Gay Afghan teen denied asylum in Austria ‘because he didn’t fit stereotype’
>> BERLIN: A gay Afghan 18-year-old who was seeking asylum in Austria because he feared persecution in his country had his application denied because the authorities said he did not act like a stereotypical gay man, citing his walk, behaviour and clothing, according to a Vienna-based organisation that helps refugees.
In a case that illustrates the plight of many LGBT refugees coming to Europe, the organisation, Queer Base, said the teenager, whom it did not identify, provided testimony at an asylum hearing this spring that he became aware of his sexuality when he was 12 and living in Afghanistan. He migrated to Austria as a minor, according to the organisation, which kept all other details of the teenager’s life and journey confidential at his request.
But after he applied for asylum, the document outlining the decision quoted an official as saying that the man’s claim that he was gay was not believable based on how he had acted while living in Austria.
“Neither your walk, nor your behaviour nor your clothing give the slightest indication that you could be gay,” says the decision, which was more than 100 pages.
“They reported that you frequently got into fights with roommates,” it said. “You clearly have the potential to be aggressive, which would not be expected in a homosexual.”
It also said that the young man was not described as having many friends while in Austria. “Don’t homosexuals tend to be rather sociable?” it said.
Human Rights Watch said in its 2017 report on Afghanistan that the country’s law criminalises consensual same-sex sexual conduct, and the report cited harassment, violence and detention of gay people by the police. Its report this year noted that same-sex relations are punishable by five to 15 years in prison under a law that bans all sex between individuals not married to each other. Advocates for LGBT people operate largely underground out of fear of persecution, the organisation said.
And while laws in places like Austria are much more gay-friendly, LGBT refugees often face challenges coming out, even if it would help their cases for seeking asylum, gay-rights experts say.
On the other hand, pretending to be gay or lesbian to increase one’s odds in the asylum process is relatively rare, those experts say. It’s more common for LGBT refugees to continue to hide their sexual identities and to lie about the reasons for seeking asylum, said Patrick Dörr, who runs Queer Refugees, a German state-sponsored programme for LGBT refugees coming to Germany.
“Many of them have to overcome shame and stigma,” Marty Huber, a founder of Queer Base, said.
The teenager was interviewed for his application in late April and the decision was handed down in early May. The decision gained international attention this week when a Vienna weekly news magazine, Falter, published details of his case.
Nina Horaczek, who wrote the initial article, published the key excerpts from the document that described the institution’s response to the teenager’s asylum request based on his sexual orientation. The teenager continues to live in Austria as he appeals the decision.
Christoph Pölzl, a spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry, confirmed the decision was authentic. He said the country’s Federal Immigration and Asylum agency had made decisions on about 120,000 asylum requests. “In the asylum process, the asylum-seeker must make his reason for flight credible,” he said. He declined to discuss the specific case of the Afghan teenager.
Migrants who flee their home countries for Europe face perilous journeys crossing by boat or over land, often at the hands of unscrupulous human traffickers. Most of the migrants who have ended up in Austria have travelled by land through the Balkans.
Austria has recently tightened its asylum requirements. One such change gives the government control over where refugees are placed, which can mean that LGBT people find themselves in conservative states where it is harder to integrate.
In June, Navid Jafartash, a gay refugee from Iraq, said on Austrian television that he was asked during an asylum application interview to explain what the colours on the rainbow flag stood for. When Jafartash, who lived with an Austrian partner at the time, was unable to do so, his asylum application was initially denied, he said.
Activists say that LGBT refugees are especially vulnerable because in many cases they do not want to discuss their sexuality at a hearing.
“Many of them have to overcome shame and stigma,” said Huber, whose organisation is helping more than 400 LGBT refugees in Austria.
As for the decision in the Afghan teenager’s case, “it’s scandalous misconduct,” he said. “It just makes you shake your head.”