Protester mot avvisning av transkvinna

I Danmark arrangeras protester mot utvisning av en asylsökande transkvinna från Guatemala.

FPES har fått följande information via mejl med en vädjan om att skriva på en namninsamling, som finns här:

http://www.skrivunder.net/stop_deportation_of

Här är ett pressmeddelande:

Trans People protest against the deportation of Fernanda Milan to Guatemala.

Denmark does not respect EU Convention for refugees on trans identity as grounds for asylum.

Fernanda Milan told recently on national TV (DR1- evening show), the shocking story of how she experienced being raped in Center Sandholm asylumn camp, where she was placed by the Danish Red Cross as an asylum seeker. As a trans woman, she was placed in the mens department, since Center Sandholm do not recognize trans identity.

She fled and was later trafficked and sold as a prostitute around Denmark. After the rejection of an asylum application to the Refugee Board, she is now facing deportation to Guatemala, where her life is in danger.

On Saturday a group of trans people from the voluntary group T-lounge Society and other sympathizers will demonstrate against her deportation, and create public awarness to the fact that Danish asylum law does not recognize gender identity as a particular social group entitled to refugee status, despite directives from the EU and UN calls for this. “Denmark does not recognize trans people as Convention refugees, since Denmark does not recognize these conventions!”
Søren Lauersen, LGBT Denmark.

The international LGBT organization ILGA write clearly on their website that Denmark does not comply with the directives, and that trans people are not guaranteed recognition of their gender identity in asylum centers. This has been shown very clearly in Fernandas case, and also highlighted in the subsequent rejection of the problem from both the Danish Red Cross and Danish Refugee Board, who have been responsible for the incidents.

With the demonstration the organizers want to make politicians and the public aware that Denmark does not meet the UN human rights conventions, as well as the the fact that the conditions for trans people in Denmark are critical also within psychiatry, health, access to employment and social affairs generally. This is especially striking after Copenhagen Pride 2012, where other areas within the gay and lesbian community are experiencing acceptance and integration in many important areas, such as church weddings, adoption, family planning and better conditions in the job market.
None of the Danish LGBT organisations or communities apart from the T-lounge Society in Warehouse9 and LGBT Denmark, have either mentioned or reacted on this serious case.
Many trans people continue to live marginalized lives and must fight every day for acceptance and basic human rights in the Danish wellfare state.

FACTS

October 2008:

Fernanda Milan was attacked and threatened by police officers in Guatemala. Fernanda was a member of the LGBT organization OASIS and fought for transgender people’s rights. She fears being murderd by the police which is often for human rights activists in Guatemala a reality.

2009:

After living underground in Guatemala for several months Fernanda fled to Europe and with the help from LGBT Denmark she was accommodated in Center Sandholm as an asylum seeker. In spite of her identity as a trans woman they placed her in the mens department, where she was subjected to rape. She fled and came into contact with prostitution.

February 2011:

Fernanda was rescued by the Danish police after being subjected to human trafficking and forced to prostitution in 2 years in Jutland and Copenhagen.

23rd January 2012:

After a year’s stay in “Reden International’s” shelter for traficked women Fernanda recieves a rejection of her asylum application.

8th August 2012:

Fernanda recieves notice of deportation to Guatemala on 12 September 2012. This happens after

a six-month waiting period for appeal with the help of lawyer Jens Bruhn-Petersen, which was never completed.

EVENT Saturday 25 August 2012

DEMONSTRATON 13-16

WAREHOUSE9, Halmtorvet 11 C, DK-1711 Copenhagen V

SUPPORT PARTY 21-01

WAREHOUSE9, Bar / Lounge, Halmtorvet 11 B, DK-1711 Copenhagen V

Dj miss fish & Dj Mitzucker

Admission: Donation of your choice.

ORGANIZERS

T-Lounge Society – (Voluntary association of trans people in Denmark)

T-Lounge society organizes monthly cafe and lounge events in performance theater WAREHOUSE9 in the Brown Meat Packing District.

Supported by “Interveene in the City” Copenhagen Diversity Charter under the Employment and Integration Administration (www.blanddigibyen.dk)

WEB tlounge.dk

CONTACT

Jørgen Callesen

Mobile 27293387

Email jorgen.callesen @ warehouse9.dk

ILGA Europe – Equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people in Europe

http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/issues/asylum_in_europe/country_by_country/dk