Phelim MacCafferty

The national association of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Greens has condemned the UK Borders Agency for deporting people back to Iraq.
 
Phelim Mac Cafferty, National Spokesperson for LGBT Greens said:
“Although Iraq is gaining diminished media coverage in the UK, the violence continues: 1,891 civilian deaths occurred in the first six months of this year. As recently as October 11, three car bombs exploded in Ramadi, in Western Iraq, killing 19 people. All of this has been made worse by widespread food shortages and lack of access to clean drinking water throughout Iraq.”
 
“Although we have no current evidence to suggest that of those being deported this week LGBT Iraqis are among them, we know that the horror LGBT Iraqis faced under Saddam has continued and deepened since the invasion and occupation by US and UK troops. Iraq is an extremely dangerous place for LGBT Iraqis.
 
“Of those threatened with deportation, including the case of Mr X in Feburary, whose deportation was described as ‘manifestly unlawful’, we know something of the horror of their lives in Iraq.
 
“Today, sadly, we have yet more evidence of the UK Borders Agency deporting Iraqis to certain persecution and hatred.
 
“Lesbian, gay, bi and trans Iraqis have often fled persecution, rape and torture and deserve our patience and compassion not our jails. But we must also ask: how on the one hand New Labour speak of their commitment to LGBT equality but are deporting LGBT Iraqis to torture and persecution!
 
“Again, the UK Borders Agency needs to restore any kind of faith we had in it. We now need as a bare minimum:
1. Compulsory training for all asylum staff on sexual-orientation and trans-awareness.
2. Explicit instructions to all immigration and asylum staff, and asylum judges, that homo, bi and transphobic persecution are legitimate grounds for granting asylum.
3. Clearer and up-to-date guidance from the Home Office for asylum judges to reflect the accurate scale of LGBT persecution throughout the world using expert information from NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
4. Legal-aid funding for asylum claims needs to be substantially increased.”

For more information view:
www.lgbtgreens.org.uk/