International Railroad for Queer Refugees

Last updated
International Railroad for Queer Refugees
Founded2008
Founder Arsham Parsi
FocusAdvocacy work for LGBT rights in Iran
Location
Area served
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey
Method Networking, campaigning, advocacy, outreach, community media, TV and radio
Key people
Arsham Parsi (head), Stuart Bustard, Mo Riazi, Robert Sabuda, Borga Dorter, Stefanija Savic, Sam Riazi
Revenue
Donation
Employees
1 Full time and 1 Part time
Volunteers
9
Website irqr.net

The International Railroad for Queer Refugees, formerly known as the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR), is an advocacy group for LGBT rights in Iran. It was founded and is headed by Executive Director Arsham Parsi. It was set up on behalf of Iranian LGBT persons seeking safe havens both within and outside of Iran. It is the first Iranian NGO in the world, working on behalf of Iranian LGBT people around the globe. [1]

Contents

It has its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where the organization is registered as an NGO. [2] IRQR provides assistance with asylum applications, housing, and financial assistance to those in need. It files petitions to governments on behalf of Iranian LGBTQ persons facing deportation back to Iran, where homosexuality is a criminal offense punishable by death. In August 2016, IRQR was granted charitable status by the Canada Revenue Agency. [3] In November 2018, IRQR expanded its services to non-Iranian LGBTs and officially changed its name to the International Railroad for Queer Refugees.

IRQR documents and reports cases of torture, persecution, execution and other human rights violations that occur in Iran on a regular basis; it has helped demonstrate the situation of LGBT persons in Iran. [4] [5] [6] IRQR also aims to educate people who are opposed to homosexuality due to a lack of correct information and sexual education and also to "end the current lack of self-recognition and self-confidence among queer people and to prevent frequent tragedies, such as suicide." [7]

The organization's name is inspired by the Underground Railroad that helped African-Americans escape slavery in the 19th century. [8]

The homepage of IRQR says: [9]

When Iranian queer people flee persecution in Iran, they generally go to Turkey. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees interviews these refugees and decides whether their case for asylum is valid. If they are granted asylum status, the UNHCR finds a new country for each person on the base of their profile. IRQR helps these refugees through the process and, whenever possible, provides funds for safe houses from donations, since Turkey is also a homophobic and transphobic society and queer people are not physically safe there either.

In August 2008, Arsham Parsi, the IRQR's Executive Director, met with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Canadian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, regarding Iranian queer asylum seekers. Since that meeting, a number of asylum seekers have been granted refugee status or have been referred to the Canadian Embassy for their resettlement process. Furthermore, the UNHCR changed their legal interviews to an earlier date. [7]

As of December 2015, IRQR have worked directly with 1,262 LGBT refugees from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, helping them through their application process at the UNHCR and transition and settlement into Canada, the United States and other countries. The majority are from Iran; however, recently, IRQR has also offered its services to help Afghani and Syrian LGBT refugees.

IRQR applicant count IRQRapplicant2015.png
IRQR applicant count

IRQR has been working with refugees for almost a decade. IRQR helps them in Turkey while they are going through the stages of becoming a Convention Refugee, and meeting with the UNHCR to advocate on their behalf. Without this, many refugees would have been forced to return to Iran. [10]

IRQR has maintained a success rate of above 80% in helping refugees through the process. Maintaining success rate above 80% annually is challenging with the significant increase in applicants since 2014, especially because the process time has changed from two to three years.

IRQR successes rate IRQRsuccess2015.png
IRQR successes rate

In 2015, Arsham Parsi traveled to Turkey in February and September. He met with LGBT refugees to document their situation and provide services on the ground. He met with officials at the UNHCR office in Ankara to advocate for the most vulnerable and urgent cases in order to be granted for an expedited process. Because of IRQR work and the UNHCR, many LGBT refugees were granted an earlier interview and received refugee status, meaning they could begin their journey to a new home and being free to be LGBT. [10]

IRQR held five workshops in Denizli and Eskişehir, Turkey, in 2015 to help Iranian LGBT refugees whose cases were in process with the UNHCR.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 18,879 staff working in 138 countries as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refugee</span> Displaced person

A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a person who has lost the protection of their country of origin and who cannot or is unwilling to return there due to well-founded fear of persecution. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.

