With the current #MeToo movement, it is important to bring to the fore, that often times than none, majority of people seeking asylum are also subjected to various forms of sexual and domestic abuse from their partners and sexual exploitation from people who owe them duty of care.
It is important that we are not complacent and therefore ignore or loose scope of the bigger picture which entraps a large proportion of LGBTIQ people seeking asylum and refuge’s community in the UK; whom have suffered sexual and domestic violence in the hands of their own family members which might necessarily include their partners.
Join African Rainbow Family on 11/08/2018 at our one day annual conference that will highlight the extent of active and subtle sexual / domestic abuse, sexual exploitation and trafficking that exists in the LGBTIQ people seeking asylum’s community. It is often thought that LGBTIQ people generally do not experience domestic abuse let alone people seeking asylum that have multiple intersectional identities.
Book your free tickets here.
The asylum and immigration process is however ever ganging and complex. The onus of proof is on LGBTIQ people seeking asylum in an hostile environment engrossed with deep rooted culture of disbelief that seeks to deport as many as possible just as in the Windrush Generation scandal.
As a result of the high standard of proof for LGBTIQ people seeking asylum to ‘proof’ their sexuality in order to be qualified for refugee status, many have been forced into abusive relationships whom they are forced to stick with for the period of their asylum applications being assessed and determined which could run into a year, two or more to resolve.
Most worryingly is the scale of sexual abuse and exploitation that takes place within LGBTIQ asylum seeking support groups by the staff/volunteers that run these groups. These volunteers and or staff owe the fragile survivors seeking asylum duty of care and not to take advantage of their vulnerability to sexually exploit them in the name of writing support letters for them to the Home Office to attest to their sexuality.
Our conference, Unreported! will involve people seeking asylum speak about our experiences of sexual abuse and violence that we have experienced and are still experiencing. Workshops on signs of sexual abuse and supports available for victims.
Speakers in the field of sexual and domestic abuse will share their knowledge and how the LGBTIQ asylum seeking community can be supported. Come up with solutions on how to tackle the above, send strong unacceptable messages out to asylum seeking support groups that are sexually exploiting and predating us, their members, make recommendations and call on the UK Home Office to review their policies that are set up for people to fail.
This conference is free however, we appreciate your generosity. Donate here
Speakers:
‘Experts by experience’ (LGBTIQ people seeking asylum and Refuge):
Veecca Smith Uka
Veecca Smith Uka is a lesbian woman and LGBTIQ+ campaigner from Nigeria who is seeking safety in the UK based on her sexual orientation. Veecca is also the Secretary of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Arnold Keungmeue Nzetem:
Arnold Keungmeue Nzetem is a gay man and LGBTIQ+ campaigner from Central Africa Republic who is seeking safety in the UK based on his sexual orientation. Arnold is also the Financial Director of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Joy Otabor
Joy Otabor is a lesbian woman and LGBTIQ+ campaigner from Nigeria who is seeking safety in the UK based on her sexual orientation. Joy is also the Campaign Director of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Jean Francois Pondy
Jean Francois Pondy is a gay man and LGBTIQ+ campaigner from Cameroon who is seeking safety in the UK based on his sexual orientation. Jean Francois is also the Publicity and Media Director of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Abdullahi Oluwatosin Soneye
Abdullahi Oluwatosin Soneye is a gay man and LGBTIQ+ campaigner from Nigeria who is seeking safety in the UK based on his sexual orientation. Abdullahi is also the Assistant Financial Director of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Jean- Pierre Bilitik Mback
Jean- Pierre Bilitik Mback is a gay man and LGBTIQ+ campaigner from Cameroon who is seeking safety in the UK based on his sexual orientation. Jean- Pierre is also the Assistant Volunteer Director of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Charbel Fabrice NonyemeAboua
Charbel Fabrice NonyemeAboua is a gay man from Benin Republic who is seeking safety in the UK based on his sexual orientation. Fabrice is a member of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Kate Hendickson
Kate Hendickson is a trans woman from Trinidad and Tobago who has been granted safety in the UK based on her gender identity. Kate is a member of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Lot Hongonekua
Lot Hongonekua is a gay man from Namibian who is seeking safety in the UK based on his sexual orientation. Lot is a member of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Aderonke Apata
Aderonke Apata is a multi awards winner human rights activist, feminist, LGBTIQ equality advocate and the founder of African Rainbow Family, a charitable organisation that supports the LGBTIQ community including those seeking asylum.
