Petition richtet sich an:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
The LGBTQ people who live in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya are experiencing a life or death crisis that has been happening for years. The 900 LGBTQ+ people who live in the Kakuma camp in Kenya who I know about experience every day discrimination, violent attacks, rape and are killed by others who live there. Ten people who live with HIV, including children, who now live in Kakuma can’t get medication for HIV that they need to take every day. There are many others who are not open about their HIV status and people who are living with HIV who are sick that need HIV medication and don’t have this. Trans and non binary individuals who live in the Kakuma refugee camp do not have access to hormone therapy.
Begründung
The LGBTQ folks who live in Kakuma are routinely discriminated against because of their sexual orientation and gender identity by others who live on the camp, including the staff and by people who could hire them when they go to apply for jobs. They are denied access to health care, education and experience unreasonable extended delays for their asylum claims by the Kenyan government. Because the LGBTQ community who live in Kakuma experience routine deliberate delays from authorities when processing their asylum claims and they cannot have a resident permit that they need to get a job. This is a vicious cycle of oppression that keeps the LGBTQ in Kakuma from getting ahead and having enough food, water, clothing and medication for HIV that the need to live every day. They are prevented from access to the same kinds of help and opportunities that other asylum seekers have . People in Kakuma don’t get or have monetary support from the UNCHR that runs the Kakuma refugee camp. The World Food Program gives a minimal monthly ration to every person for food that is not enough for a person to eat every day. Many people who I spoke with Nov 15 did not eat that day. Most people who are LGBTQ who live in the Kakuma refugee camp are from Uganda. Uganda laws makes being a person from the LGBTQ community a crime that is punishable with 10 years of prison and also death. People who are LGBTQ flee Uganda and come to Kenya seeking safety and opportunities and they are not safe in Kenya also. They do not speak Swahili, which is the language that is spoken in Kenya. People in Kenya understand that they are from Uganda because of this and find out that they are LGBTQ because they know that LGBTQ people from Uganda are refugees in Kenya. People in Kenya discriminate against LGBTQ people and stop the LGBTQ asylum seekers who live in Kakuma who are from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo from getting hired for work. They need this money so that they can pay for food, medication for HIV, clothing and other life saving essentials. In an article written May 19, 2023 called : “Kenya: Kakuma refugee camp complex not yet safe for LGBTI refugees.” Amnesty International Kenya’s Executive Director, Irungu Houghton says: “Despite a constitution that protects life and dignity for all, LGBTI asylum seekers suffer discrimination as well as homophobic and trans phobic attitudes from government officials, the police and other service providers.” When I asked the LGBTQ rights activists in Kakuma who I spoke with on WhatsApp Nov15 if they report the violent assaults they experience to the authorities they told me that they do go to the police and the local Kenyan government and no one is willing to help or provide any safety. Hamu Smith, who is an LGBTQ rights activist and a member of the LGBTQ community who lives in the Kakuma refugee camp has organized a fundraising campaign on GoGetFunding that is called: Support the Queers in Kakuma Refugee Camp. This is the link to lean more and to donate: https://gogetfunding.com/support-the-queers-in-kakuma-refugee-camp/ Hamu Smith is asking people to contribute to help the LGBTQ refugees in Kakuma so they can pay for HIV medication that they don’t have, hormone therapy and for food, cooking oil, water and what they need to survive every day . This is the link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RZjBMQayTM7BGRC-pwQUiahi7w86LWjm/view?usp=drivesdk to a table that Hamu Smith and others in the Kakuma camp section 5 made that shows how much money they need every week for food, HIV medication and supplies for cooking using the Kenyan Shilling. It is a total of $906.43 US per week. Could you please give $25 and share this petition with others who you know who can help? Thank you.
