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Listening and Learning: Giving Voice to Trans Experiences of Disasters

Elena Robertson
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This report highlights the persistent exclusion of transwomen and men from disaster risk reduction and response. This paper analyses the issues that often face transgender individuals such as denial of food and water, abuse, gender based violence, corrective rape, loss of safe spaces and intensive policies. There is a particular focus on the importance of space in trans lives and the need for space to play a role in disaster risk reduction. This paper uses surveys to highlight the experiences of transgender men and women in Australia and New Zealand after the Christchurch earthquake and the Queensland floods. Findings include issues such as marginality, displacement, interpersonal networks and issues with disaster response.

This paper calls for the training of personnel to adequately meet the medical and health needs of trans women and trans men, and emphasises the importance of moving beyond heteronormative assumptions of family and households in disaster risk reduction planning.

Gender identity and disaster response in Nepal

Elena Robertson
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Gender identity and disaster response in Nepal

While there is a lack of research, evidence suggests that people with diverse SOGIESC experience multiple forms of marginalisation during disasters. This paper looks specifically at the case of natuwas, people assigned male at birth but are feminine-presenting, following the 2008 Nepali floods. Natuwas typically migrate from Sunsari district to Bihar for work during the wedding season. Following the 2008 flood in Sunsari, 70,000 people were displaced, including natuwas. Many natuwas were relocated to areas far from the Bihar border, which made it prohibitively dangerous to travel to Bihar for work.  This meant that many natuwas were unable to earn income they and their families and communities relied upon. They also experienced increase discrimination and increased safety concerns and, as there was no formal support network in place, natuwas and other diverse SOGIESC identifying people were afraid to organise.

The biases of relief works also compounded the discrimination experienced by natuwas. Some natuwas reported that their families received less food from relief workers as ‘punishment’ for having a natuwa member in the family. The article offers suggestions on how Nepal, and other disaster-prone countries, can better incorporate the rights and considerations for the diverse SOGIESC community in disaster planning and response.

Disasters, Queer Narratives, and the News: How Are LGBTI Disaster Experiences Reported by the Mainstream and LGBTI Media?

Elena Robertson
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Disasters, Queer Narratives, and the News: How Are LGBTI Disaster Experiences Reported by the Mainstream and LGBTI Media?

The article investigates how LGBTI media and mainstream media reported or neglected to report the experiences of lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) people and communities during environmental disasters in Brisbane, Australia, and Christchurch, New Zealand. Disasters in other regions like Haiti and New Orleans are also significant examples featured in the paper. The following three areas are highlighted:

  1. The construction of natural disasters in and by media reporting;
  2. The place of LGBTI populations in media discourses, including both the LGBTI and mainstream media
  3. Research into vulnerability and resilience as experienced by LGBTI populations in disasters

The authors pinpoint the importance of the media during any pre-event and post-event awareness.  The paper underlines the issue of LGBTI inclusion and representation, and how lack of representation in the media perpetuates exclusion. Overall, the paper found that the mainstream media did not include the experiences of LGBTI people or mention the needs or concerns of this population in their reporting, nor do they use or include LGBTI informants or reporters.

Diverse and Inclusive Leadership Workshop Report

Elena Robertson
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Diverse and Inclusive Leadership Workshop Report

The objectives of the workshop were to identify and jointly define the research imperative, to agree on the research scope and approach, and to agree on how the research will take place.

The workshop explored why diversity and inclusion in humanitarian leadership matters to the Humanitarian Advisory Group, to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and to participant organisations.

The report includes the four most pressing questions chosen by participants for guiding future research, and methodologies were proposed for how these questions may be answered.

The report also includes the following methodology to guide future research:

  1. Map the diversity of the sector: using a State of Diversity Survey and Key Informant Interviews to capture in-depth information around the state of diversity and inclusion in the sector and explore the questions ‘what are the barriers and enablers to increased diversity in leadership?’ and  ‘what are we already doing?’.
  2. Organisation-elected case studies: this phase will explore existing organisational approaches to diverse and inclusive leadership by taking an action research approach with research partner organisations. It will explore a number of questions related to the particular context of the case study organisation. A number of possible approaches and tools are listed for conducting this phase of research.

The report includes a number of resources as appendices, such as themes forming from organisational priorities, possible recommendations for implementing in organisations and a State of Diversity survey tool.

Sexuality: A Missing Dimension in Development

Elena Robertson
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Sexuality: A Missing Dimension in Development

The paper discusses the work Sweden has been doing with its SRHR policies and development co-operation. The  concept paper aims to address a deeper meaning to ‘sexuality’ other than just reproductive health. The paper is divided into chapters; each chapter focuses on a different element of sexuality and why sexuality matters across thematic areas of development, including climate change, education, agricultural development, migration issues and gender equality. The paper gives recommendations for incorporating sexuality beyond sexual and reproductive health and rights into development practice and policy. The paper concludes by making commitments for Sida to incorporate sexuality into its practice, and to foster democratic decision-making process and support positive empowering approaches to sexuality.

