Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Refworld documents related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, including legal, policy and background information. This "Special Feature" on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity is regularly maintained and contains legal, policy and operational material.

UNHCR Policy Documents Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

• Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/GIP/12/01, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 23 October 2012
• Guidelines on International Protection No. 1: Gender-Related Persecution Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/GIP/02/01, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 7 May 2002
• Guidelines on International Protection No. 2: "Membership of a Particular Social Group" Within the Context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, HCR/GIP/02/02, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 7 May 2002
• UNHCR's Comments on the Practice of Phallometry in the Czech Republic to Determine the Credibility of Asylum Claims based on Persecution due to Sexual Orientation, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, April 2011

Legal Documents Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

• International Commission of Jurists, Refugee Status Claims Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity - A Practitioners' Guide, February 2016
• International Commission of Jurists, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Justice: A Comparative Law Casebook, 6 September 2011
• International Commission of Jurists' UN Online Database on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
• Homosexual Rights, Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, June 2010

Case Law

• O.M. v. Hungary, Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, Application no. 9912/15, 5 July 2016
• A, B, C v. Staatssecretaris van Veiligheid en Justitie, European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union, C‑148/13 to C‑150/13, 2 December 2014
• Written Observations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the cases of A and Others (C-148/13, 149/13 and 150/13), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), C-148/13, C-149/13 & C-150/13, 21 August 2013
• SD (military service – sexual identity) Turkey CG v. Secretary for the Home Department, United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), [2013] UKUT 00612(IAC), 5 December 2013
• X, Y, Z v Minister voor Immigratie en Asiel , European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union, C‑199/12 - C‑201/12, 7 November 2013
• UNHCR intervention before the Court of Justice of the European Union in the cases of Minister voor Immigratie en Asiel v. X, Y and Z, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), C-199/12, C-200/12, C-201/12, 28 September 2012
• SZQRM v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Australia: Federal Circuit Court, [2013] FCCA 772, 11 July 2013
• R (JB) Jamaica v. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, United Kingdom: Court of Appeal (England and Wales), 12 June 2013
• RRT Case No. 1212651, Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal, [2013] RRTA 391, 11 June 2013
• OO (gay men: risk) Algeria v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, United Kingdom: Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), [2013] UKUT 00063 (IAC), 28 March 2013
• Sentenza n. 640/2012, Italy: Court of Appeal (Corte d’Appello), 5 March 2013
• RRT Case No. 1208496, [2012] RRTA 1144, Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal, 24 December 2012
• RRT Case No. 1207970, [2012] RRTA 757, Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal, 3 September 2012
• X. v. The Head of the Office for Foreigners, Poland: Refugee Board, 25 July 2012
• Francis Ojo Ogunrinde v. Canada (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2012 FC 760, Canada: Federal Court, 15 June 2012
• Caso Atala Riffo y Niñas v. Chile, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 24 February 2012
• LZ (homosexuals) Zimbabwe v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ,CG [2011] UKUT 00487 (IAC), 8 January 2012
• SW (lesbians - HJ and HT applied) Jamaica v. Secretary of State for the Home Department,CG [2011] UKUT 00251(IAC), 24 June 2011
• Todorovic v. US Attorney General, No. 09-11652, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 27 September 2010
• HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2010] UKSC 31, United Kingdom: Supreme Court, 7 July 2010
• UNHCR intervention before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in the case of HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 19 April 2010
• Geovanni Hernandez-Montiel v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 225 F.3d 1084 (9th Cir. 2000); A72-994-275, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 24 August 2000
• Alla Konstantinova Pitcherskaia v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 95-70887, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 24 June 1997
• Matter of Toboso-Alfonso, Interim Decision 3222, United States Board of Immigration Appeals, 12 March 1990

Other Policy Documents Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

• Yogyakarta Principles - Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, International Commission of Jurists, March 2007

Documents Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

• Current migration situation in the EU: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex asylum seekers, European Union: European Agency for Fundamental Rights, March 2017
• Ending violence and other human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and others, 2016
• Protecting Persons with Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities: A Global Report on UNHCR's Efforts to Protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Asylum-Seekers and Refugees, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), December 2015 (also available in French)
• Ending violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, United Nations, September 2015
• EU LGBT survey European Union lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survey - Main results, European Union: European Agency for Fundamental Rights, October 2014
• "I'm Scared to Be a Woman" - Human Rights Abuses Against Transgender People in Malaysia, Human Rights Watch, 25 September 2014
• International Commission of Jurists: Expert Roundtable on asylum claims based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression Brussels, 27 June 2014 - X, Y and Z: The "A, B, C" of Claims based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity?, UNHCR, 27 June 2014
• Violence: Through the Lens of Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Trans People in Asia, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), 6 June 2014
• Good Practices: Related to LGBTI Asylum Applicants in Europe, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), May 2014
• Laying the Ground for LGBTI Sensitive Asylum Decision-making in Europe: Transportation of the Recast Asylum Procedures Directive and the Recast Reception Conditions Directive, ILGA, May 2014
• Missing the Mark: Decision making on Lesbian, Gay (Bisexual, Trans and Intersex) Asylum Claims, September 2013
• State-Sponsored Homophobia, A world survey of laws: Criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love, May 2013
• Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People in Europe - 2013, 17 May 2013
• Sexual orientation and gender identity and the protection of forced migrants, Forced Migration Review, April 2013
• "Judging gender: Asylum adjudication and issues of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation": Keynote statement by Dr Alice Edwards, Senior Legal Coordinator and Chief of the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section, UNHCR, 26 October 2012
• Born Free and Equal: Sexual Orientation and Gender identity in International Human Rights Law, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, September 2012
• "Ensuring Protection to LGBTI Persons of Concern" : Keynote Address by Volker Turk, Director of International Protection, UNHCR Headquarters, 20 September 2012
• European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2012 on the fight against homophobia in Europe, 24 May 2012
• Trans and intersex people: Discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender identity and gender expression, European Union: European Commission, June 2011
• "Free And Equal In Dignity And Rights", United States Department of State, 6 December 2011
• Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity , UN Human Rights Council, 17 November 2011
• Fleeing Homophobia, Asylum Claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe, Jansen S. and Spijkerboer T, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, September 2011
• Joint Statement on Ending Acts of Violence Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, UN Human Rights Council, 22 March 2011
• Unequal in Exile: Gender Equality, Sexual Identity and Refugee Status, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2011
• Put your Hands Up (If you feel love), Chelvan S., Journal on Immigration Asylum and Nationality Law, (25) (1) (March 2011)
• Homophobia, transphobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity - 2010 Update, ISBN 978-92-9192-631-2, Organization of American States, 10 December 2010
• Human rights, sexual orientation, and gender identity, AG/Res. 2504 (XXXIX-O/09), Organization of American States, 4 June 2009
• Human rights, sexual orientation, and gender identity, AG/Res. 2435 (XXXVIII-O/08), Organization of American States, 4 June 2008