By Lyas Laamari
Many people flee their countries because they don’t have the freedom to be who they feel they are. Trans, lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, asexual or intersex, run away from families and societies that discriminate against them because they are not compliant with the hetero-normative culture. They move to Europe to seek protection and find themselves trapped in an unfair system that doesn’t recognize them or protect them. The SOGICA project speaks up about them and through them, talks about how the asylum system could be improved with a little institutional and political will, and therefore, better assist the lives of those who need protection.
SOGICA (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum) is a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) aimed at analyzing, through a socio-legal approach, the reception and asylum system with people seeking international protection and refugees based on sexual orientation, and gender identity (SOGI). The research exposed the reality experienced by people in the asylum system of Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The results will be published by September 2020 and thanks to the contribution of ERC and the IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe), sarà accessibile gratuitamente a chiunque.
The results are also accessible through videos made with LGBTQIA refugees (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual); a particularly innovative choice for an academic research project. SOGICA chose Il Grande Colibrì to present the video relating to Italy: telling the story of Mazen Masoud and his request for international protection based on his gender identity. For the making of this video, we are grateful to the protagonist, the University of Sussex (Flavio Ferrari and Jayne Rowlands) film crew, the Trans Identity Movement (MIT), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR ), and to Annalisa Napoli for the translation. Read more via Il Grande Colibri