When LGBTQIA+ flee to seek asylum, they often face further challenges. For example, how do immigration officials verify a person’s sexual identity, for example?

When LGBTQI people arrive in Australia, the situation is dire. Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia without a valid visa are detained and forcibly settled in Papua New Guinea or Nauru.

In Nauru, same sex sexual activity has been legal since May 2016, but other protections against discrimination do not exist. In Papua New Guinea, same sex sexual activity is criminalised and punishable by up to fourteen years’ imprisonment.

“In most places around the world, LGBTQIA+ people face persecution for being who they are.”