Final Conference
The SOGICA final conference took place over three days – 7-9 July 2020 – online and the SOGICA team would like to thank everyone who was involved in making it such a success.
The conference consisted of 26 sessions (including 2 workshops, a performance and a screening) and 3 keynote addresses, more than 80 speakers and panellists, and just over 600 attendees. Speakers and participants were from many different countries and included researchers, activists, practitioners and policy makers.
If you have any questions about the conference or the SOGICA project, please feel free to contact us at info@sogica.org.
Videos of conference sessions
Below are links to video recordings of the conference presentations and key-note speeches. We have also included links to some Powerpoint presentations and papers by individual presenters who have been kind enough to share them. For confidentiality reasons, we have not included video footage of Q&A sessions and some presentations and workshops have also been omitted at the request of contributors.
Day 1: Tuesday 7 July
Introduction by Prof Nuno Ferreira, SOGICA project
Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla (with live-streaming on Facebook)
Keynote speech by Katrin Hugendubel, ILGA-Europe
Chair: Nina Held/ Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla (with live-streaming on Facebook)
Chair: Carmelo Danisi / Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla
- Silence Written in Policy: Global Compact on Refugees and LGBTIQA+ persons – Tina Dixson
- Filling the gaps? The role of UNHCR ‘soft law’ instruments in developing the EU framework on asylum claims based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity – Denise Venturi
- The Yogyakarta Principles plus 10: Advocacy opportunities at the national, regional and international level – Paul Dillane
Chair: Chiara Scissa/ Facilitator: Magdalena Müssig
- LGBT claimants denied refugee status due to multi-layer marginalisation – Allan Briddock
- SOGI-related asylum claims in Greece and the legal implications arising from the specific protection needs of LGBTI person – Maria Mpasdeki and Zafeiris Tsiftzis
- What is the impact of international and national law on LGBTQI+ Syrian refugees in Turkey? – Ayşe Uzun
Chair: Giorgio dell’Amico / Facilitator: Alba Trabandt
- The Bisexuality Blind Spot: An exploration into asylum claims on the basis of persecution due to bisexual orientation in the Netherlands – Sofia D’Arcio
- Trans* and Inter* Persons in the Context of Migration/Flight – Prof Christel Baltes-Löhr
- Reality is not binary: Spotlighting the existing gaps in the EU and Italian asylum system for transgender applicants – Chiara Scissa and Elisabeth Cucco (paper also available)
Chair: Denise Venturi / Facilitator: Magdalena Müssig
- How are SOGI related asylum claims legally adjudicated at domestic, EU and Council of Europe levels? – Edward Mutebi
- The protection of LGBTIQ asylum seekers: the evolution of the Jurisprudence of the two European Courts and the assessment of credibility – Gerardo Petrillo
- LGBTIQ+ refugees and social isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany – Dr Nina Held and Dr Mengia Tschalaer
Chair: Nicholas Hersh/ Facilitator: Martin Guerin Kanouo Siegning
- Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Immigration and Reception. Italian perspective – Mara Biancamano
- Asylum seekers and their status as refugees or as beneficiaries of international protection: the Italian approach – Ornella Ordituro
- Transcribing the margins: A community based research examining trans specificity in Dutch asylum procedure – Willemijn van Kempen and Alejandra Ortiz
Workshop 1 [no recording available]
Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla
The Experience of Simultaneity in Context of SOGI, Asylum and Society – Katja Schroder and Marlen Vahle
Chair: Barry O’Leary/ Facilitator: Esra Demirkol Colosio
- What is a credible narrative? The problematic utilization of credibility in SOGI asylum determination in European asylum courts – Dr Nicole Hoellerer and Dr Nick Gill
- The Essential is Invisible to the Eyes: Complexities Regarding the Concept of “Perceived Sexual Orientation” and its Legal Implications in Asylum Procedures Credibility – Lucas Ramon Mendos
Chair: Moira Dustin / Facilitator: Rose Gordon-Orr
- Assessing the asylum claims of trans and gender non-conforming claimants – Mariza Avgeri
- The Refugee Status Determination of Transgender Asylum-Seekers: A Queer Critique – Irene Manganini
- Challenges in the eligibility of lesbians as asylum claimants based on sexual orientation – Letícia Vieira da Silva
Day 2: Wednesday 8 July
