Sexual orientation and gender identity claims of asylum

Read about the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum research project.

About the project

SOGICA (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum: A European Human Rights Challenge) is a four-year (2016-2020) research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) exploring the social and legal experiences of individuals across Europe claiming international protection on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI).

Professor Nuno Ferreira in the School of Law led the project, with a team of researchers including Dr Carmelo Danisi, Dr Moira Dustin and Dr Nina Held. The project’s outputs include several articles and a two-volume monograph to be published in 2021 by Springer.

Contributing to improvements in the field of SOGI asylum was an aim of the project from the outset – improvements at European level and within the project’s case study jurisdictions of Germany, Italy and the UK.

Some of the ways in which this has begun to be achieved include:

• Establishing a SOGICA database on the project website – an online repository of SOGI asylum materials that is a resource for lawyers, activists and policy-makers. The database has more than 1,1,00 items and continues to be updated on a regular basis.

• The establishment of a SOGICA network of friends and also subscribers to the project’s newsletter – issued quarterly throughout the project to update subscribers about the project, but also about broader SOGI asylum developments in Europe and beyond.

• Submissions and recommendation to the EU to both improve measures relating to SOGI asylum (recommendations for CEAS reform from a SOGI perspective), and mainstream SOGI asylum concerns in broader LGBTQI+ agendas (recommendations to the EU LGBTI+ Equality Strategy) and asylum agendas (submission to the EASO Asylum report 2020).

• Targeted recommendations at domestic level for Germany, Italy and the UK.

• A policy roundtable in September 2021 to highlight the recommendations and explore their implementation with officials and NGO representatives.

• Freedom of Information requests in Germany, Italy and the UK to hold governments accountable for their records on SOGI asylum.

• Work in partnership with NGOs to inform policy and practice in Germany, Italy and the UK, including contributions to submissions to statutory inquiries and consultations, for example the UKLGIG Submission to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration inspection of the Home Office’s Presenting Officer function in January 2020 and written evidence cited in ‘Brexit: refugee protection and asylum policy‘, 48th Report of Session 2017–19, House of Lords, European Union Committee, UK Parliament, 11 October 2019.

• Media engagement throughout the project to highlight SOGI asylum concerns in each of the countries analysed.

• A series of videos including a SOGICA project team video, as well as German, Italian and United Kingdom country case study videos that feature some of our participants, and a podcast to raise awareness of SOGI asylum.

• A final conference that brought together 600 academics, policy makers, activists, lawyers and anyone with an interest in this field to share experiences and network.

• Contributions to workshops and seminars to improve policy and practice, for example, the project team took part in European Asylum Support Office thematic webinars to increase protection standards for SOGI asylum claimants (November 2020 and February 2021). 

• Membership of the Vulnerability Working Group in charge of developing the 'Practical Guide on applicants with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics' published by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), 2024. 

• Journal article ‘Improving SOGI Asylum Adjudication: Putting Persecution Ahead of Identity’, Refugee Survey Quarterly 40(3), 315–347 (co-authored by Moira Dustin and Nuno Ferreira) cited by the Canadian Federal Court in Mohammed v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 FC 956. 
• Participation in follow-up meeting of the ‘2021 Global Roundtable on Protection and Solutions for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer (LGBTIQ+) Persons in Forced Displacement’, organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (UN IE SOGI) (by invitation), Geneva, Switzerland (UNHCR report here). 
• Submission to the UK Parliament’s Justice and Home Affairs Committee’s ‘Family migration’ inquiry, 12 September 2022 - report with references to SOGICA contribution available in UK House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee, ‘All families matter: An inquiry into family migration’, 2023. 
• Oral evidence to ‘Equality and the UK asylum process’ inquiry, Women and Equalities Committee, 23 February 2022 - report with references to SOGICA contribution and oral evidence available here. 

• SOGICA written evidence cited in ‘Brexit: refugee protection and asylum policy‘, 48th Report of Session 2017–19, House of Lords, European Union Committee, UK Parliament, 11 October 2019.

While much of the project’s scholarship is now complete, the application of the research findings to promote a more just SOGI asylum experience will continue.