LGBT Venezuelan refugees are one of the most vulnerable and overlooked groups in one of the largest and most underfunded crises in modern history. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 5.4 million people have left Venezuela due to violence, persecution and poverty, and the number of Venezuelans seeking refuge worldwide has increased by 8,000 per cent since 2014 (UNHCR, 2020). Many have fled to neighbouring Colombia and Brazil, which automatically grant refugee status to Venezuelan asylum seekers. However, protection gaps, poor funding as well as political and social tensions mean LGBT folks face unprecedented levels of homophobia, xenophobia, extreme violence and exploitation in their place of refuge (IOM, 2020; Valiquette, Su and Felix, 2020). Yet, an unlikely beacon of hope lies in the middle of the Amazon, at Casa Miga, Brazil’s only LGBT refugee centre. And in the border city of Cúcuta in Colombia, where La Casa que Abraza (The House that Hugs), provides a safe space for Venezuelan LGBT refugees in a region still facing insecurity from the country’s internal armed conflict. Both centres are run by LGBT people for LGBT people with the aim to provide services and assistance to LGBT refugees. But despite the significance of the essential service these institutions are providing, they remain scarce, underfunded and understudied. The aim of this study is to shine a light on the significance of peer-to-peer support for Venezuelan LGBT refugees in Brazil and Colombia.

Month: Aug   Year: 2021

Month: Jul   Year: 2023

As COVID-19 causes nations to close their borders, asylum seekers are trapped and becoming targets of violence. A particularly precarious group are Venezuelan LGBTQI+ asylum seekers in Brazil, a global epicentre for COVID-19 with the highest infection rate and the second highest coronavirus deaths. Since 2015, more than 5 million have fled Venezuela and 264,000 have applied for asylum in Brazil. Under COVID-19, Venezuelan LGBTQI+ asylum seekers now face more challenges, including the loss of livelihood and an increased risk of gender-based violence, exploitation and abuse. Thus, research on the social impacts of COVID-19 will be important so policy makers can understand the protection gaps that existed for these asylum seekers during the pandemic.

This project builds on an existing partnership with Casa Miga, the only LGBT refugee centre in Brazil and one of the only centres in Latin America. Casa Miga is a LGBT-run non-profit shelter that is located in Manaus, one of the hardest hit city in Brazil by the coronavirus. The situation is increasingly dire as the public health care system in Manaus is completely over capacity with a shortage of ventilators, medical supplies and COVID-19 tests.

As the first foreign researchers to study Casa Miga, we can make novel and timely contributions to help Casa Miga address the challenge of a lack of capacity to undertake research to produce policy recommendations for politicians and humanitarian actors to help their residents. The sensitive nature of research on vulnerable groups is what has made this an understudied subject, but this is why this research needs to be done. At a time when vulnerable populations like Venezuelan LGBTQI+ asylum seekers are falling through the cracks, it is important to bring attention to the protection gaps that exist and the assistance that they need to survive, be healthy and feel safe.

Month: Sep   Year: 2020

Month: Aug   Year: 2022

As Southeast Asia’s COVID-19 hot spot, the Philippines has implemented one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. The highly urbanized city of Tacloban, home to 250,000 people, has enforced strict community quarantine measures that has greatly limited the ability of citizens to work, travel and access their basic needs. Tacloban is also still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan’s destruction in 2013, the strongest storm ever recorded. With tens of thousands of people displaced to resettlement sites on the city’s outskirts with limited access to health services, livelihoods, transportation, COVID-19 is a clear threat to their lives and livelihoods.

The vulnerability of disaster-affected households is exacerbated by the double isolation of being forcibly displaced as well as COVID-19 quarantine measures. Working closely with the Church, this study is the first and only formal academic study so far, to examine how COVID-19 has deepened disaster-affected households’ vulnerabilities. Researchers will conduct key informant interviews, surveys and focus group discussions across four COVID-19 affected resettlement sites. This research will contribute to the advancement of knowledge and produce social benefits by collecting timely data on marginalized resettlement communities. Specifically the short-term outcomes are: 1) rapid research on the most pressing needs of disaster-affected households in resettlement sites amid COVID-19, 2) identification of how COVID-19 has deepened pre-existing vulnerabilities faced by these households and 3) the co-creation of recommendations for how to prioritize limited resources to mitigate the impact of subsequent waves of the virus. The potential long-term benefits and outcomes as a result of the knowledge mobilization activities are 1) a stronger understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 and how it has deepened the existing vulnerabilities faced by on disaster-affected households in resettlement sites by politicians, humanitarian actors and the general public, 2) a consideration of the co-created recommendations by local, national and humanitarian actors, and 3) more media and academic interest in studying and assisting this precarious and neglected population.

Month: Dec   Year: 2020

Month: Nov   Year: 2022