Letter to the German Government: LGBTIQ Afghans in urgent need of rescue from the Taliban persecution
15 February 2022
Dear Minister Baerbock, dear Minister Faeser,
In our letter of 16 December 2021, the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD), together with other queer organisations, called on your Ministries to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) Afghans in a German humanitarian admission programme. Our petition “It's a matter of life and death: Save Afghan LGBTI* now!” (“Es geht um Leben und Tod: Afghanische LSBTI* jetzt retten!”) has collected more than ten thousand signatures and appeals to the German Government to act immediately and save as many queer Afghans as possible. Unfortunately, we have not yet received a response from either of the Ministries. Therefore, we, LSVD, ILGA Asia, 6RANG, Afghan LGBT, Rat&Tat and the CSD Bremen, would like to reiterate and underline our demand.
Long before the Taliban took over the country, LGBTIQ individuals in Afghanistan were constantly in danger. As you know, the Taliban’s rule has further exacerbated the situation and we are now contacted daily by Afghan people who fear for their lives. The Taliban are making a targeted effort to identify and persecute LGBTIQ people. We receive reports of torture, murder, extrajudicial executions and capital punishment enforced against LGBTIQ individuals. Even those who manage to flee across the border to the neighbouring Iran and Pakistan face long prison sentences and even death simply for being queer.
When you launched your “Action Plan Afghanistan” (“Aktionsplan Afghanistan”), we were shocked that the newly formed government, which had promised to renew and expand its support for queer people, had seemingly forgotten about LGBTIQ Afghans, while explicitly mentioning various other vulnerable groups. It was only after the publication of Secretary of State Susanne Baumann’s response to Cornelia Möhring’s (Member of the German Bundestag) parliamentary question that we received confirmation that around eighty LGBTIQ human rights defenders had been taken in by the new Government as part of the humanitarian evacuation effort. As far as we know, this commitment dates back to the previous Federal Government. We were also pleased to hear that you are planning to “take into account the specific situation of different groups of people – including LGBTI people” in future humanitarian admission programmes and to “further protect the rights of LGBTI people through projects to strengthen local civil society”.
We, therefore, ask you to include the following points in your measures to rescue Afghan LGBTIQ persons in Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries:
LGBTIQ Afghans are to be explicitly named in the resettlement order as a persecuted group that is "in particular need of special protection”.
The application of the criterion "in particular need of protection" shall be implemented by administrative officials in consultation with ILGA Asia and LSVD.
The Foreign Office shall consider applications for admission submitted to it by ILGA Asia, LSVD and other organisations, issue admission permits and include such persons in an appropriate humanitarian evacuation list to facilitate their timely evacuation.
The Federal Foreign Office supports the evacuations in a targeted manner, e.g. by consulting with neighbouring countries on transport options as other necessary arrangements and assistance.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior promotes an alliance of the willing within Germany by accepting and supporting any pledges of acceptance from federal states, districts, and municipalities. In doing so, it must be taken into account that LGBTIQ persons should be accommodated predominantly in metropolitan areas in order to ensure that they have access to adequate and specialized support structures.
Both Ministries implement these measures in close cooperation with the LGBTIQ community to ensure optimal implementation of the resettlement programme. Support in identifying vulnerable queer Afghans can be provided by projects such as “BeSAFE –Identifying Special Protection Needs in RefugeeReception” (“BeSAFE -Besondere Schutzbedarfe bei der Aufnahme von Geflüchteten erkennen”), funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
The LSVD, local LGBTIQ associations such as Rat&Tat and CSD Bremen, which have many years of experience in supporting LGBTIQ refugees, as well as the LGBTIQ community as a whole are happy to support the Federal Government in quickly identifying those in need of protection. We look forward to supporting the federal states and municipalities in welcoming LGBTIQ Afghans into German society and into our communities. We are happy to discuss our ideas on how best to identify, protect and integrate LGBTIQ Afghans. An invitation from the two ministries to German LGBTIQ associations to start these discussions would not only be a positive sign for the goals formulated in the coalition agreement, but also a glimmer of hope for queer Afghans.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Dörr
Board member
LVSD
Henry Koh
Executive Director
ILGA Asia
Shadi Amin
Coordinator
6rang (Iranian Lesbian & Transgender Network)
Artemis Akbary
President and co-founder Afghan LGBT
Reiner Neumann
Bremer Rat & Tat Zentrum
Robert Dadanski
Bremen CSD
