‘Sinister’ Tory anti-refugee bill treats people seeking asylum as less than human, says gay refugee

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A queer refugee from Ethiopia has explained how the government’s “anti-refugee” borders bill would catastrophically impact LGBT+ people seeking asylum.

LGBT+ people seeking asylum already face huge barriers in escaping to the UK to avoid persecution, violence and death because of their identities.

But the Conservative Party’s Nationality and Borders Bill, widely dubbed the “anti-refugee bill”, has been described by Refugee Action as “the biggest attack on the refugee protection system that we have ever seen” and could make things even worse.

Bahiru, a gay man, fled Ethiopia – where homosexuality is published with up to 15 years in prison and LGBT+ people are at huge risk of violence and persecution – and successfully claimed asylum in the UK in 2016. He told PinkNews that the UK has completely ignored the “human side” of seeking asylum.

Since arriving in the UK, he has founded House of Guramayle, an organisation that supports LGBT+ Ethiopians, and works with Rainbow Migration, which helps queer people through the UK’s asylum and immigration system.

Growing up gay, Bahiru did not know any other queer people and suppressed his sexuality to keep himself and his family safe.

Eventually he managed to connect with a few members of the LGBT+ community, and they met as a secret, underground group. But Bahiru was shocked at the lack of knowledge of LGBT+ issues, especially safe sex, and took it upon himself to teach his peers.

Bahiru and his friends began procuring lube and condoms from those travelling back from abroad, as they were unavailable in Ethiopia, and distributing them to LGBT+ folk. But the project began to snowball, putting Bahiru at greater and greater risk.

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Eventually, when someone threatened to out him and release his photo and personal information, Bahiru knew his life was in danger and he had to leave.

“I was lucky,” he told PinkNews. “I had been in and out of the UK already, and I had the support of organisations that we were working with, so I had an active visa.”

But most people forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives have no chance of accessing the “official” routes prescribed by the government’s Nationality and Borders Bill.

Proposed by home secretary Priti Patel, the bill would restrict protection to refugees who arrive through difficult-to-access “official” routes, like refugee resettlement programmes or on a visa.

Anyone arriving by any other means could be criminalised and deemed “inadmissible”, as could those who don’t claim asylum immediately upon arrival, which might mean being barred from accessing public funds, and even receiving a jail sentence of up to four years.

They would also be deemed “inadmissible” if they passed through a “safe” country on their way to the UK, and expected to make an asylum claim there instead.

An activist from Amnesty International wears a mask depicting Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel. (AFP via Getty/ ADRIAN DENNIS)

Even if they manage to claim asylum after arriving in an “unofficial” way, the bill would introduce a two-tier system for refugees, treating them differently based on how they arrived in the UK. The second group would be “regularly reassessed for removal”.

Those who knowingly arrive in the UK illegally will have committed a criminal offence. Under the Borders Bill, the punishment for this crime could increase from six months to four years in prison.

Part of the problem with the bill, Bahiru says, is that fleeing the country is often a “last minute decision”. Accessing “official routes” is an issue of time – but also, of social class.

Of his own experience, he said: “Once I knew my picture was being posted on different platforms, saying this is the group of members who are advocating for LGBT+… I knew I had to escape.

“I could not even hide in my own parents’ house, because the violence could have come from any side.”

Having an active visa, he was able to quickly flee, but the complicated and lengthy visa process makes it “very hard for people who urgently have to leave the country.”

“I would not have had time to do that,” he said. “And also I don’t think I would have had the mental capacity to even go through it.”

Bahiru continued: “The second thing is the class element – who are the people who would be able to access and afford to pay for the visa?

“Also, who will qualify, according to the expectations that the UK Government requires?”

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