Keynote speech by Professor Emeritus Vitit Muntarbhorn of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok; KBE; formerly UN Special Rapporteur, UN Independent Expert and member of UN Commissions of Inquiry on Human Rights (Powerpoint also available)
Chair: Carmelo Danisi/ Facilitator: Nuno Ferreira (with live-streaming on Facebook)
Chair: Haris Eloy / Facilitator: Rose Gordon-Orr
- New approaches to study SOGI asylum claimants and refugees – Vitor Lopes Andrade
- A Digital Archive of LGBTIQ Oral Histories about Forced Migration – Renee Dixson
- Voice through the visual: exploring LGBT+ asylum seekers’ narratives through photovoice – Paschal Gumadwong Bagonza
Chair: Mengia Tschalaer / Facilitator: Marie Pritchard
- Pride or Shame? LGBTI asylum in The Netherlands – Sabine Jansen
- The Emotional Journey and the DSSH model: a positive tool for credibility assessment – Dr S Chelvan
- Credibility assessment in asylum claims based on SO by the Greek Asylum Service – Sophia Zisakou
Chair: Ernesto Fiocchetto / Facilitator: Esra Demirkol Colosio
- Multiple Precarities: Reflections from SOGI Refugees applications to a Civil Society Protection Project in Turkey – Jade Cemre Erciyes and Ilksen Gürsoy
- Innovative and Intersectional Practices for Young LGBTQI Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Sweden: The experience of two projects of RFSL Ungdom – Fernando Damazio dos Santos, Haris Eloy and Alexandra Politidis Palm
Chair: Sofia D’Arcio / Facilitator: Carmelo Danisi
- Identità in TransiTO. Reception and support for migrants and asylum seekers Trans – Letizia De-Coll’ and Luca Falzea
- LGBTI+ migrants stranded in the Italian reception system – Rafael Pascoal
- If you leave, the blame’s on you? A human rights-based perspective on LGBTIQ asylum seekers’ entitlement to protection from violence in accommodation centres – Dr Petra Sussner
Session 12 – Country of Origin Information (COI)
Chair: Alexandra Politidis Palm/ Facilitator: Melody Greaves
- The importance of source assessment: Comparative analysis of the U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practice – Stephanie Huber
- Researching SOGI issues in the context of COI: example Iraq – Gabriele Roth
- The role of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and COI – Adriana Van Den Berg
Session 13 – Agency I [not all presentations available]
Chair: Vitor Lopes Andrade/ Facilitator: Martin Guerin Kanouo Siegning
- Cultural implications and social challenges in the support and assessment of asylum seekers in Italy – Dany Carnassale
- Queer asylum seekers in Paris: negotiating (non-) belonging in urban spaces – Florent Chossière
- Austrian Asylum Politics: Queer Asylum and Intersectional Mobilization in Times of Hypernormalization of Far Right Politics, Greenwashing & Homonationalism in Austria – Mag Mach
‘This Is Who I Am’ [no recording available]
Chair: Sebastian Aguirre/ Facilitator: Moira Dustin
Ice and Fire UK performance followed by panel discussion with Elceta Marsha Ennis, Stephina Gwetsa, Mazen Masoud, and Charity Matiya.
Day 3: Thursday 9 July
Chair: Fernando Damazio dos Santos / Facilitator: Alba Trabandt
- The Right to Legal Assistance for LGBTIQ* Asylum Seekers in Germany & the Role of Volunteer Initiatives such as the Queer Refugee Law Clinic Berlin – Tina-Maleen Bölle
- Queer Sisterhood Project: the value of refugee-led support and advocacy – Renee Dixson and Tina Dixson
- LGBTQI+ asylum advocacy under “friendly” and “hostile” governments: lessons from the USA – Dr Siobhan McGuirk
Chair: Jade Cemre Erciyes / Facilitator: Rose Gordon-Orr
- ‘Rainbow Statelessness’ – Between Sexual Citizenship and Legal Theory: Exploring the Statelessness-SOGIESC Nexus for LGBTIQ+ Asylum Seekers – Thomas McGee
- The role of social work in supporting SOGI asylum seekers and refugees – queering and decolonizing social work practice – Inka Söderström
Session 16 – Micro Rainbow panel
Chair: Anbid Zamen / Facilitator: Esra Demirkol Colosio
A holistic approach to integration of LGBTI refugees – Alana Eissa, Lara Goodwin and Barry O’Leary
Chair: Leila Zadeh / Facilitator: Moira Dustin
- Developments in the last decade – Bojana Asanovic
- Why Heteronormativity Matters: The not so lost Requirement of Discretion in (Austrian) Asylum Law – Dr Petra Sussner
- The Concealment Controversy. Sexual orientation, discretion reasoning and the scope of refugee protection – Dr Janna Wessels
Chair: Siobhan McGuirk / Facilitator: Martin Guerin Kanouo Siegning
- Best Practice in the reception of Trans Asylum seekers and Refugees in Italy: the case of Casa Caterina – Carolina Vesce and Valentina Coletta
- Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Immigration and Reception. southern perspective, the Neapolitan case study – Dr Carmela Ferrara
