LGBTI refugees face particular difficulties in reporting threats or attacks to the police, the report adds. A conviction in Kenya for consensual sexual conduct between men carries a five-year jail sentence." The report continues: "Although public rhetoric in Kenya has been generally less violent, LGBTI persons do face discrimination, harassment and sometimes violence. One example was a newspaper front page that published the names and photographs of 100 alleged homosexuals under the headline "Hang Them!". "Moreover, host governments aggravate the risks for LGBTI refugees by making discrimination official government policy," its authors say, noting that "public rhetoric demonising homosexuality has been particularly vicious" since Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill was introduced in October 2009. Some have been forced to relocate their homes frequently to avoid the scrutiny and potential hostility of landlords, neighbours or other refugees who would harass, threaten or evict them if their sexual orientation or gender identity were discovered, the report adds. LGBTI refugees reported high levels of prejudice within refugee communities, which denies them access to the refugee social networks, a major source of social support. Human Rights First said Kenya and Uganda host more than half a million refugees between them, with sizeable populations from countries including Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Burundi. Two refugee women in Uganda who were abducted and raped in 2010 because they had been assisting LGBTI refugees.Ī gay male refugee in Uganda who was locked in his home and a group of refugees tried to burn him alive last November.įive cases of "corrective rape" of lesbian or transgender male refugees in Uganda were reported by NGOs between June and November 2011.Ī gay Somali teenager in Kenya who was doused in petrol in 2010 and would have been set on fire by a crowd of Somali teenagers in Eastleigh, Nairobi, if not for the intervention of an older Somali woman. Its report The Road to Safety cites examples of violence, including: Human Rights First examined the plight of LGBTI refugees in Kenya and Uganda, two countries where homosexuality is illegal. The US-based non-governmental organisation has called on Hillary Clinton, the American secretary of state, to help make sure that LGBTI refugees gain access to safety and protection from violence in their countries of asylum.