Experiences of African LGBTI asylum seekers in South Africa
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Date
2018
Authors
Chiponde, Lynn Mwape
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Abstract
This study largely focuses on the general experiences of African sexual
and-gender-minority asylum seekers in South Africa. With South Africa
having a progressive constitution as well as being the pioneer in
implementing the widely recognised task of hosting the first sexual and
gender minority asylum seekers and refugees on the continent, the
country has raised interest, necessitating inquiry into whether these
policies benefit the individuals that they initially weremeant for in their
everyday experiences.
This study reveals that sexual and gender minority asylum seekers from
various African societies feel a sense of freedom when living in South
Africa because the enshrined laws formerly and constitutionally protect
their rights. Additionally, the participants in this study revealed that the
stronger economic state of South Africa relative to the rest of the
continent - where most countries are struggling economically - affects
most migrants’ decisions to migrate to this country and contribute to
elevating the welfare situations of their households in their home
countries. They do this even in the face of being alienated by those
families or societies owing to their gender or sexual preferences. The
inevitable sense of obligation towards economically supporting their
families in their countries of origin increasesthe respondents’ sense of
belonging to their communities of origin despite their circumstances.
Nevertheless, the South African migration laws do not always translate
into an easier life for sexual minorityasylum seekers from Africa because
like any other African society, South Africa has cultural traditions that
view sexuality-and-gender minority advocacy as an imposition from
western cultures and thus un-African.
This study’s findings included a range of factors, including the corruption
and exploitation found at the Home Affairs department, the deep rooted
evidence of anti-sexual-and-gender minority beliefs held in society
leading to malfunctions in the asylum processes and various others. Other
issues emanating from interviews of this study are xenophobia and
HIV/AIDS as these are part of the daily lived experiences of the general
migrant community, although the target group of this research was the
more vulnerable owing to their disadvantaged situations in relation to
their sexualities and genders. Sex work is another interesting factor that
some respondents indicated as an income-generating venture and this is
also marred by exploitation and discrimination. All in all, experiences of
marginalisation of African sexual minority asylum seekers largely affect
underprivileged communities.
Description
A thesis submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements of a Master of Arts Degree in Forced Migrations at the Humanities and social sciences Graduate School of The Witwatersrand University
Johannesburg 2017
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Citation
Chiponde, Lynn Mwape (2018) Experiences of African LGBTI asylum seekers in South Africa, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/26905>