The South Sudan government wants to force queer and trans refugees in the Gorom camp to move into Juba city, where they will have less protection and less support from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
By Jack Molay
East Africa has become a very dark place to be queer, indeed. American fundamentalists are encouraging anti-LGBTQ policies in many of the countries in this area. Deep rooted cultural homophobia and transphobia does not help.
This has led to a complex pattern of queer people fleeing from one country to the other in hope of a better future. The immediate need is to seek refuge from violence and death in one’s own country. Another hope is to find a camp where one may be be relocated to another and more LGBTQ-friendly country.
The latter is the main reason for there being several hundred Ugandan LGBTQ refugees in the Gorom camp in South Sudan. Until Trump took over they had some chance of being granted asylum in the US.
The role of UNHCR
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has tried to protect LGBTQ refugees both in Gorom in South Sudan and in the Kakuma camp in Kenya. They have also managed to organize continuing support for all refugees in the camp, in spite of Trump’s dismantling of USAID.
In early April the South Sudanese authorities wanted to kick all the LGBTQ refugees out the camp, and at the time the UNHCR managed to stop this from taking place. Now, however, refugees in the camp report that the new policy is back in place. LGBTQ refugees tells us that the UNHCR has asked the refugees to move to Juba in a few days.
According to these refugees the UNHCR has told them refugees that the agency will provide them with support in Juba. However, the refugees have been told by the South Sudanese not to stay together in one place, and they have not been offered transportation or new homes. Given that they are very poor, this is a recipe for disaster.
The Goma camp is situated just outside Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
The UNHCR response
Olga Sarrado, UNHCR Global Spokesperson for East Africa and the Horn of Africa, confirms to us that the agency is aware of the request by the Government of South Sudan, through the Commission for Refugee Affairs (CRA), for LGBTIQ+ asylum-seekers to relocate from the Gorom refugee settlement to Juba Town.
She says that the CRA, representing the South Sudan government, has based the request on the current security situation in Gorom, where hostility from host communities and local authorities toward the presence of LGBTIQ+ individuals has increased.
She continues:
While UNHCR has been working to process resettlement cases for extremely vulnerable refugees, including some LGBTIQ+ asylum-seekers and others with protection needs, recent reductions in resettlement quotas have limited departures.
To date, only 49 asylum-seekers have been resettled to third countries. While efforts continue to secure additional resettlement opportunities, there is currently no immediate prospect of resettlement for most of these cases. Local integration in Juba or other parts of South Sudan is likely to be the most viable option for many.
Should LGBTIQ+ asylum-seekers choose to move to Juba Town, UNHCR will continue to provide legal protection and advocate with humanitarian partners to ensure access to basic assistance for urban refugees.
In one way she is presenting moving out of Juba as something the refugees can chose to do, rather than something they will be forced to do. On the other hand, she also clearly acknowledges that the South Sudanese want to force them out.
She continues:
In addition, UNHCR is advocating with authorities to avoid any forced evictions from Gorom, as such actions would significantly heighten the security and survival risks for affected individuals. Unfortunately, neither UNHCR nor its partners currently have funding to provide an immediate life-saving response should forced relocation occur.
We take this to mean that the UNHCR have not given up their attempts to make the South Sudanese allowing the LGBTQ refugees to stay, but it seems to us that this hope is tenuous at best.
Homophobia and transphobia
Note that according to Sarrado, the reason the South Sudanese want to move the queer refugees into Juba, is that the host communities and the local communities are - in our words - homophobic and transphobic.
These anti-LGBTQ sentiments are also found among people in power. President Salva Kiir Mayardit has said homosexuality does not exist in South Sudan. Christian leaders, who have a lot of power in South Sudan, have simply denounced same-sex relationships as a “perversion”. The law prohibits “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”. Visas are not given to LGBTQ foreigners.
There is no reason to believe that people in Juba are less queerphobic than the communities around Gorom, and given that the LGBTQ refugees are asked to split up, they will have fewer means to defend themselves. Nor do they know people in Juba that may be of help. There is, for good reasons, no official LGBTQ organizations operating in Juba.
This may end in disaster.
Photo of Juba street scene: Erich Karnberger
See also:
Republic of South Sudan LGBTQI+ Resources
“Surviving in the Gorom refugee camp in South Sudan”
“LGBTQ rights in South Sudan”
“Study Reveals Barriers Faced by South Sudanese Media in Covering LGBTQI+ Issues”
“Pope, Anglican, Presbyterian minister denounce anti-gay laws”
“US hate groups fuel anti-LGBTQ rights movement in Africa”
“Severe danger facing LGBTQ refugees in camp in South Sudan”
Queer Asylum Seekers at Gorom Refugee Camp in South Sudan in Need of Aid
