“Offer of free counselling and training for municipalities and districts on the topic of vulnerable LGBTIQ* refugees”.
20. September 2023Our project ” Fluchtgrund: queer – Queer Refugees Deutschland “offers free counselling and training for staff, decision-makers and volunteers in municipal accommodations, especially in the large German states where specialised counselling centres are extremely geographically dispersed. The same applies to all institutions, social institutions and municipal departments that work with LGBTQ* refugees.
We have already gained a lot of experience in this area in recent years and know about the problems and heavy burdens in municipal accommodations. In varied and interactive teaching units with background information, best practices and sensitisation, protection against violence, safe spaces and integration, all participants will acquire the necessary knowledge and confidence to improve the situation for LGBTQ* refugees in under-served areas.
Travel costs and accommodation will be covered. Number of participants in face-to-face attendance: at least 15, virtual attendance: 11.
A certificate of participation will be issued.
Registration and counselling: queer-refugees@lsvd.de
Our new offer: Training on sexual and gender diversity a topic for teachers in integration and language courses
4. September 2023“Diversity welcome! Sexual orientation and gender identity in Germany – thematic companion booklet for teaching in integration courses”
In the curriculum for integration courses, two hours of teaching on the topic are prescribed.
These are the contents of the training for integration course leaders:
An introduction to gender and sexual identities.
The persecution situation in the countries of origin – why do LGBTI people flee?
The individual sections in the textbook, together with the solutions booklet.
Consolidation of learning through interactive questions, dealing with questions about and rejection of the teaching content on the topic of LGBTI* and gender issues.
There are no costs for the institutions or the teaching staff, as we do not take any fees. To participate in the training, an appropriate terminal device with a screen, camera and microphone is required, for participants to log in via Zoom. At the end of the training sessions, the main focus will be on concrete proposals of how participants can better meet the special needs of LGBTI people with a migration background in their everyday work. We can provide materials for this. At the end of the training, we will issue a certificate of attendance.
We need the respective email addresses of the participants for the personalised invitations. Of course, we handle the data in a GDPR-compliant manner.
Here are our two own training dates: 9/11 and 28/11/23 and 07/12/23 from 4 to 8 p.m.
Register at: queer-refugees@lsvd.de
The booklet can also be ordered free of charge from this address.
Federal Ministry of the Interior abolishes behavioural prognoses for LGBTI refugees within the asylum procedure
17. October 2022As early as 2013, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that asylum authorities and courts “cannot reasonably expect, in order to avoid the risk of persecution, the applicant for asylum to conceal his homosexuality in his country of origin or to exercise reserve in the expression of his sexual orientation”. In 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court took up this landmark ECJ ruling in a decision and confirmed that these provisions must also apply to bisexual asylum seekers. However, asylum applications from queer refugees continued to be rejected, among other things on the basis of prognoses that they by choice would keep their sexual orientation or gender identity secret anyway.
Bundesministerin des Innern und für Heimat Nancy Faeser (Quelle: Peter Jülich)
“We are very pleased that the federal government has kept its word and that the discretion requirement now has really been abolished within BAMF. We would like to explicitly thank the responsible Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, for the consistent implementation, but also the government factions of SPD, Greens and FDP for their support,” said Patrick Dörr on behalf of the LSVD federal board. “We hope that queer refugees from persecuting states will finally receive systematic protection in Germany. However, the change made is not a change in the legal situation, as only the BAMF instructions have been adjusted. However, we still advise queer refugees whose asylum applications have already been finally rejected due to discretion prognoses and who are therefore only tolerated to examine the possibility of a follow-up asylum application. The new provisions have increased the chance of at least being granted deportation obstacles,” Dörr continues.
Important information for people fleeing Ukraine who are not Ukrainians:
20. March 2022Such a simplified procedure according to Section 24 of the Residence Act has only advantages for those seeking protection: They receive benefits (financial support and access to medical care) similar to those in the conventional asylum procedure. Unlike in the conventional asylum procedure though, they have the following rights right from the start:
- the general right to work
- the general possibility to participate in integration courses (language and orientation course)
- the general possibility to search for private accomodation (in the asylum procedure there is initially an obligation to live in collective refugee accommodation)
- also the possibility of a “change of lane” to another residence titel if necessary (e.g. for work or for studies) – whereby further requirements apply here
These simplified procedures are similar to conventional asylum procedures, as in both kinds of procedures it will be examined whether the persons concerned would actually be at risk if they were to return to their respective countries of origin. However, in case of the simplified procedures, this examination will not be carried out by the “German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees” (BAMF), but by the respective foreigners authority (Ausländerbehörde).
It is important to know that even if the application for a residence permit according to Section 24 of the residence permit is unsuccessful, there will still be the option of filing a conventional asylum application.
In any case, it is advisable for people who have fled to Germany from Ukraine and who do not have Ukrainian citizenship to seek advice from specialized counseling centers and, if necessary, to search for legal support.
With regard to cases of LGBTI third-country nationals who have fled Ukraine, LSVD asks refugees, counseling centers and supporters to inform us by using use the contact form. In these cases, LSVD can support the foreigners authorities in assessing the risk situation in the respective countries by sending comprehensive LGBTI-specific country of origin information.
[These notes reflect LSVD’s understanding of the current legal situation and of the letter from the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) of March 14, 2022.]
