Australia Please Resettle LGBT+ Refugees from Kenya

The Australian government has recently announced that they will accept 16,500 refugees from Afghanistan and 5,000 from Ukraine. This is commendable.

In this same humanitarian spirit, we ask that a minimum of between 750 to 1,000 LGBT+ refugees also be accepted from Kenya in light of the recent announcement by the Kenyan government that Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps will be closed sometime around June 2022.

Many nations in Africa have homophobic and transphobic laws that force LGBT+ refugees to flee to Kenya, where they also face hardship and persecution. Kakuma and Dadaab provide questionable shelter for many of these people.

With the pending closure of these refugee camps, the future of hundreds of thousands of their inhabitants is uncertain. However, LGBT+ refugees face very real threats of homophobic violence and discrimination if they are returned to their countries or communities of origin. They urgently need a safe and permanent solution.

Instead of facing possible forced return to the hostile countries they fled, a significant number of these diverse and courageous people should be welcomed to Australia. They represent a multicultural, multinational cohort of people who have faced oppression and persecution. Their courage, resilience and personal integrity could contribute greatly to our nation.