Abstract
This chapter suggests that while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has made great strides in delivering protection services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) asylum-seekers and refugees, room for improvement remains. An illustrative example is Morocco, where laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relationships are rigorously enforced and LGBTI individuals are vulnerable to widespread violence and discrimination. As such, LGBTI asylum-seekers and refugees in Morocco face heightened security risks on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. Many turn to the UNHCR for protection as well as specialized services to meet their housing, medical, and financial needs, and resettlement. Questioning how UNHCR-Rabat can provide LGBTI asylum-seekers and refugees with meaningful access to its protection services, this chapter begins with an overview of the legal and political context for asylum-seekers and refugees as well as common experiences of LGBTI individuals in Morocco. It then identifies and proposes suggestions for UNHCR to strengthen its policies of confidentiality and non-discrimination towards asylum-seekers and in delivering services to LGBTI persons of concern during registration, working with partner service organizations to identify LGBTI refugees and their specialized needs in terms of housing, healthcare, and financial services. Finally, this chapter reflects on advocacy efforts for increased resettlement of LGBTI refugees if safety for them in Morocco remains illusory. Many of the recommendations in this chapter can also be applied in other countries where LGBTI refugees require improved access to UNHCR’s protection services.
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Notes
- 1.
‘LGBTI’ is the acronym used in UNHCR materials to describe individuals of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions (SOGIE). Asylum-seekers and refugees with diverse SOGIE may not self-identify as LGBTI for a wide variety of reasons, which are beyond the scope of this chapter.
- 2.
Unfortunately, the number of LGBTI refugees in Morocco cannot be ascertained because UNHCR’s electronic database system, ProGres, does not track the grounds on which asylum-seekers claim protection (UNHCR 2015a, p. 38).
- 3.
Resettlement is “the selection and transfer of refugees from a State in which they have sought protection to a third State which has agreed to admit them – as refugees- with permanent residence status”. Refugees seeking relocation in a third country must demonstrate they have no other durable solution—such as voluntary repatriation or local integration—other than resettlement. See UNHCR (2011b, p. 9).
- 4.
In English, the Office for Refugees and Stateless Persons.
- 5.
In July 2017, approximately 50 migrants attempting to reach Spain were believed to have drowned off the northern coast of Morocco, see BBC News (2017).
- 6.
In English, the National Council of Human Rights.
- 7.
For an example asylum-seeker certificate, see UNHCR (2003), p. 299.
- 8.
Louise Arbour (2006), former UN Human Rights Commissioner, describes this shameful silence as the “ultimate rejection of the fundamental principle of universality of rights”.
- 9.
For example, section 23 of the Yogyakarta Principles affirms that, “everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution, including persecution related to sexual orientation and gender identity”. The Principles also call for States to ensure that no policy or practice discriminates against asylum-seekers on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. See The Yogyakarta Principles (2017).
- 10.
In English, ‘Same Same’ Morocco. According to report by Danish Immigration Service, KifKif may no longer be operating. See Danish Immigration Service (2017), pp. 12–13.
- 11.
In English, Walking Borders.
- 12.
In English, The Association for the Fight against AIDS.
- 13.
In English, Law and Justice.
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Acknowledgements
Nicholas is thankful for the valuable feedback of a previous version of this chapter from Johannes Van der Klaauw, Former Representative of UNHCR-Morocco, Michael Casasola, Senior Resettlement Officer of UNHCR-Canada, and former colleagues of UNHCR-Morocco. The opinions in this chapter are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR.
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Hersh, N. (2019). Enhancing UNHCR Protection for LGBTI Asylum-Seekers and Refugees in Morocco: Reflection and Strategies. In: Güler, A., Shevtsova, M., Venturi, D. (eds) LGBTI Asylum Seekers and Refugees from a Legal and Political Perspective. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91905-8_15
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