The Safe Spaces for LGBTI Refugees in Nairobi project works with the most vulnerable refugees and their host communities, including survivors of SGBV, survivors of torture, LGBTI persons, single-headed households and Persons living with Disabilities through the provision of mental health, legal and livelihood support. Together with Creatives Garage (CG) a multi-disciplinary collective space for artists and budding artists – to network, share ideas, collaborate, learn, gain market accessibility and push boundaries, and Community Empowerment Self Support Initiative (CESSI), a refugee led community of LGBTI refugees who have come together and started several business enterprises in Nairobi as means of earning a livelihood, HIAS aims to create an inclusive and safe environment for LGBTI refugees and their host communities to live and work. This is achieved through the implementation of three mutually reinforcing and supportive objectives that: • Increases the power and voice of the LGBTI community to advocate for their own protection • Increases the ability of LGBTI to earn an income in a safe and sustainable way, and • Builds the capacity of service providers to address the basic needs and protection concerns of Kenyan and refugee LGBTI people, ensuring their needs are met through confidential, appropriate and quality assistance.

Expanding the rights of refugee LGBTI 

While progress had been made in passing regulations to ensure the safety and dignity of refugees, Executive Order 13780, a review of the US Refugee Admissions Programme has caused major changes in the programme. This has greatly affected refugees.  Refugees in Kenya were informed there was going to be limited departures in 2020 with no referrals to the USARP from UNHCR for new cases. In 2018, 22 LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers staged a protest in Kakuma Refugee Camp against acts of discrimination from other refugees and the host community the Turkana. Some members of the host community responded with violence leaving several refugees physically harmed. Later UNHCR relocated 218 LGBTI refugees from Kakuma with 71 of them self-relocated to Nairobi without authorization from UNHCR and the RAS, increasing the number of LGBTI refugees in the urban areas against the already strained resources. 

The high court ruling of 2019 banning consensual same sex relations served as a blow to the petitioners, National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC), Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) and Nyanza, Rift Valley and Western Network (NYARWEK) and the entire LGBTI community as a step back in the progress Kenya had made toward equality. 

 HIAS worked very closely with stakeholders to re-shape their perceptions and re-imagine a world in which LGBTI refugees’ rights and freedoms are respected and upheld.  Two  particular   project   activities   were successful  in  encouraging  this  kind  of  inclusiveness;  sensitivity  training designed  for  law  enforcement  officers  and  the  community  dialogues (Tango Talks). The law enforcement officers that were engaged could easily identify with each of the subject matters discussed. Although the programme only accommodated a training for (7) officers (one of the police officers was not able to attend because he was called on duty),  all  the  officers requested  that  the  forum  be  organised with a wider law enforcement audience.  

The   community   dialogues   offered   a   great   platform   for   interactions between   LGBTI   refugees,   asylum   seekers   and   local   leaders.   These  dialogues  enabled  the  voices  of  the  LGBTI  refugee  and  asylum-seeker community  to  be  heard  by  their  local  leader  representatives  and  bridge the  divide  in  relation  to  the  inter-ethnic  differences  experienced  by  both involved parties. The dialogues were informative, educational and provided a  space  that  fostered  stronger  ties  between  the  local  leaders  and refugees. The local leaders expressly voiced their concerns about refugees and asylum-seekers living in exclusionary spaces, which in their view, is what increases protection issues and vulnerability concerns.  The  local leaders  brought  incredible  insights  in  relation  to  refugees  and  Kenyans living together in the community thus empowering each other as one big family, with an emphasis that  in  the  African  culture,  family  is  not  only those related by blood but those who live around you as well. 

Through trainings, the 38 LGBTI refugees community leaders have increased knowledge  and  information  that  empowered  them and other refugees  to  protect themselves  against HIV/AIDS/STIs  and issues surrounding violence within the LGBTI community. Further, they also have an  increased  understanding  on  the  international,  regional  and  national instruments  that  protect  refugees  and  through  the  skills  and  confidence gained, they have been empowered to be accountable to themselves and the  vulnerable  persons  in  their  community  through  effective,  affirmative counselling techniques and methods. 

“The  partnership  with  HIAS was good  and  we  have  had  a  complementary  working arrangement. HIAS Kenya has facilitated our legal aid clinics in a timely manner” [Key Informant from a partner organization] 

The project has been able to increase the power and voice to influence LGBTI protection spaces and access to services through trainings to different actors, influenced the adoption of UNHCR urban policy through mentorship and economic empowerment of LGBTI community and lastly it has influenced organisational policies and programming to make agencies become more welcoming and inclusive of LGBTI rights through trainings and registration and inclusion of 150 LGBTI persons in the NHIF – National Health Insurance Fund, scheme 

In regards to protection related interventions, there are no strong linkages between the livelihoods and health programme interventions, long-term development efforts and   durable   solutions.   Therefore,   more investment  in  time  and  resources to  understand  the  dynamics  of  the urban   environment   and   the   complex   social,   political and   economic background  before  livelihood  interventions  for  urban  LGBTI  refugees  is required  to  ensure  long  term  impact  and  sustainability  of  interventions. HIAS will continue working towards closing these gaps as they continue to support LGBTI refugees.