- UK Legal aid reforms and their impact on SOGI asylum claims – Dr Jo Wilding
Chair: Vitor Lopes Andrade / Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla
- Religion and NGO support in the UK – Dr Moira Dustin
- The role of religion for identity and integration of LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers and refugees in Germany – Ernesto Fiocchetto
- Religious experiences during asylum seeking in the UK and its reflection within legal decision making – Claire Fletcher
Chair: Petra Sussner / Facilitator: Alba Trabandt
- The UK: Excessive focus on articulation of ‘self-realisation’ and development of identity – Leila Zadeh
- The Netherlands: Assumptions of an emotional process of awareness, from shame to self-acceptance – Sabine Jansen
- Norway: Expectations of ‘self-actualisation’ and detailed reflections on one’s sexual orientation – Andrea Gustafsson Grønningsæter
- Sweden: Criteria in the Swedish credibility assessments of SOGIE asylum claims – Aino Gröndahl
Workshop 2 [no recording available]
Facilitator: Marie Pritchard
- Working WITH LGBTIQ refugees and migrants, not on/above/about us! – Masha Beketova
SOGICA videos – screening and discussion
Chair: Nina Held / Facilitator: Nuno Ferreira
Screening followed by panel discussion with Mazen Masoud, Jayne Rowlands, and Anbid Zaman
Chair: Jade Cemre Erciyes / Facilitator: Nuno Ferreira
- A Gender-Sensitive Securitization of the Common European Asylum System? The EU List of “Safe Countries of Origin” and its Impact on LGBTI+ Asylum-Seekers – Amandine Le Bellec
- Any protection from abroad in times of pandemic and border closures? The ‘roulette game’ of people suffering persecution in countries of origin and transit – Dr Carmelo Danisi
Chair: Moira Dustin / Facilitator: Nina Held
- Canada’s LGBTQ+ refugee sponsorship program – Nicholas Hersh
- Social Remittances and Transnational Activism amongst Transgender Asylum-Seekers in Europe and the United States – Isabel Soloaga
- Best Practice in the Resettlement of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (LGBTI Refugees) – Paul Dillane
Chair: Nuno Ferreira / Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla (with live-streaming on Facebook)
Concluding comments – Prof Nuno Ferreira
Facilitator: Mohammad Dalla (with live-streaming on Facebook)
Further information
The SOGICA project final conference took place from 7-9 July 2020 and was an opportunity to:
- present the SOGICA project findings and recommendations;
- give a platform to academics, policy makers, practitioners, activists and refugees addressing sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) asylum in innovative ways;
- foster interdisciplinary, cross-sector and international engagement between individuals with an interest in this topic, including those most directly involved as asylum claimants in European countries.
The SOGICA project team invited a wide range of participants, including asylum claimants and refugees, academics, policy makers, practitioners, activists, and anyone with an interest in sexual orientation and gender identity asylum.
About the project
SOGICA – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum: A European human rights challenge’ was a four-year project (2016-2020) funded by the European Research Council (ERC). Based in the School of Law at the University of Sussex, it set to produce the necessary evidence base for a more just and humane asylum process for individuals seeking refuge in Europe on the basis of their SOGI.
To this end, since 2016, the project has studied the social and legal experiences of SOGI asylum claimants across Europe, by exploring the European Union (EU) and Council of Europe (CoE) frameworks and by focusing on Germany, Italy and the UK as case studies. During this time, SOGICA carried out more than 150 interviews and focus group discussions with asylum claimants, refugees, decision-makers, practitioners, and experts in the field, and conducted observations of hearings of SOGI claimants in courts and tribunals. The team produced a number of publications on different aspects of SOGI asylum (such as credibility, persecution, discretion, domestic and European adjudication of these claims) and made presentations at conferences and seminars across Europe. A database of materials, website of resources and network of more than 1,000 friends and allies beyond academia, was established. The SOGICA formally ended in 2020 with a monograph and further peer-reviewed articles pending publication, all of which are intended to inform fairer SOGI asylum processes in Europe and greater sensitivity and humanity for SOGI minorities outside the legal process.