To Stay or to Go? Decision-Making of LGBTQI Syrians in Mixed Migration Flows

Odlum, Alex

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91905-8_5

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…For these reasons, this chapter aims to analyse the complex situation faced by SOGI claimants before they leave their countries of origin, during their travel to, and arrival in Europe. Considering the paucity of studies in this specific area of SOGI asylum (Danisi 2018;Piwowarczyk et al 2017;Winton 2019), and the fact that these are often country specific (Munir 2019;Odlum 2019) rather than addressing the multinational journeys that occur, this chapter also explores the implications of these journeys for SOGI claimants' experiences with the asylum process. As Chiara, a psychotherapist who works with migrants arriving in Italy through the Mediterranean Sea, explained, the experiences of SOGI asylum claimants are complex, and besides the abuses suffered in their home countries, their travels are also 'a synonym of violence and ill-treatment'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life in the Countries of Origin, Departure and Travel Towards Europe

Danisi

Dustin

Ferreira

et al. 2021

IMISCOE Research Series

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According to the United Nations (UN), at least 258 million people are moving across countries around the globe, consciously or unconsciously, in search of a safe and dignified life (IOM 2019; UN 2017). The international attempt to regulate these movements through the so-called Compacts seems unlikely to provide effective solutions. Often criticised as being non-binding instruments but with great potential in shaping states’ future behaviour (Türk 2018), the Compacts are not explicit in including SOGI minorities in the measures to be adopted through international cooperation for improving the management of migration and refugee flows, while respecting their human rights. It is noticeable that objective no. 7 (‘Address and reduce vulnerabilities in migration’) of the Global Compact related to migration refers to ‘victims of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence (…) [and] persons who are discriminated against on any basis’ as examples of vulnerable groups and, more generally, advances the development of gender-responsive migration policies (Atak et al. 2018). Equally, the Global Compact on Refugees pays attention in all fields to ‘sexual and gender-based violence’, while calling upon states to strengthen international efforts to prevent and combat it (paras. 5, 13, 51, 57, 59, 72 and 75). Yet, although this wording may be inclusive of SOGI, the Compacts avoided any specific reference or commitment in relation either to migrants who identify themselves as LGBTIQ+ or to SOGI claimants, perhaps owing to the need for the widest possible consensus among UN member states to secure the Compacts’ adoption. This represents a missed opportunity to raise awareness of SOGI asylum claimants’ needs at the universal level and speed up multilateral solutions to the movements across countries of people fleeing homophobia and transphobia.

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