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The plight of Biplob Hossain, a gay refugee from Bangladesh, exposes some troubling inconsistencies in Australia’s immigration system.
To use the saying ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’ is to employ a cliché. But the case of Biplob Hossain, a gay asylum seeker from Bangladesh, infuses it with new meaning.
Hossain, 25, has lived in Australia virtually his whole adult life. He came here on a Student Visa at the age of 19.
After ‘coming out’ – always a difficult step, but particularly for someone from a place where homosexuality is illegal – Hossain applied for asylum on the basis that he would suffer persecution in Bangladesh.
His case was widely publicised in Bangladesh, increasing the risk of such persecution.
Australia’s response to Hossain was to lock him up. He was interred in Villawood Detention Centre for a staggering 29 months. After three rejections by the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) and a failed High Court bid, Hossain’s last hope of staying in Australia is a personal intervention from the Minister for Immigration, Senator Chris Evans.
As he awaits a decision from Senator Evans, Hossain is the victim of almost unbelievable bureaucratic machinations. Hossain was released from Villawood in October 2006, but is not allowed to work or collect social security benefits.
However, he has been given a Housing Commission flat, for which he is charged rent. His inability to keep up with the payments of $23.45 per week has led to an eviction notice.
The notice, viewed by SX, orders him to leave his Surry Hills flat by April 20.
Food, electricity and phone calls are also costs that, without an income, he cannot service. His electricity has been disconnected. Soup kitchen meals and occasional financial handouts from charity organisations have, at times, alleviated his situation, but he is now at crisis point.
“I can’t sleep at night,” reports Hossain. “I am so worried. I get to sleep at six or seven o’clock in the morning, and I’m awake again in a few hours. I used to be a very calm person, but now I get very upset. I am very distressed about everything, because I am hopeless. I don’t have any hope.”
So why is Hossain mired in this bureaucratic nightmare, facing the prospect of deportation, when it is clear he would face danger in Bangladesh? The appalling situation for queer Bangladeshis has been extensively documented by the likes of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, and queer rights activists like Rachel Evans, from Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH), allege that Hossain and other gay refugees are victims of homophobic RRT members.
According to RRT spokesperson Ailsa Wilson, the tribunal addressed such concerns in February this year with “internal focus group sessions”. But such ‘sexuality training’ has occurred since Hossain’s RRT appeals.
SX, meanwhile, has discovered Immigration Department inconsistencies, which may go some way to explaining Hossain’s plight.
Sandi Logan, spokesperson for the Department, had this to say when asked about Hossain’s case: “A person’s sexual orientation does not of itself enable that person to be granted asylum. We provide protection for asylum seekers under the UN definition of a refugee, under the Convention 67 protocol, which doesn’t include their sexual orientation or their fears of persecution associated with that orientation.”
“Unfortunately”, he says, the imprisonment and torture of gay people in Bangladesh “doesn’t make any difference”.
But migration lawyer Brendan Hillis, principal of the firm Access Immigration, says Logan “is not exactly correct”.
“Gay people have been found to fall under the Convention head of ‘member of a particular social group’,” Hillis says. “If a person is likely to experience discrimination because they are a ‘member of a particular social group’, as gay men and women have been found to be, they come under the Convention and should be offered protection by a country which is party to the Convention.”
And when contacted by SX, Immigration Minister Evans was in accordance with Hillis, instead of his own department.
“Although a person’s sexual orientation does not of itself enable a person to be granted asylum, Australia has accepted, on occasions, that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers have well-founded fears of persecution in their country of origin,” he said. “These cases fall within the persecution of a particular social group, listed in the Refugees Convention.”
Hossain’s future now rests solely with the Minister, who has wide-ranging powers to intervene under Section 417 of the Migration Act, including granting a visa.
Accordingly, Kerry Nettle urges concerned members of the public to contact Senator Evans.
“Letters of support [for Hossain] can be quite simple, stating they have heard about his case, are concerned about his safety should he return to Bangladesh, and hope the Minister will grant him a visa to stay in Australia,” she says.
CAAH’s Rachel Evans also urges people to contact the Minister, adding: “We also encourage people to get involved in campaigns on the ground, like a CAAH or Refugee Action Coalition meeting. Because we do these actions together, it’s much less isolating than doing it on your own.”
As for Hossain himself, he has this to say to the Minister: “I beg him to let me stay, and to save my life. I’ll not do any harm to this country. I want to finish my study and become a taxpayer and a good citizen, and contribute to Australia. Please let me stay.”
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