Fifteen LGBT Syrian refugees are launching a legal challenge on Monday against the Home Office claiming they have been abandoned to a life of danger in Turkey, despite promises to bring them speedily to safety in the UK.
The Home Office accepted all 15 on to a refugee resettlement scheme, which avoids the need for them to go through the often lengthy asylum process. Yet many are still waiting to be airlifted to safety two years or more after applying for the scheme. Many have been forced to live in hiding as a result.
Resettlement schemes are considered the pinnacle of sanctuary options and people fleeing danger are accepted in small numbers to come to the UK. Other safe countries including France, Germany, Norway and Sweden participate in similar schemes. LGBT refugee friends of the 15 challenging the Home Office typically only waited three to five months after applying before they were brought to safety in those countries.
While delays are difficult for all refugees, the LGBT group says that because of homophobic discrimination and attacks in Turkey they are at particular risk and have been forced to lead double lives and to hide in “safehouses”.
Same-sex relationships are legal in Turkey but homophobic attitudes prevail and many LGBT refugees have reported being pelted by rocks, followed in the street and attacked if people suspect they are not heterosexual.
There have been murders of LGBT people in Turkey including of gay Syrian refugee Wisam Sankara in July 2016 and Turkish trans woman Hande Kader just weeks later.
LGBT Syrian refugees in Turkey are concerned about the risk from the population at large but also from their own families who often don’t know about their sexual identity. The 15 refugees bringing the action against the Home Office say that gay men and trans women are in particular danger.
One, who is hiding from his family who discovered that he is gay, spoke to the Guardian from a safe house in Istanbul: “I can’t live in this country any more. I feel that at any moment my family could find me and kill me,” he said. “I’m gay but I can’t say I’m gay. You can’t even look at a man in the street here. It’s high-level dangerous.
“One LGBTQ+ Syrian refugee I know has been waiting more than two years for the UK Home Office to bring him to safety. He has been stabbed twice because of his sexuality.” He said all 15 feel abandoned by the Home Office.
A volunteer who has been supporting LGBT Syrian refugees in Istanbul has asked not to be named for fear of identifying the people she is supporting. She said: “During my time here I have seen how dangerous life is for all LGBTQ Syrian refugees. They are isolated individuals in a homophobic country. I have witnessed discrimination, harassment and physical violence against them. One trans person I know was held hostage as a sex slave for several days until she managed to escape. In 2017 a member of this community was murdered and decapitated.”
She added that it was particularly hard for the 15 to see LGBT refugee friends leaving Turkey to start new lives in other countries’ resettlement schemes.
“It’s always the same UK group waving them off at the bus wondering when it’s their turn.”
In their legal action the 15 refugees claim that government officials are subjecting them to inhuman and degrading treatment and breaching human rights law. They are calling on the Home Office to take “immediate steps” to sort the issue out. They told the Guardian that the situation is extremely urgent and that they are in constant danger.
Toufique Hossain and Sheroy Zaq of Duncan Lewis solicitors, who are representing the 15 LGBT refugees, said: “We met these brave individuals in Istanbul. Having fled their homes in Syria, their hope was finally for a life where they could be themselves and live freely.
“Their stories are truly heartbreaking. We really do hope that the Home Office expedites these applications without the need for further litigation. They’ve known of the urgency for quite some time. They must act swiftly.”
A refugee waiting to get to the UK said: “In Syria we saw a lot and went through a lot. In Turkey we are in danger again. We must hide all the time. We are told: ‘Just wait, your file is with the Home Office.’ Everyone has his own dream: to love, to study, to marry, to have rights. The most important thing is to be safe and then we can start to think about these things.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We do not routinely comment on individual cases.” Home Office sources said it can take time to find suitable placements to meet the specific needs of individuals.