-
27. February 2022
“Queer Refugees Germany” publishes booklet for integration courses
The curriculum of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) clearly stipulates that newly immigrated people should also learn about the rights and situation of LGBTIQ++ people in Germany in the orientation courses. Often, however, the course instructors lack suitable materials to adequately convey this content. Because: In the textbooks available in the trade, the topics are usually dealt with insufficiently and superficially. With the brochure “Diversity Welcome!”, the project “Queer Refugees Germany” has now for the first time developed a comprehensive accompanying booklet that complements the existing materials.
-
27. February 2022
First exchange meeting between refugee LGBTIQ++ activists with DeBUG violence protection multipliers
From 19 to 21 November 2021, a meeting between the refugee LGBTIQ++ activists of “Queer Refugees Germany” and the multipliers for violence protection of all seven DeBUG contact points took place in Cologne for the first time. The DeBUG project pursues the goal of supporting refugee shelters as well as their operating and supporting organisations throughout Germany in improving the protection against violence. The programme of the meeting included various workshops with plenty of space for the exchange of experiences on the subject of violence against LGBTIQ+ refugees, a presentation on violence and trauma as well as a joint self-assertion training of all participants.
-
31. October 2021
President of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees Dr. Sommer receives the Lesbian and Gay Association for talks in Nuremberg
On the afternoon of October 1st, representatives of the Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD) met with the management of the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in Nuremberg to exchange views on various topics concerning the treatment of queer refugees. BAMF President Dr. Hans-Eckhard Sommer had invited the LSVD to the headquarters of the German asylum authority in Nuremberg. The meeting was preceded in the morning by an exchange between the association and specialist departments of the Federal Office.
-
8. October 2021
ECJ declares preclusion periods for filing follow-up asylum applications as inadmissible
In its judgment of September 9th of 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) answered several questions which the Austrian Administrative Court had asked it regarding the admissibility of follow-up asylum procedures. The ECJ ruled that follow-up asylum applications of queer applicants cannot be rejected as inadmissible simply because they did not come out in the initial procedure. At the same time, however, according to the ECJ, EU member states have the right to introduce regulations to check whether the refugees are not at fault for not having addressed the aspects they were already aware of in the initial procedure. -
16. September 2021
Asylmagazin publishes again an issue with focus on LGBTIQ++
In its issue 7-8/2021, the asylum magazine Asylmagazin has once again examined a “Thematic focus: sexual and gender identity as a reason for fleeing” and published, among other things, three articles on this topic. In the first article, the author Petra Sußner explains the strong influence of heteronormativity on the legal practice and develops an alternative, interdisciplinary approach to deal with LGBTIQ++ cases. In the second article, the authors Philipp Braun, Patrick Dörr and Alva Träbert describe cases in which the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD) discovered “Outings of queer asylum seekers by trusted lawyers of the Foreign Office”. In the third, the same three authors finally present the so-called “discretion requirement” and “How the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and the courts continue to undermine the Supreme Court’s guideline”.
-
12. April 2021
New Explanatory Videos Answer Asylum System Related Questions
LGBTIQ+ individuals who apply for asylum in Germany or who are planning to do so, find themselves facing an entire spectrum of challenges. On the one hand there is the asylum application process and the legal allocation of the persecution they have experienced; on the other hand there are housing questions as well as issues related to the protection from violence at housing facilities. As early as 2017, the Germany-wide LSVD project Queer Refugees Deutschland developed a guideline covering these issues, which provides well-founded answers to these questions. On the website, it is currently available in nine languages. In collaboration with the LGBTIQ+ consulting office Rosa Strippe in Bochum, this guideline has now been used as the basis for the development of explanatory videos to provide the most barrier-free access to this information possible.