In five years, asylum requests due to homosexuality have tripled, going from 376 in 2009 to 1,070 in 2014, according to figures from the General Commissary for Refugees and Expats (CGRA). They were relayed by La Dernière Heure on Thursday. The majority of people who made requests last year were from Senegal, Cameroun, Mauritius, Togo and Guinea. Out of 843 cases handled by the CGRA in 2014, 295 were granted asylum. That means that 34.9% of asylum seekers who gave their sexual orientation as their reason were given asylum in Belgium.
“The main reason for refusal was the general credibility of their request. The declarations by asylum seekers don’t always correspond to the situation in their country of origin, or lack coherency. It is important to mention that these people are questioned individually by people who know a lot about their country of origin, and the issue of sexual orientation”, says Damien Dermaux, spokesman for the CGRA.
(Source: Belga)
