Canada has granted asylum to 31 gay and bisexual Chechen men and women, following a violent crackdown on LGTB people in the Russian republic. They are being brought to Canada as part of a collaboration between human rights groups and the federal government.
According to Canadian daily The Globe and Mail, Russian officials have said that there would be consequences if Canada violated Russian law by bringing in the Chechen refugees.
Last May the United States denied visas for roughly forty gay Chechens who were in hiding in fearing severe persecution for their sexual identity. They were hiding in various locations around Russia after a wave of kidnappings, torture, and disappearances of gay people were reported in Chechnya, a semi-autonomous region in southern Russia that borders Georgia.
A US State Department official declined to confirm or deny if the individuals had been denied visas, telling the Independent that visa records are confidential under US law and that they are unable to discuss individual visa requests. A spokesperson for the Russian LGBT Network confirmed the visa denials to Buzzfeed News.
In April, reports of abductions, detentions, disappearances, torture and deaths targeting gay and bisexual men in Chechnya began making international headlines.
The Chechen government denied that security officials had launched an anti-gay purge, saying that gay men “simply don’t exist in the republic”.
It was a claim repeated in July by authoritarian Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who denied in an interview there were gay men in Chechnya. He then told HBO reporter David Scott : “If there are any, take them to Canada.He said if there are any take them to Canada. They are the devil. We want to purify our blood,” he said during a TV interview. ” Rainbow Road executive director Kimahli Powell says “I had to chuckle when I heard that”.
By that time Rainbow Road, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that helps LGBT people escape persecution and violence around the world, was well into a clandestine effort to spirit gay and lesbian Chechens to Canada.
The programme was kept secret until last week in order to assure the security of those they were assisting. Its full details remain vague and the Canadian government has only confirmed its role through unnamed sources.
Powell confirmed that 31 people have been granted asylum in Canada since June and that 22 are now in the country. They are all young, between 20 and 25 years old. Most were brought to Canada as government-assisted refugees.
Russian officials have said that there would be consequences if Canada violated Russian law by bringing in the Chechen refugees
According to reports, about 70 gay and bisexual men and women have escaped Chechnya, though a number still remain in Russia. In May, the Russian LGBT Network said it was working with five countries in Europe and elsewhere to offer asylum to dozens of gay men. But the organisation only named one country – Lithuania.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly supports LGBT rights and regularly attends pride parades across the country. He named Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault as special adviser on LGBT issues.
Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland had both publicly condemned the anti-gay purge and called the persecution “reprehensible”.
Canada has frequently been referred to as one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world, with its largest cities Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa featuring their own gay villages and being named among the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
Recent polls have indicated that a large majority of Canadians support same-sex marriage.
Rainbow Railroad was also concerned that Europe, with its Chechen diaspora, might not be the safest place for the refugees. Egale, a Canadian LGBT human rights organisation, is working with 16 of the Chechens who have safely settled in Toronto.
The individuals will get counselling and settlement services. Executive director Helen Kennedy says they face the usual challenges common to refugees – integrating into a new country and culture with different customs and language – as well as the trauma related to their experience.
It’s not the first time Canada has helped persecuted gay men and lesbians.
The previous Conservative government helped LGBT people fleeing persecution from Iran, though the number being granted asylum in Canada dropped as Liberal government shifted its priorities to bringing in Syrian refugees in 2015. (Newstrails pic: Canadian Prime Minister participating in the Toronto Pride Rally while he was the opposition leader)
