Good morning.
Sorry; I'm currently in Geneva, so my time's a little skewed. I'm actually here in Geneva as a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Members of the community all across the world gather here to deal with issues related to the LGBTQI community, and we just received a briefing on the crisis situation affecting persecuted LGBTQI people in Egypt. I'll speak to that in a second.
My name is Kimahli Powell and I'm the Executive Director of Rainbow Railroad. Founded in 2006, Rainbow Railroad is an international-focused charity based in Toronto, Canada, with a mandate to help LGBTQI people get to safety. We respond to urgent requests for help all around the world from individuals who have experienced, or who have been threatened with, physical or sexual violence due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
I know many of you at the committee know this, but I do need to remind you that approximately 72 countries around the world have anti-homosexuality laws and many more have laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In too many countries around the world, LGBTQI people are routinely arrested, denied basic rights, tortured, and even murdered. While we know there are individuals in these countries trying to provide a safe haven and environment where people can survive, for others who are facing ongoing daily persecution, access to life somewhere else can be the difference between life and death.
That's where Rainbow Railroad comes in. We provide support to LGBTQI individuals seeking safe haven from state-sponsored violence. This includes airfare, financial support, and travel costs. Outside of that, we provide information on how people can make a claim through the UNHCR resettlement process or through an asylum claim.
Since our founding in 2006, we've helped fund travel for over 400 people. We helped 200 people in 2017 alone. This included support and resettlement for nearly 60 individuals last year who escaped state-sponsored violence in Chechnya. While we're proud of those numbers, the number of requests continues to increase. There were nearly 1,200 requests in 2017, and the number is increasing every day.
I mention this in the wake of this testimony, because these requests come on an alarming spike of mass detention and persecution of LGBTQI persons in various countries. In 2017 alone we received detailed reports on the ground about torture in Azerbaijan, flogging and raids in Indonesia, arrests in Tanzania, and disturbing targeting of LGBTQI people in Egypt following an act of solidarity at a concert, as I just mentioned.
We stay connected to these news stories while receiving the requests daily. Our work involves an extensive process of identifying and reviewing cases of individuals who seek our help, including working with many volunteers on the ground and dedicating staff resources.
In sponsoring individuals to the Rainbow Refugee assistance program, Rainbow Railroad and other allies across the country have gained significant experience in understanding the issues concerning LGBTQI refugees. It is this understanding that informs this testimony around the Immigration and Refugee Board's appointment processes and training for board members.
What is consistent about the people we help is that they have fled horrific persecution and spent many years hiding. As facilitators to their journey to safety, we've had to guide them through the fear and trauma of leaving their families and communities, many of whom are the actual perpetrators of this violence. We also try to provide support to guide individuals through their application process.
In Canada these individuals deserve to have their claim heard by decision-makers who not only respect their identity but who can ensure a level of openness for them to speak about their past trauma. As such, there's an added layer of sensitivity that is required in adjudicating these claims. However, an increasing number of accounts from individuals who have been refused asylum claims demonstrate some systematic problems with the IRB's adjudication process.
There's a long history of decision-making that draws upon problematic stereotypes to make such decisions, especially in determining whether claimants are “really gay”. This includes assumptions about looking and acting like members of the LGBT community, evidence of self-identification, and over-zealous attempts to reject applicants in the guise of protecting against fraudulent claims, although we know that the number of claims that are actually found not to be credible based on SOGIE stats is quite low.
We applaud the first-ever SOGIE guidelines that help board members make informed decisions. However, there's still more work to be done. In consultation with our allies, we want to present a few recommendations to the standing committee.
We need multi-day regular training for IRB members that involves individuals with lived experience as refugees and newcomers. We demonstrated in consultations with IRCC that civil society has a role to play and we want IRB to continue to partner with civil society members, agencies, lawyers, and particularly newcomers who have especially developed expertise to further establish clear guidelines and best practices.
We want to make sure that the IRB focuses on opportunities for evaluation of feedback and make sure that they dedicate adequate resources to training and development. Our organization helps provide a pathway to safety and has hundreds of volunteers facing persecution, and there's much at stake for them as their fate lies in the hands of members of the IRB board.
As my colleague mentioned earlier, special minority refugee claims are some of the most sensitive and difficult cases that people look at. We need to make sure that IRB members have the tools to make properly informed decisions that are empathetic and informed on the unique experiences of LGBTQI members of the community.
Thank you.