BY FLEMMING CHRISTIANSEN
"Transgender human rights activist Fernanda
Milán from Guatemala was due to be deported from Denmark after refusal of
asylum.
But now Refugee Board has changed his mind.
It is the first time a transgender person seeking asylum has obtained
protection in this country. Fernanda Milán has even been recognized as
'genuine' refugee under the UN Refugee Convention.
Fundamental importance
The Asylum Counselor in the organization LGBT
Denmark (National Association for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
people) Søren Laursen is no doubt that the decision is of great fundamental
importance.
"Now it has been established that
people who are persecuted in their home country because of their sexuality or
gender identity, need the same protection as other groups," says Søren
Laursen.
Fernanda Milán herself was almost disbelief
when she got the message. "Finally justice, I thought."
Since she was little, she felt that her
body was wrong, so even at the age of 14 she began taking female hormones. She
has experienced persecution and violence in her homeland, where police have
threatened her – but also because she went public and openly fought for
transgender people's rights.
In Guatemala, trans people have few opportunities
but to earn a living out of prostitution. Fernanda left the country and ended
up in a brothel in Jutland in 2009, and after a police raid she came in contact
with the organization's Nest International – but even in Denmark, life has not
been easy.
Fernanda Milán has talked about humiliation
and abuse committed by other asylum seekers in asylum center Sandholm.
Rare refugee status
Shortly after the rejection of asylum in
September LGBT Denmark wrote to the Refugee Board arguiing that Denmark protects
sexual minority asylum-seekers far worse than many other countries.
People who are persecuted in their home
country because of their sexuality or gender identity, can have an equal need
of protection as other groups
Søren Laursen, Asylum Counselor in the
organization LGBT Denmark said "Already in Denmark, in certain cases there have been gay, lesbian and
transgender people who called protection. But refugee status under the UN
Convention, which gives more rights, had never been granted.
The answer came in a letter, in which the
Board found that "LGBT people will in their view be recognized as
belonging to a particular social group and thus covered by the Refugee
Convention." Since the new message is Fernanda’s refugee status has become
a reality.
She has here been strongly supported by
grassroots organization T-Refugee, and according to spokesperson Stine Larsen
also that transgender future easier could get asylum - because now the Refugee
Convention in the back.
The long and torturous case demonstrates in
Stine Larsen's view, however, that "it can be completely random who gets
asylum '.
"But we are pleased that it pays to
fight alongside people like Fernanda. Many strings were pulled, and it is a
testament to the fact that Denmark, after all, is a democracy. "
Lawyer Gunnar Homann, who has led the
proceedings before the Refugee Board, is in no doubt about the importance of
the Decision. "It will probably also lead to homosexuals being able to
claim the status of UN refugees," he said.
The decision of Fernanda Milan's case came
in November, but the support group has not publicized it until now because
Fernanda did not feel well at the time. She tells Politiken that she has been
exhausted after all this struggle.
"But now I have to make me a future
and find jobs. And I will continue to work for justice for transgender people
and others whose human rights are not recognized. ""
Translated from Danish by Natacha Kennedy
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