Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 16:46:26 +0000 From: Mark Watson Stonewall Press Release: 5 February 1996 Immediate Release Homosexuals could be "Social Group" concedes Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe states that asylum claims based on a persons sexuality might now be granted as homosexuals could be a social group for UN Convention purposes David Alton MP was asked by Stonewall to raise the issue of homosexuals as a social group for asylum purposes with the Immigration Minister who replied on 31 January 1996 saying that homosexuals may form a social group for convention purposes. In her letter she explains: "Sexual orientation is taken into account in the assessment of individual asylum claims where this is relevant. ... Each individual claim is considered on its merits to determine whether the applicant can demonstrate in all the circumstances of the case, that he or she has a well founded fear of persecution in a particular country for any of the Convention reasons. We interpret this provision in the convention as follows: i) the group is defined by some innate or unchangeable characteristic of its members analogous to race, religion, nationality or political opinion for example their sex, linguistic background , tribe, family or class which the individual cannot change or should not be required to change; and ii) there must be a real risk of persecution by reason of the person's membership of the group. Whilst claims based on homosexuality might satisfy i) with this definition, the requirement's set out in ii) would also have to be met in the individual case." Mark Watson of the Stonewall Immigration Group stated "The position of homosexuals claiming asylum based on their sexuality has not been resolved by the Immigration Appeals Tribunal as we currently have two conflicting interpretations of Social Group. Ann Widdecombe's letter is very welcome as she clearly believes that homosexuals could be defined as a social group. I believe we have made tremendous progress in getting this principle established. However we are very concerned that the Government has produced a "white list " of countries that they believe generate no asylum seekers. This list includes Romania, where Amnesty report the imprisonment and torture of gay men, and Pakistan where gay men face imprisonment and flogging. Obviously the Home Office has taken no account of the terrible persecution lesbians and gay men face because of their sexuality when producing this list." ENDS For further information and a copy of the letter please call Mark Watson on 0171 336 8860 Notes: Under the United Nations Convention asylum seekers can only be granted asylum if they face a well founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, political opinion or membership of a particuler social group. Until recently the Home Office refused to grant asylum to homosexuals (despite believing that they had been persecuted because of their sexuality) because homosexuals did not form a social group. In 1994 the Immigration Appeals Tribunal ruled that they did form such a group and therfore could claim asylum in the ground breaking case of Vraciu, a gay Romanian soldier. However a subsequent Tribunal ruled that homosexuals were not a social group in the case of Jacques. Mark Watson Stonewall 16 Clerkenwell Close London EC1R 0AA Tel. 0171 336 8860 Fax. 0171 336 8864 http://www.tyger.co.uk/sig/