Data on Diversity: Humanitarian Leadership Under the Spotlight

Elena Robertson
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Data on Diversity: Humanitarian Leadership Under the Spotlight

This report covers the key findings from a global survey, completed by 1479 individuals responded from 115 countries in 5 languages (Arabic, Bangla, English, French and Spanish). The report did not specifically investigate the real or perceived role of people from the diverse SOGIESC community in the humanitarian sector or in leadership positions; the survey interrogated binary gender representation, representation of people with disabilities; proportion of local vs international staff in leadership positions, and levels of education. The findings highlighted in this report mirror what we know from the private sector: women are over-represented in lower-level positions (entry level contributor= 78% women, 22% men; intern/volunteer=64% women, 36% men) and under-represented in higher-level, leadership positions (project level leadership= 68% women, 32% men vs program level leadership= 60% women, 40% men; organisational leadership=49% women, 51% men; senior & executive e= 43% women, 57% men). This overrepresentation of men is most acute in countries with high or extreme security risk (men = 69% most senior leadership position, 55% project leadership positions and 56% program leadership positions in high or extreme risk contexts).

Page 9 includes a pull-out box on security of aid working with diverse SOGIESC, noting that the survey did not collect data on diversity of SOGIESC due to ‘ethical considerations and challenges associated with designing a question that was cross-cultural and applied globally, across five languages.’ The box notes the additional organisational and personal risk that could accompany a same sex or gender diverse couple in a homophobic/hostile context. Page 10 notes that diversity and inclusion most often focuses on [binary] gender rather than other forms of diversity.

Only 4% of humanitarian leadership roles are occupied by people who identify as having a disability despite 15% of the world’s population having a disability. 60% of top-level humanitarian roles are filled by international staff despite 93% of humanitarian field personnel being local. INGOS have twice the proportion of local staff in senior positions as UN agencies—52% of respondents from INGOs who work in humanitarian leadership positions are local staff compared to 36% of UN respondents.   90% of humanitarian staff have an undergraduate or masters degree—69% of total respondents have a masters degree. The importance of deliberately striving for diversity by advertising through multiple alternative channels—rather than through western-oriented job boards or relying on ivy league universities—was noted by participants.   38% of respondents perceive their humanitarian leadership teams as diverse while 42% perceive leadership teams as inclusive. Men were significantly more likely than women to perceive their leadership teams as diverse and as inclusive—54% of men think their leadership team is mostly or very diverse compared to 28% of women. Respondents from Red Cross perceived their leadership teams to be the least diverse (22%) and inclusive (33%) of all agencies while respondents from national NGOs perceived their leadership teams to be the most diverse (62%) and inclusive (64%).

 

Country Policy and Information Note: Iraq Sexual Orientation, and gender identity and expression

Elena Robertson
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Country Policy and Information Note: Iraq Sexual Orientation, and gender identity and expression

These guidelines lay out the process by which Home Office personnel are to determine the legitimacy of an Iraqi citizen’s application for refugee status when the basis for the claim is diverse sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression. The guidelines provide an overview: the basis of the claim (‘fear of persecution or serious harm by state and/or non-state actors due to the person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression’); consideration of issues such as credibility with links to other resources; the reasons under the refugee convention that legitimise the right to claim asylum based on SOGIE; and the basis on which assessors may exclude an application.

The guidelines then discuss the consideration process and how to assess risk of state and non-state maltreatment of the applicant based on the applicant’s SOGIE and reiterates that Iraq does not have laws specifically discriminating against same-sex sexual activity and that evidence suggestions LGBTI people are at risk of mistreatment, the onus is on the application to demonstrate why their particular circumstances would put them at real risk from state actors. The report then considers non-state actors i.e. Daesh/ISIL/ISIS and Shia militia groups in Baghdad. The criteria for successful claims is detailed.

Country information is then provided. The legal context, state attitudes and treatment, reported violence and official responses to anti-LGBTI violence; non-state (Daesh/ISIL/ISIS) attitudes and treatment are discussed. The explicit targeting of same-sex sexual activity by ISIS is noted. A thorough bibliography is provided.

Mean Streets: Identifying and Responding to Urban Refugees’ Risks of Gender-Based Violence

Elena Robertson
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Mean Streets: Identifying and Responding to Urban Refugees’ Risks of Gender-Based Violence

As more and more refugees—roughly 60% of the world’s refugee population—settle and live in cities, it is increasingly important that the humanitarian sector have a solid understanding of the unique challenges urban resettlement presents. This year-long research study investigates the GBV risks and experiences of women, adolescent girls, LGBTI individuals, persons with disabilities and male survivors of sexual violence in Quito, Ecuador, Beirut, Lebanon, Kampala, Uganda and Delhi, India.

