Accra, August 17, (DPA/GNA) – Austria’s
immigration authority apologized Friday after one of its officials denied
refugee status to a homosexual Afghan, arguing that the young man does not face
persecution because he does not act in a gay manner.
In his written decision, the official noted
that the 18-year-old applicant had been fighting with other youths in an
Austrian child welfare institution.
“This means that you have an aggression
level that is not to be expected from a homosexual,” he wrote in the
document that was made public by the weekly newspaper Falter this week.
The Afghan’s lack of friends was also held
against him.
“Aren’t homosexuals usually
gregarious?” the official asked.
“You are not homosexual and therefore you
have nothing to fear if you return to Afghanistan,” he concluded in the
decision, which the Afghan is currently appealing.
The Federal Office for Foreigner Affairs and
Asylum said the official had already been reassigned to a new post in May,
after he had issued several problematic decisions.
The office said in a statement that it
“regrets the transgressive language in a staff member’s decision.”
The office also reviewed hundreds of other
asylum decisions, but found “no fundamental structural deficits.”
However, the refugee support group Qeer Base,
which helps homosexual asylum seekers, says that the current case was not
unique, and that it has seen similar incidents in interviews that Austrian
authorities have conducted with asylum seekers.
“Asylum officials regularly take a line
of questioning that borders on the inappropriate,” Queer Base
representative Marty Huber told Falter.
GNA