The level of threat against LGBTQ+ Afghans is “escalating and escalating” a charity chief has warned, as the first 29 people from this group arrived in Britain.
Nancy Kelley, the chief executive of Stonewall, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans equality charity, who has been closely involved in the operation to airlift LGBTQ+ Afghans to safety, working with the Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Canadian organisation Rainbow Railroad, welcomed the safe of arrival of the group.
However, she told the Guardian that a situation which has placed the lives of LGBTQ+ Afghans at risk for decades has become much more dangerous since the Taliban took over.
A Taliban spokesman said LGBTQ+ rights would not be respected.
First group of LGBT+ Afghans fleeing Taliban arrive in the UKRead more
“The level of threat is escalating and escalating. We are hearing reports of people being beaten, raped or killed. Many are in hiding and some have been unable to leave their hiding places even to get food because the situation is too dangerous. For a long time LGBTQ+ people have been forced into marriage and have had to live hidden lives,” said Kelley.
She said Stonewall had not been involved in an international rescue operation of this kind before but had started to help after receiving frantic digital “messages in a bottle” emails from LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan who sent hundreds of emails to any LGBTQ+ organisations across the world they could get contact details for in the hope that some of these SOS missives would land in the inboxes of people who could help.
“I spoke to one of the newly arrived people this morning (Saturday),” said Kelley. “It was very humbling. They just wanted to say thank you now that they are safe. Today is a really good day. But we won’t be able to bring out every single LGBTQ+ person from Afghanistan and they need to be protected. We are planning several more airlifts like this one to rescue more people but we need the international community to come together to help.”
The BBC reported that Afghanistan’s penal code reflects the underlying principle that homosexuality is banned.
