In this third episode of our refugee series, host Trystan speaks with Dr S Chelvan, an activist human rights lawyer and head of immigration and law at 33 Bedford Row, to learn about the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ refugees when claiming asylum. When Dr Chelvan started, there was no model at all for processing LGBTQ+ asylum applications, which led to some appalling situations. Perhaps most notoriously, the Home Office could at times engage in an hugely inappropriate and invasive line of questioning, expecting someone claiming asylum to somehow 'prove' they were LGBTQ+. Such refugees were often met with disbelief, with enormous pressure to adhere to a usually straight, cis officer's expectations of what an LGBTQ+ person was like in order to gain the right to remain. Entering this context, Dr Chelvan has achieved worldwide recognition for his work supporting the asylum claims of LGBTQ+ people, as well as having created the Difference, Stigma, Shame and Harm (or DSSH) model, a humane and positive tool to process LGBTQ+ asylum claims, now used around the world, allowing countless people to find refuge in a new country.
You can follow Dr Chelvan on twitter @S_Chelvan
- as well as on Mastodon, @S_Chelvan@mas.to
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