The report provides an introduction and overview of the current context: UNHCR has made a commitment to use refugee camps as a last resort and phase them out wherever feasible. This means more and more refugees are and will continue to be resettled in urban settings. This will, the report says, require ‘nothing less than a complete rethink and restructuring of traditional humanitarian response.’ The report provides recommendations for practitioners, including the need to systematise the engagement of local actors; develop proactive and targeted strategies for addressing GBV in shelter and livelihoods; prioritising and earmarking resources for outreach programs to meet the needs of at-risk populations; and formalising non-discrimination and standards of care for engaging all refugee subpopulations. 

There is a specific chapter on the risks for LGBTI refugees in urban contexts.

Several themes in findings emerged: LGBTI refugees prefer to live in cities to camps—many LGBTI refugees had originally fled their homes to camps but experienced discrimination, violence and rape. These experiences propelled them to move to a city where, in places like Beirut and Delhi, LGBTI organisations were already known. The lack of secure employment for LGBTI refugees was identified as a risk factor as financial precarity causes some LGBTI refugees to turn to survival sex; survival sex comes with additional safety and security risks, including increased likelihood of health issues. Respondents also shared experiences of violence from host community members as well as from other refugees: many feared being outed by other refugees, or being attacked for the sexual orientation or gender expression. Certain subgroups within the LGBTI population face different risks: Syrian lesbian refugees, for instance, identified that one of their biggest risks lies within the threat of corrective rape and forced marriage from their families—these risks have increased in Beirut where lesbian women have reduced mobility.

Respondents also shared experiences of violence when attempting to access services; that host community legal frameworks can be risk factors; that LGBTI refugees can feel isolated from the larger refugee population in urban settings where individual LGBTI refugees feel totally alone and unable to connect with the LGBTI community; and identified significant service gaps. The chapter moves into a discussion of good practices to increase the safety and security (and overall wellbeing) of LGBTI refugees. Most of these tips focus on building relationships between local LGBTI groups and refugees, or between LGBTI groups and humanitarian actors and organisations. The chapter concludes with a series of recommendations for mitigating the GBV risks faced by urban LGBTI refugees.

The report provides recommendations for practitioners, including the need to systematise the engagement of local actors; develop proactive and targeted strategies for addressing GBV in shelter and livelihoods; prioritising and earmarking resources for outreach programs to meet the needs of at-risk populations; and formalising non-discrimination and standards of care for engaging all refugee subpopulations. 

Forced Migration Review: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and the Protection of Forced Migrants

Elena Robertson
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Forced Migration Review: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and the Protection of Forced Migrants

This issue of Forced Migration Review considers the specific needs, vulnerabilities and best practices around LGBTI refugees, asylum seekers and otherwise displaced persons. The articles in this issue are 2-7 pages long. Articles touch on topics such as mental health challenges for LGBTI displaced persons; a Brazilian case study; a case study of a community group formed in Mae La refugee camp; the shift in international attitudes towards diverse SOGI as grounds for granting asylum; a map of global laws regarding same-sex sexual activity; assessing asylum claims of transgender persons; and emerging best practice in Nairobi, among other topics.

Blueprint for the Provision of Comprehensive Care for Trans People and Trans Communities in Asia and the Pacific

Elena Robertson
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Blueprint for the Provision of Comprehensive Care for Trans People and Trans Communities in Asia and the Pacific

The purpose of The Blueprint for the Provision of Comprehensive Care for Trans People and Trans Communities in Asia and the Pacific (the Blueprint) is to strengthen and enhance the policy-related, clinical, and public health responses for trans people in Asia and the Pacific.

The Blueprint provides an overview of the specific challenges facing the diverse SOGIESC community in Asia and the Pacific. Section 1 provides an introduction to healthcare issues for trans and intersex communities, including access, appropriateness, safety and dignity. Section 2 looks at human rights obligations for states to provide adequate and appropriate healthcare for trans and intersex people. Section 3 looks more specifically at the human rights issues that are priority areas for trans and intersex communities, such as legal gender recognition, violence, discrimination, over-representation in detention and legal mechanisms. Section 4 moves into comprehensive care, prevention and support for trans and intersex people, such as recognising, treating and prevention mental ill-health, drug and alcohol abuse, and HIV and other STIs. Section 5 provides specific guidance on working with gender-diverse youth and children. Case studies from Southeast Asia and the Pacific are used throughout the paper.

The final section provides policy recommendations for states and healthcare providers.

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