Vielen Dank für Ihre Unterstützung, Eliza S Dudelzak, Fort Lauderdale
Liebe Unterstützende,
der Petent oder die Petentin hat innerhalb der letzten 12 Monate nach Ende der Unterschriftensammlung keine Neuigkeiten erstellt und den Status nicht geändert. openPetition geht davon aus, dass die Petition nicht eingereicht oder übergeben wurde.
Wir bedanken uns herzlich für Ihr Engagement und die Unterstützung,
Ihr openPetition-Team
Hi! This is the openPetition letter that I created November 12, 2023 on openPetition about the crisis for the LGBTQ people who live in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya that has been signed by these 23 people. This is the link for this petition: https://www.openpetition.de/verwaltung/message/crisis-for-the-lgbtq-people-who-live-in-the-kakuma-refugee-camp-in-kenya-please-help
A copy of this letter and the information for the 23 people who signed this petition is saved as a Google Doc and it is called openPetition for the crisis for the lgbtq people who live in the Kakuma Feb 21. This is the link for this google doc: openPetition for the cross for the lgbtq people who live in the Kakuma Feb 21
I’m emailing this today to the UNHCR to make a report to this email address inspector@unhcr.org
Thank you for again your support. Please feel free to write to me with your questions or for more information. My email address is eliza.dudelzak@gmail.com.
There are 19 LGBTQ persons, including their 3 children and an 8 week old infant who are from Uganda and live in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya that don’t have food to eat today because they are being discriminated against and can’t get work and live saving health care that they need to pay for food and for medication for HIV.
They are running out of food tomorrow until Dec 3 when the World Food Programme will distribute a monthly food ration that is not sustainable for 1 person to eat for the entire monthThe people who live in Block 7 in Zone 3 in Kakuma who are from Uganda and who are LGBTQ formed a committee to advocate for each other and to get funding from people like you who are willing to help. This is the link for this table https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RZjBMQayTM7BGRC-pwQUiahi7w86LWjm/view?usp=drivesdk
that l they made Nov 14 that shows how much money in Kenyan Shillings they need every week to pay for food, medication for HIV (ARTs) and the other live saving essentials. It is a total of $906.43 US per week.
They cannot receive shipments. Nov 17 on a call on WhatsApp they told me that they also need money for baby formula, sanitary pads for menstruation, money for a solar panel to charge their phone and for power that costs $8,000 Kenyan shillings each, 15 mosquito nets that they need to stop the spread of a malaria that cost $600 Kenyan shillings, mattresses to sleep on, blankets, a fence for protection for the area where they live, bras and panties, diapers, soap for bathing, deodorant and razors for shaving.
This is a critical situation and I’m asking for your support to help kick start this 3 day campaign and to raise money for the 15 LGBTQ adults and their four children who live in Block 7, Zone 3 in the Kampala refugee camp in Kenya. This money is necessary to pay to buy food to eat and meds for HIV and what else they need to do to survive and to help themselves.
This is the link for the Go Fund Me petition to contribute for this :
The LGBTQ people who live in the Kampala refugee camp are stopped from getting work.
The LGBTQ community who live in Kakuma experience extensive and deliberate delays from the Kenyan authorities when applying for asylum. Hamu has been waiting since 2021. Without being granted asylum in Kenya the LGBTQ refugees don’t have a resident permit that they need in order to be hired and work.They cannot leave Kampala to find better job living opportunities without a work or resident permit and they are stopped from being hired inside the camp. They are being denied information to apply for asylum in other countries. This is money that they can’t live without because they need it to pay for food and their living expenses.
LGBTQ asylum seekers who live in Kampala experience discrimination in Kenya when they go to look for any kind of job that pays wages. People will not hire them because they are LGBTQ. They find this out because they do not speak Swahili and they find out that they are from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Republic of Congo. The Kenyans know that refugees from these countries, where Swahili is not usually spoken, come to Kenya because they are fleeing persecution because of their sexual and gender identity and understand that these people are LGBTQ.
Please give what you can. People are glossing over this like it’s a scam. It is not