A report carried out by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDYI) has said that providers of direct provision services in Ireland are “not listening” to LGBT asylum seekers.
The report is based off the self reported experiences of 12 people: five gay men, five lesbians, and 2 others who were all split into focus groups “they were most comfortable taking part in,”
Participants were asked to answer a number of questions including; “How has being gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/non-binary affected your experience of Direct Provision?” “What, if any, experiences of homophobia or transphobia have you experienced in Direct Provision?”
“What, if any, experiences of racism have you experienced in Direct Provision?” “What kinds of supports have you accessed while living in Direct Provision?” And, “What would you change about Direct Provision? How could there be better supports for LGBTI+ people in Direct Provision?”
Participants reported experiencing “physical violence and harassment” from other residents with some saying they had experienced “unwanted sexual contact or exposure by male residents”.
“For the gay male participants, taking a shower was dangerous, as the communal facilities exposed them to violence from other residents,” it says.
Communal living was “difficult” for the participants “particularly as they were forced to live in close quarters with residents who harbour similar homophobic and transphobic sentiments present in the same country which they had left.”
One of the gay men who participated in the survey said he had fled to a country where LGBT is “accepted” only to “put into a place where you are back to where you were” in his country of origin again.
Another gay man reported harassment which ‘escalated’ to threats of violence and threats on his life from other residents. The report states that this individual, feeling he had no other option, “resorted to violence in order to protect himself,”
The report states that the evidence given from participants suggest that there is a “culture” of “homophobia and transphobia” in many DP centres and that these attitudes tend to be “accepted” due to the “backgrounds” of residents.
The results claim that, “Poor management and complaints procedure” within the Direct Provision service “cannot guarantee safety” of lgbt individuals.
The report also claims that participants reported a “lack of understanding” among staff at DP centres “as to the vulnerabilities of being a member of the LGBTI+ community,”
This they say, “impeded their ability to handle complaints of homophobic or transphobic harassment,” with some participants suggesting that staff and managers undergo “LGBTI+ training”.
The report claims it is “evident that complaints procedures within accommodation centres were subpar, and the laissez faire approach of management in handling issues among residents was impeding LGBTI+ residents from feeling safe and heard,”
This resulted in residents feeling “unsafe, and without any solution or recourse,” it says.