the conclusions of the First Tier Tribunal that ‘she has engaged in same-sex relationships in detention in order to fabricate an asylum claim based on claimed lesbian sexuality. I also accept the associated submission made by [the Home Office] that she has in effect adjusted her conduct so as to adopt other customs, dress and mores of a particular social group purely as a way of gaining refugee status.”

He mentioned the “impressive” amount of support she had received, including a petition signed by several hundred thousand people, but said that did not count as evidence.

He disagreed that having children could be considered evidence against her, but did agree Ms Apata was not part of the “particular social group” of lesbians.

In court, Apata was supported by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. He said:

It’s bizarre that the judge does not accept that Aderonke is a member of a particular social group, namely lesbian women. I find it offensive to suggest that she’s adopted the ‘customs, dress and mores’ of lesbian women purely in order to gain refugee status, given the evidence that she’s presented in her claim. 

The worst aspect of the ruling is the judge doesn’t accept that she has a well founded fear of persecution if she returns to Nigeria. It’s clear that she’s been publicly identified in the UK and in Nigeria as a lesbian or bisexual woman. Such women face the twin threats of legal persecution and mob violence in Nigeria.”

In Nigeria homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, under laws passed in January 2014; the country has also seen a spike in violence against homosexual people.

Apata’s mental healt also formed part of the case. In 2005 she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and attempted suicide while she was in prison, waiting for deportation.

She has not made a public statement, but although she is frightened of the future Apata believes there may be a chance for her to stay.

Her long-term partner Happiness Agboro, to whom Apata is engaged, is also from Nigeria and has already been granted asylum because of her sexuality.

UK Home Office Claims Asylum Seeker Can’t Be A Lesbian Because She Is A Mother

Aderonke Apata is an LBGBT rights activist, who moved to the UK from Nigeria in 2004. However, her application for asylum on the grounds of her sexuality was rejected last year, despite providing proof of former girlfriends in both the UK and Nigeria.

Ms Apata claims she is at risk of being deported to Nigeria, which an increasingly conservative Nigeria, as of January 2014 it is illegal to be gay; the punishment is imprisonment, and on a less official scale, the fear of vigilante attacks is high.

However, Andrew Bird, the lawyer for the Home Secretary Theresa May, yesterday told a court that the UK would be happy to deport Ms. Apata because, well, she doesn’t seem gay to him. Saying that although Ms Apata had “indulged in same-sex activity” she was “not part of the social group known as lesbians” because she had children.

“You can’t be a heterosexual one day and a lesbian the next day. Just as you can’t change your race.”

Andrew Bird

Um, sorry… did this guy miss the memo that there are plenty of lesbians who don’t realise they’re gay until later on in life, especially those who live in countries where it just isn’t accepted to ‘come out’. And also bisexual women who can find people of either sex attractive?

Ms Apata’s barrister Abid Mahmood attacked the claims as “highly offensive… stereotypical views of the past.”

“Some members of the public may have those views but it doesn’t mean a government department should be putting these views forward in evidence. There is evidence of the genuineness of her case, that she will be picked out as a lesbian if she is returned.”

Abid Mahmood

Deputy High Court judge John Bowers QC has delayed a decision for three weeks, saying he would like time to go over all the arguments.

For what it’s worth, Ms. Apata is in a relationship with a woman called Happiness Agboro; they’re engaged and were holding hands at the court yesterday.

Aderonke-Apata-01

Speaking outside the court alongside her female partner, Ms Apata told the Independent:

“The Home Office has treated me badly from day one. Staying in Britain means staying safe, staying with my partner and continuing my campaigning.”

Aderonke Apata

In the UK, the government is allowed to grant people asylum on the basis of their sexuality, if it is one that could mean they’re persecuted or punished in their home country. However, the Home Office has a bad record with dealing with these sorts of cases. Until the EU banned the tests, LGBT asylum seekers have had to undergo quizzes to ‘prove’ their sexuality, like knowing stuff about 19th Century writer Oscar Wilde or answering ‘sexually intrusive’ questions about their sexuality like ‘what do you get from a homosexual relationship you can’t get from a heterosexual relationship’ and ‘Did you put your penis into X’s backside?’

 

Ugandan Lesbian Asylum Seeker is Finally Released

Margret Nazziwa, a lesbian activist and asylum seeker who was due to be deported to Uganda from the UK, was released yesterday.

Nazziwa, who fled Uganda in 2012 after experiencing persecution because of her sexual orientation, had been detained in Yarls Wood Detention Centre in Bedfordshire, and told she would be deported on last Sunday.

Today the Home Office told campaigners that her deportation would be ‘deferred’.

“I feel great and I am so happy. I am grateful and I would like to thank all the people who have been supporting me. I’m so happy that UKBA are releasing me, and that they have agreed to hear my case again.”

Margret Nazziwa

A Home Office spokesperson said it does not routinely discuss individual cases, but said:

“The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and we consider every claim for asylum on its individual merits. When someone is found not to need our protection, we expect them to leave the country voluntarily. Where they do not we will seek to enforce their departure.”

Home Office spokesperson

The Home Office has come under renewed criticism over its policy on processing LGBT asylum claims. Last week, the High Court ruled that fast track detention, a system used to process the vast majority of LGBT asylum cases, was ‘unlawful’.

A review of UK LGBT asylum policy by Sir John Vine, the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, will be published this month.

Protest in London for Ugandan Lesbian Asylum Seeker due to be Deported Sunday

A protest will take place outside the Home Office on Friday in support of Margret Nazziwa – a lesbian asylum seeker who is due to be deported to Uganda on Sunday.

Ms Nazziwais, an LGBT activist, is currently being held at the Yarls Wood Detention Centre in Bedfordshire. Her reason for being in the UK is due to being forced to flee Uganda in 2012 after experiencing persecution because of her sexual orientation. It’s claimed she was forced into a heterosexual marriage, was a victim of rape, and tortured by her community and the Ugandan authorities.

She is due to be deported to Uganda on Sunday 13 July at 8pm.

“Margret’s safety is paramount and she is highly needed in the gay rights movement. She has fought hard to defend the voiceless and now she needs us to defend her.”

The African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group

The Home Office has come under renewed criticism over its policy on processing LGBT asylum claims. This week, the High Court ruled that fast track detention, a system used to process the vast majority of LGBT asylum cases, was “unlawful”.

Decisions to deport are often made before a claimant’s legal appeal has been fully exhausted. Mr Justice Ouseley said the system carries an “unacceptably high risk of unfairness.”

The Home Office has again rejected claims of deporting LGBT asylum seekers. Conservative minister Baroness Susan Williams recently admitted that the UK Government did not know how many asylum claims from Uganda were made on the basis of sexual orientation.

A review of UK LGBT asylum policy by Sir John Vine, the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, will be published this month.