An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who is making a claim to have been forcibly displaced and might have fled their home country because of war or other factors harming them or their family. If their case is accepted, they become considered a refugee. The terms asylum seeker, refugee and illegal immigrant are often confused.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Iran</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Iran face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sexual activity between members of the same sex is illegal and can be punishable by death, and people can legally change their assigned sex only through a sex reassignment surgery. Currently, Iran is the only country confirmed to execute gay people federally, though death penalty for homosexuality might be enacted in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Iraq</span>

In Iraq, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals are subject to widespread discrimination. Openly gay men are not permitted to serve in the military and same-sex marriage or civil unions are illegal. LGBT people do not have any legal protections against discrimination and are frequently victims of vigilante justice and honor killings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender rights in Iran</span>

Transgender rights in Iran are complex, with seemingly contradictory laws in place. While there certainly are some extreme legal and social barriers to the rights of transgender people, Iran is, in other ways, more progressive on the issue than many of its neighboring countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghan refugees</span> Nationals of Afghanistan who left their country as a result of major wars or persecution

Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee from their country as a result of wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution, followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion, marked the first major wave of internal displacement and international migration to neighboring Iran and Pakistan; smaller numbers also went to India or to countries of the former Soviet Union. Between 1979 and 1992, more than 20% of Afghanistan's population fled the country as refugees. Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, many returned to Afghanistan, however many Afghans were again forced to flee during the civil war in the 90s. Over 6 million Afghan refugees were residing in Iran and Pakistan by 2000. Most refugees returned to Afghanistan following the 2001 United States invasion and overthrow of the Taliban regime. Between 2002 and 2012, 5.7 million refugees returned to Afghanistan, increasing the country's population by 25%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asylum in the United States</span> Overview of the situation of the right for asylum in the United States of America

The United States recognizes the right of asylum for individuals seeking protections from persecution, as specified by international and federal law. People who seek protection while outside the U.S. are termed refugees, while people who seek protection from inside the U.S. are termed asylum seekers. Those who are granted asylum are termed asylees.

<i>Fremde Haut</i> 2005 film

Fremde Haut is a 2005 German film. It was directed by Angelina Maccarone and stars Jasmin Tabatabai, Anneke Kim Sarnau, and Navíd Akhavan. Its English title is Unveiled.

The Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation (Hirschfeld-Eddy-Stiftung) was founded in Berlin in June 2007. It is a foundation focused on human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arsham Parsi</span>

Arsham Parsi is an Iranian LGBT human rights activist living in exile in Canada. He is the founder and head of the International Railroad for Queer Refugees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iranian Queer Organization</span> LGBT advocacy group based in Toronto

The Iranian Queer Organization, also known as the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization, was an advocacy group for LGBT rights in Iran based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The organization was founded by human rights activist Arsham Parsi and monitors violations of gay rights in Iran. Under the Islamic laws of Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death.

Since the late 1970s until the present, Iraq has witnessed numerous waves of refugees and emigrants due to significant events in its modern history. These events have led to the displacement of millions of Iraqis. These include over three decades of repression, periodic violent attacks, and massacres targeting the Kurdish population in the north and the Shi'a in the south, all carried out by Saddam Hussein's regime. Other factors include the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), the Gulf War of 1991, the prolonged economic sanctions until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Immigration equality is a citizens' equal ability or right to immigrate their family members. It also applies to fair and equal execution of the laws and the rights of non-citizens regardless of nationality or where they are coming from. Immigration issues can also be an LGBT rights issue, as government recognition of same-sex relationships vary from country to country.

Refugees of the Syrian civil war are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian civil war. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.

LGBT migration is the movement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender(LGBT) people around the world and domestically, often to escape discrimination or ill treatment due to their sexuality. Globally, many LGBT people attempt to leave discriminatory regions in search of more tolerant ones.

Third country resettlement or refugee resettlement is, according to the UNHCR, one of three durable solutions for refugees who fled their home country. Resettled refugees have the right to reside long-term or permanent in the country of resettlement and may also have the right to become citizens of that country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT refugees and asylum seekers in Canada</span>

In Canada, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT) or Gender and Sexual Minority (GSM) refugees and asylum-seekers are those who make refugee claims to Canada due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Shrouk El-Attar is an electronics design engineer who was born in Egypt and has been living in the United Kingdom as a refugee since 2007. She is an activist for refugee rights in the UK, and for LGBT rights in her native Egypt.

References

  1. ↑ "About IRQR" . Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  2. ↑ "Corporation Document" . Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  3. ↑ "Charitable Status". August 2016. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  4. ↑ "Support IRQR" . Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  5. ↑ Johnny Simpson, Digital Journal. "Interview: Arsham Parsi of Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees" . Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  6. ↑ "Islamic Republic of Iran's punishment code on Homosexuality - Complete Text of the Iranian Law on Homosexuality". Archived from the original on 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  7. 1 2 "IRQR Fieldwork in Turkey" . Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  8. ↑ "IRQR frontpage" . Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  9. ↑ "about Iranian Queer Railroad". Archived from the original on 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  10. 1 2 "Our Christmas Gift is Our Good News" . Retrieved 2015-12-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.