(By Justin Parkinson Political reporter, BBC News website today – 11.10.13)
Gay and lesbian people seeking asylum in the UK from persecution abroad are being ordered to “prove” their sexuality, MPs have said.
In extreme cases claimants had handed over photographic and video evidence of “highly personal sexual activity” in an effort to persuade officials, the Home Affairs Committee found.
The gay rights group Stonewall called the testing system “distressing”.
The Home Office promised to monitor and maintain standards. In its report on the asylum system, the committee said it was concerned by the quality of the UK Border Agency’s decision-making, as 30% of appeals against initial decisions had been allowed in 2012.
And a backlog of 32,600 asylum cases that should have been resolved in 2011 was yet to be concluded, while the number of applicants still waiting for an initial decision after six months had risen by 63% last year.
Some had been waiting up to 16 years, while the housing with which they were provided was sometimes “appalling”. It also said poor decision-making by officials was raising the risk of the UK harbouring war criminals. The committee also focused on the situation facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people seeking asylum.
In its report, the committee said they faced “extraordinary obstacles” in persuading immigration officers of their case. Its chairman, Labour MP Keith Vaz, told BBC News: “It is absurd for a judge or a caseworker to have to ask an individual to prove that they are lesbian or gay, to ask them what kind of films they watch, what kind of material they read. People should accept the statement of sexuality by those who seek asylum. This practice is regrettable and ought to be stopped immediately.”
A Supreme Court ruling in 2010 stated that the “underlying rationale” of the United Nations Refugee Convention was that people should be able to “live freely and openly” in their own country without fear of persecution. This judgement, the committee said, had effectively overturned the Border Agency’s previous emphasis on “voluntary discretion” – which had meant it should be seen an option for claimants to conceal their sexuality in order to avoid abuse.
The full article is available here