Gendered vulnerabilities and repercussions for forcibly displaced gender minority populations in the Middle East and North Africa

 

Gender minority individuals with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions (SOGIE) face unique challenges when forcibly displaced. SOGIE individuals navigate the precarious space between exclusion from refugee communities and the struggle to integrate into host societies, often experiencing multiple types of discrimination. Where documented, such experiences have dire impacts on the health and wellbeing of displaced gender minority individuals. However, there is a lack of evidence to more fully understand these dimensions and address their needs.

This project will explore the impact of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ vulnerability criteria on displaced individuals with diverse sexual orientations currently residing in Lebanon and Turkey. The study will build on findings from previously conducted research, which highlighted issues such as housing insecurity and precarious arrangements, exposing displaced populations to a range of sexual and reproductive health concerns, such as transactional sex and violence. It will engage gender minority-displaced populations in qualitative interviews across multiple countries. This will enable them to share perspectives through digital storytelling, creating powerful tools for advocacy and communication.

Through scientific publications, visual arts as advocacy tools, and policy dialogues, the results of this research will provide evidence and awareness of the limitations of and potential for improvements to the current vulnerability criteria, and its application and gendered impact on the health and wellbeing of displaced SOGIE individuals. Ultimately, the study results will, both in the academic field and in humanitarian and migration ecosystems, inform migration and health discourse and practice through greater understanding of the nuanced, diverse and differential experiences of SOGIE populations.