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Mr. Alan Howarth (Stratford-on-Avon): I support the powerful plea made by my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) because it is plainly right--as a matter of recognising modern realities and of justice--that the immigration rules should not discriminate against unmarried but truly interdependent partners, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. I echo my hon. Friend's point that the Government should address the question of individuals from countries in which they are liable to be persecuted for their homosexuality. It may be that amendment No. 1 covers that concern. If neither it nor any other amendment does so adequately, I hope that the Government will think carefully and constructively about tabling an amendment in the other place.
A number of countries on the Government's white list actively persecute people who engage in consenting homosexual acts. An Amnesty International report on Romania published last year stated that people there are imprisoned and treated with great severity solely for their homosexuality. In Pakistan, prison sentences of between two years and life are imposed on homosexuals, who are also flogged for the offence. India has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The Bill fails to recognise the fear and reality of such persecution.
Last year, in the case of Ioan Vraciu--a Romanian soldier whose partner was arrested and tortured for his homosexuality--a UK immigration appeal tribunal ruled that gay people could be seen as a distinct social group for the purposes of interpreting the 1951 UN convention on the status of refugees. Hitherto, the Home Office has refused to accept that proposition. Mr. Vraciu's application for asylum did not succeed, although the immigration adjudicator declared that it was
to criminalise private gay sex.
The Government should be willing to amend the Bill, by accepting the amendments before the House or tabling amendments in the other place, to establish that serious and justified fears of persecution on the ground of homosexuality or the committal of homosexual acts are legitimate reasons for seeking asylum in the UK. The United Nations convention offers protection to people who have
Gay men and women are plainly members of a particular social group, and they should be seen as such in the sense that the convention means when they have a justified fear of persecution. Such persons ought to have the protection of the law, the administration of which should be regulated by Home Office guidelines requiring sensitive and non-discriminatory handling of lesbian and gay asylum applications. People should not be discriminated against for their sexuality, any more than for their sex, race, religion or disability. The Republic of Ireland--not hitherto in the van of liberal social policy--has already legislated sensibly and humanely along those lines. In justice, we should do no less.
Mr. Henderson:
I have sympathy with amendments Nos. 1 and 2, and I support amendments Nos. 19
If two persons who are not formally married want to enter the UK, it is at the Home Secretary's discretion whether an application for both persons in the relationship is permitted. Often, separate applications will be made, although in some circumstances that is not possible. I understand that far more cases of heterosexual couples than homosexual couples go before the Secretary of State. I am not saying that, in the circumstances of statutory provision for entry, those statistics would necessarily be mirrored. Homosexual couples might be deterred from making an application because they do not believe that they would be successful. I cannot say that that is the case, but I would not be surprised.
There would clearly be scope for circumvention of our intention to allow genuinely interdependent couples to be treated in the same way as a married couple, so there is a need for considerable investigation by the Government, Opposition parties and individual hon. Members, in determining practical regulations to meet the concerns and sympathies that have been expressed for the search for a solution.
I am not sure that amendments Nos. 1 and 2 would provide the solution, and I have reservations about them. I certainly want further investigation. However, I sympathise with those who want to find a solution to the problem.
Amendments Nos. 19 and 20 fringe the main purpose of the Bill but are still important. They relate to persons who are employed in virtually a slave relationship by foreign citizens who are allowed entry to the UK, often as visitors. Such persons are in some circumstances permitted to bring their domestic servants, who are often closely tied to the original applicant. I have been told of domestic servants who have been physically, verbally and sexually abused, but who have been unable to do anything about their predicament--unless the person by whom they are employed agrees to return them to their country of origin. Often, servants' passports are held by their employers. Sometimes, they do not even have independent passports. That makes it extremely difficult for them to end the relationship.
The amendments do not seek regulations to govern the position of those poor people but to categorise them separately in immigration law, so that the Secretary of State can lay regulations that apply to them. If the Secretary of State is prepared to allow it, I hope that those workers will be allowed to transfer from one employer to another on exactly the same conditions as applied when they entered the country. I do not ask that they be allowed to come in as a domestic servant to someone who has made an application on a visitor's passport and be able to leave that employment to seek normal employment with another person in the United Kingdom. If they wanted to apply for employment on the normal basis, they would be free to do that; the amendments do not attempt to deal with that situation.
Mr. Harry Cohen (Leyton):
I apologise to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to the House for not being here at the start of the debate, as I was held up in my office.
I tabled amendment No. 58. I shall be brief, as I know that hon. Members have referred to it, including my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Howarth). My amendment refers to the persecution of a particular social group on the grounds of sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians are regarded as a particular social group, and that should be taken into account in the Bill. Persecution because of membership of that particular social group should be a reason to allow people to stay.
I tabled my amendment on behalf of the organisation Outrage! It makes a good case, which I have passed on to the Minister. It expressed great concern that three of the countries included in the Government's so-called white list actively persecute and severely punish people who are convicted of engaging in consensual homosexual activity.
Romania was condemned in an Amnesty International report in 1995 for its human rights record of imprisoning homosexuals and for torturing detainees. In Pakistan, people who engage in consensual homosexual acts are punished with prison sentences of between two years and life, and flogging. India continues to punish people who engage in consensual gay sex with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. There is no recognition whatever of the fear of persecution on the grounds of homosexuality in the United Kingdom's present political asylum legislation. Indeed, applications made on those grounds are invariably turned down.
Last year, Ioan Vraciu, a Romanian soldier--I think all of this has been mentioned, so I shall be brief--won his case. An immigration appeal tribunal ruled that gay people could be seen as a distinct social group for the purposes of interpreting the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees. The Home Office refused to accept that argument and appealed against the decision. The Home Office lawyer, Alexandra Pond, cast doubt on Mr. Vraciu's claims and requested that doctors should test him to see whether he was really gay, which was amazing.
Mr. Gerrard:
It is astonishing to think what the test might have been.
Mr. Cohen:
Yes. Incredibly, her argument was accepted by the subsequent hearing and Mr. Vraciu lost his case, and so the special category for homosexuals is not currently accepted in law. It should be. Through my amendment, I hope that the Home Office will accept that. There are countries that persecute gays and lesbians, who might be seeking refugee status in this country to protect themselves from the harsh penalties that they might face there. Those countries include countries that are on the white list.
"unnatural and contrary to human rights"
"a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."
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