Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under fire after saying being gay should not be a criteria to green light asylum claims, urging for a change to the UN Refugee Convention.
In a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC on Tuesday, September 26 the Home Secretary’s comments drew criticism from LGBTQ+ communities and refugee organisations.
“Let me be clear, there are vast swathes of the world where it is extremely difficult to be gay, or to be a woman,” she said. “Where individuals are being persecuted, it is right that we offer sanctuary.
“But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.”
The Refugee Council, whose CEO Enver Solomon, responded to the Home Secretary’s comments, saying: “pulled up the drawbridge” to refugees over their sexuality was “a world which turns its back on a belief in shared humanity and shared rights”.
Refugee campaigner Lord Dubs added: “In many countries being gay is an imprisonable offence. For some, it means the death penalty. She’s repeating the shameful policy that people should not be treated as refugees if they arrive here by boat. But she’s closed virtually all other means of arrival.”