Baroness Liz Barker:
Baroness Liz Barker is a Liberal Democrat Lords. She’s a Spokesperson for Voluntary Sector and Social Enterprise and a member of Liberal Democrat Policy Working Group on Liberty, Social Mobility, Status of Women, Future of the Voluntary Sector. Baroness Liz Barker has been on different Parliamentary Committees including Draft Mental Incapacity Bill, Draft Mental Health Bill, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Select Committee on Charities. Her policy interests include Asylum, immigration and nationality, Communities and families, Health services and medicine, HIV, Housing and planning, LGBT and rights and equity, Population development and reproductive health and Social services.
Baroness Liz Barker has especially been a vocal voice on challenging the detention of LGBTIQ people seeking asylum in the UK. She is a very passionate ally of LGBTIQ people seeking asylum as she amplifies in the Parliament at every opportunity, the need for the government to make genuine reforms to the LGBTIQ asylum application process.
S. Chelvan:
S. Chelvan, Barrister, No5 Barristers’ Chambers, 2018 Attitude Awards.
Carla Ecola:
Carla Ecola, Director of The Outside Project, the UK’s first LGBTIQ+ crisis/homeless shelter. A grassroots project developed by people with lived experience of homelessness & the complex issues our community face.
Sandhya Sharma
Sandhya Sharma is a member of Safety4Sisters North West a Manchester based group that works with migrant women who have experienced gender based violence and have immigration issues.
Julie Ward MEP:
Julie Ward is a Labour MEP for the North West of England. She is also a writer, theatre-maker and cultural activist who began her working life on the factory floor before becoming a community arts worker and co-founder of a successful SME in the north of England, subsequently being named NE Woman Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003. Julie was elected in 2014 and is a member of the European Parliament’s committees on Culture and Education, Regional Development and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. She’s a board member of the European Internet Forum, and a founding member of the European Caucus of Women in Parliament – a global forum.
Julie is also a children’s rights champion, having co-founded the European Parliament cross-party intergroup on Children’s Rights. She is also active on a number of other intergroups including Lifelong Learning, Disability, Youth, Common Goods & Public Services, Creative Industries, LGBTI, Anti-Poverty, Trade Unions and Social Economy, as well a Culture and Education committee representative to the inter-committee network on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Julie has a Masters in Education from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is the Labour Party’s spokesperson on education, sport and culture in Europe.
Robin Graham
Robin Graham has been leading laughter workshops and icebreakers since 1999 because laughter is a way of bringing people together. He also is running a drinking water project in a community in Ghana and has been visiting friends in Ghana since 2001.
Sophie Beer-O’Brien
Sophie Beer-O’Brien is Project Co-ordinator – Wellbeing at LGBT Foundation.
Paul Dillane
Paul Dillane is Executive Director of Kaleidoscope Trust, a leading NGO working to advance human rights and inclusion for LGBT people internationally. Founded in 2011, Kaleidoscope Trust partners with 35+ organisations in countries where LGBT people face discrimination, criminalisation and persecution. Following a career in law, Paul worked for six years as a human rights and refugee law specialist at Amnesty International UK. Paul is a leading expert on the protection of LGBT refugees and was the Executive Director of UKLGIG, a London-based NGO working to provide practical support to LGBT people fleeing persecution, between 2014-17.
Councillor Bev Craig
Bev is a Labour Councillor for Burnage and sits on the City Council’s Executive. An LGBT rights activist for over 15 years she is the councils political lead on LGBT women’s issues and in May took on responsibility for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Manchester.
Sponsors:
Sponsors who have kindly agreed to make our second Annual Conference a success include:
The Federation (venue): http://www.thefederation.coop/
Twitter: @FederationMCR
Co-op Digital (catering): https://digitalblog.coop.co.uk/
Twitter: @CoopDigital
Olimpia Burchiellaro (printing) https://www.facebook.com/quimerassinfronteras
Kirit Patel
‘supported by the Co-op Foundation and Omidyar Network’.
UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group
32-36 Loman Street, London SE1 0EH P: +44 20 7922 7812. T: @uklgig
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