Queering International Refugee Law

Asylum law and policy, sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) are nowadays intrinsically interwoven. Queer migration scholars have explored how sexuality and gender relate with several other characteristics in constituting the scope and nature of migration, and refugees are no exception to this. Although human rights have been increasingly recognized irrespective of one’s SOGI at international, regional and domestic levels, legal frameworks do not yet tackle violations of such rights effectively. As a result, members of SOGI minorities may be forced to flee their countries of origin to protect themselves, often making SOGI-based asylum claims in host countries. Since the Refugee Convention was born, there has been a continuous battle for recognition of SOGI claims, within a system that was not designed with SOGI minorities in mind.