LGBTI asylum seekers facing 'double discrimination' across Europe, warns report
euronews.comThe situation for LGBTI asylum seekers in a number of European countries is fraught with difficulties with many facing double discrimination, a new report has warned.They face "specific difficulties and injustice" even in countries that rank high for positive LGBT legislative change, according to an annual review by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).ILGA-Europe says LGBTI asylum seekers face double discrimination in Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.In Denmark, activists have documented cases of trans asylum seekers without access to trans-specific healthcare or being harassed, while NGOs in Spain have warned of the underreporting of discrimination and violence that LGBTI asylum seekers endure, and a lack of access to social and healthcare services.Germany was flagged for "the unsafe practice of conducting investigations of asylum seekers in their home countries and outing them".Several countries including France, Malta and Greece were decried for adding nations -- thought by some as being unsafe for LGBTI people -- to their list of "safe countries" that asylum seekers could be sent back to if their applications were unsuccessful.Greece now considers Turkey safe for LGBTI asylum seekers to be sent back to, but ILGA-Europe ranks the country as among the three worst countries in Europe for LGBTI rights and protection.France's Council of State, which acts as a supreme court for administrative justice, ruled in March that LGBTQI+ asylum seekers coming from a country that criminalises or persecutes LGBTQI+ people, should not be automatically given refugee status.Malta and Sweden were meanwhile flagged for new.
