Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees
Encyclopedia
Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR) is an advocacy group founded and headed by Executive Director Arsham Parsi
on behalf of Iranian
LGBT
s seeking safe havens both within and without Iran. It is currently the only active Iranian NGO in the world that works on behalf of the Iranian LGBT around the globe.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, where the organisation is registered as a NGO according to Canadian law IRQR provides assistance with asylum applications, provides housing and financial assistance to those in desperate need, and petitions Western and other governments of behalf of Iranian LGBTs facing deportation back to Iran, where homosexuality is a criminal action punishable by death. For example, IRQR has written an open letter to Foreign Minister of Germany
Guido Westerwelle
in November 2009.
IRQR is documenting and reporting cases of torture, persecution, execution and other human rights
violations that occur in Iran on a regular basis, it has helped remove any international doubt about the dismal situation of queers in Iran.
On September 24, 2007, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was asked about the situation of homosexuals in Iran and in response President Ahmadinejad replied: "In our country we don't have homosexuals like in your country. This does not exist in our country. I don't know who has told you that we have this." This response elicited laughter and booing from the crowd in attendance. IRQR also has the aim to educate people who are opposed homosexuality due to a lack of correct information and sexual education and also to "end the current lack of self-recognition and self-confidence among queer people and to prevent frequent tragedies, such as suicide."
The Organization's name is inspired by the Underground Railroad
that existed more than a century ago. The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century Black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and mainly to Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause. In Canada, they found freedom.
The homepage of IRQR says: "When Iranian queer people flee persecution in Iran, they generally go to Turkey. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees
interviews these refugees and decides whether their case for asylum is valid. If they are granted asylum status, the UNHCR finds a new country for each person on base of their profile. IRQR helps these refugees through the process and, whenever possible, provides funds for safe houses from donations, since Turkey is also a homophobic and transphobic society and queer people are not physically safe there either." In August 2008, Arsham Parsi had a meeting with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Canadian Embassy in Ankara
, Turkey
, regarding Iranian queer asylum seekers. After that meeting, a number of asylum seekers had been granted refugee status or had been referred to the Canadian Embassy for their resettlement process. Furthermore, the UNHCR changed their legal interviews to an earlier date.
Arsham Parsi
Arsham Parsi is an Iranian LGBT Human Rights activist who lives in exile in Canada. He is the founder and head of the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees .-Career:...
on behalf of Iranian
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
s seeking safe havens both within and without Iran. It is currently the only active Iranian NGO in the world that works on behalf of the Iranian LGBT around the globe.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, where the organisation is registered as a NGO according to Canadian law IRQR provides assistance with asylum applications, provides housing and financial assistance to those in desperate need, and petitions Western and other governments of behalf of Iranian LGBTs facing deportation back to Iran, where homosexuality is a criminal action punishable by death. For example, IRQR has written an open letter to Foreign Minister of Germany
Foreign Minister of Germany
The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs is the head of the Federal Foreign Office and a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The current office holder is Guido Westerwelle...
Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle [] is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has been serving as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions...
in November 2009.
IRQR is documenting and reporting cases of torture, persecution, execution and other human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
violations that occur in Iran on a regular basis, it has helped remove any international doubt about the dismal situation of queers in Iran.
On September 24, 2007, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was asked about the situation of homosexuals in Iran and in response President Ahmadinejad replied: "In our country we don't have homosexuals like in your country. This does not exist in our country. I don't know who has told you that we have this." This response elicited laughter and booing from the crowd in attendance. IRQR also has the aim to educate people who are opposed homosexuality due to a lack of correct information and sexual education and also to "end the current lack of self-recognition and self-confidence among queer people and to prevent frequent tragedies, such as suicide."
The Organization's name is inspired by the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
that existed more than a century ago. The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century Black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and mainly to Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause. In Canada, they found freedom.
The homepage of IRQR says: "When Iranian queer people flee persecution in Iran, they generally go to Turkey. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
interviews these refugees and decides whether their case for asylum is valid. If they are granted asylum status, the UNHCR finds a new country for each person on base of their profile. IRQR helps these refugees through the process and, whenever possible, provides funds for safe houses from donations, since Turkey is also a homophobic and transphobic society and queer people are not physically safe there either." In August 2008, Arsham Parsi had a meeting with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Canadian Embassy in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, regarding Iranian queer asylum seekers. After that meeting, a number of asylum seekers had been granted refugee status or had been referred to the Canadian Embassy for their resettlement process. Furthermore, the UNHCR changed their legal interviews to an earlier date.